What’s up guys! Happy new album release day! It’s been a good one so far – we’ve gotten some love from iTunes today and one of the songs ‘Open Your Eyes’ was used on the TV show ‘One Tree Hill’ last night. So now, ‘The Ladder’, is FINALLY out world-wide! Hop over to iTunes by clicking HERE and pick it up digitally or grab a physical copy from the STORE section above! We’ve put so much time and effort into this recording – I genuinely hope that you enjoy it.

I apologize it’s been a while since I last updated you on all we’ve got going on. We had a nice little Christmas and New Years in the Belle household and then got right back to work. I spent the first 3 weeks of January in Nashville rehearsing the new album with my band in preparation for the Chicago and Nashville CD Release shows we put on. The shows were a huge success, thank you so much to all who came out and supported us during those 2 nights. They were amazing and I will remember them for a long time to come. I especially want to thank all my friends who helped us out on stage (Trent Dabbs, Erin McCarley, Amy Stroup, Adam Agin, Tim Schurrer); you made it just that much more special – thank you!

While we were still in Nashville we made a music video for my new song ‘The Ladder’. It was so much fun and again I called in a lot of favors from my friends to make some cameos during the shoot, particularly my new friend Molly Jenson…she played the lead female part and was fantastic! I was so happy with the concept and all the shots we got, I can’t wait to get it out for you guys to see! Here are a few pics from that day:

After this, I hit the road and have been out playing Universities and Clubs around the country for the past 5 weeks with my buddy Allen Stone. Last weekend, we took a ‘break’ and headed to New York City to play a show with my friend Katie Herzig and then make a music video with her for my song ‘Static Waves’. The show at the Living Room was PACKED; Katie and I had so much fun together on stage. She even pulled the most rockstar move ever, and played an actual kick drum while she played guitar and sang her last few songs. We spent the next 2 days together shooting my video in Brooklyn; here are some pics from that amazing weekend:

Well that pretty much wraps it up for now – stay tuned, it’s gonna be a good year…

ab

I just arrived back home to my parent’s house for Christmas after a whirlwind December. The last time I wrote on here, it was Thanksgiving and I was about to leave NYC for Baton Rouge to kick off the Ten out of Tenn Christmas Tour (with Erin McCarley, Trent Dabbs, Matthew Perryman Jones, Tyler James, Butterfly Boucher, Katie Herzig, Andy Davis, K.S. Rhoads, and Jeremy Lister). About 3 weeks and 7,000 miles later, I’m sitting in a lounge chair – watching the ‘George Lopez Show’ on TBS and wondering what just happened to me. This tour was magical and easily one of the best times in my life thus far. I will always look back on it with fond memories and with a warm place in my heart. After looking back at all my footage, I realized that maybe I should have blogged here and there along the way, because to try to recap and tell it all now would be a disaster in text form. Instead, I think I will just post my top 3 favorite moments of tour and then a bunch of random tour photos after that…Ok, here we go:

3. SEATTLE, WA – Erin McCarley and I were having a nice little afternoon in Seattle when we decided to have a quick lunch at a local noodle shop. As I was returning from the men’s room, I caught eyes with the guy behind me and was shocked to see it was my childhood icon, Dave Matthews (Or ‘David’ as he introduced himself to me a few minutes later) of the Dave Matthews Band. Erin eventually wandered over to chat with him about a mutual acquaintance they shared and so I tagged along for the story. Besides my legs and stomach being jello for those 5 minutes, it was pretty great meeting Mr. Matthews. He was extremely nice and recommended a few delicious menu items, which I enjoyed soon afterward. Despite the rainy weather, it was a really great day. oh, and the show that night ended up selling out!

2. LOS ANGELES, CA – Our 4th date of the tour was a stop at the world famous ‘Troubadour’ in L.A. Besides the weather and mexican food, I don’t typically care for southern California that much, but this night was certainly the exception. Playing that sold out show was an amazing experience and afterward we all when out on the town with some of the Hotel Cafe fellas. East met West in a very good way that night.

1. EL PASO, TX – We didn’t even play a show here, haha – we just had the day off but it ended up being one of my favorite days of the tour. We all went out for a movie and then dinner/margaritas afterward, before coming back to our hotel room and finding ways to amuse ourselves via youtube and Tyler’s webcam. Somehow, K.S. got the idea to put on one of Erin’s bikini tops and film himself singing her single ‘Love, save the empty’, karaoke style into the little laptop camera while we all watched with great joy. This was hands down my favorite moment of the tour – or at least when I laughed so hard, i fell off the bed.

Here are some other random, but great, memories…

i’m sitting in a small brooklyn apartment, waiting for my girlfriend to finish studying her knife skills (she just started culinary school here in nyc) so we can catch up on ‘top chef’ and ‘mad men’ – so, i thought i’d write a little bit; chronicling the past few weeks since i wrote last…

last weekend i was excited to be asked to come up to my hometown of chicago to open a show for one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Greg Laswell. sam and i drove up the day of and played at one my new favorite venues, SPACE in evanston, IL. the show went really well and then greg invited us to help him out with some recording for his new record the next day. of course we accepted and spent the following afternoon tracking guitars, vocals, etc for some acoustic b-sides due out this spring. one of my favorite weekends of 2009, by far.

the next day, we headed back to nashville so that i could meet up the rest of the Ten out of Tenn gang for christmas tour rehearsals. we had 2 really solid days of practice and it made me really excited to hit the road with this group next week. i’m the new guy this time and the youngest as well, so i am very much looking forward to learning a lot from every one and am extremely flattered to have been offered the spot. please check out www.10outoftenn.com and come out to one of the shows if you can!!

2 days later my roomates, lorien, and i gathered twenty of our closest friends and held a nashville ‘friendsgiving’ a good week before the actual holiday. i guess i just love thanksgiving and literally jump at the opportunity to stuff a turkey any time of the year. so, i got on foodnetwork.com and found the best looking recipe to tackle and went to work. 3 days and 23 lbs of turkey later, we had a feast for the ages. i am fairly certain that when i return home from tour next month there will most likely still be left overs in the fridge…

the next morning – sam, eleonore, and i drove back up to chicago for another gig at uncommon ground. it was a free show in a small room so it filled to capacity very quicky and i felt terrible that there were many people who were unable to attend. but it was a very fun show, featuring very stripped down (and even a few acapella) versions of our songs. thank you to all who came.

i shared a 2nd pre-thanksgiving w/ my family and friends the next evening, caught a bears/eagles game on sunday and then arrived safely in new york city this afternoon – where i currently am. i plan to literally do nothing this week but spend time w/ loved ones and eat more turkey than 3 people should. happy holidays to you all and i hope you’re safe, well fed, and always reminded of why we celebrate such days – ab