James from The Waybacks here. Wow... the past few months have been a whirlwind of travel for us. Big thanks to all the friends who came out to see us in NC, SC, GA, TN, VA, NY, NH, MA, CO, UT, MT, NE, KS, OR, and CA--it was wonderful getting to spend some time with everyone out on the road!

So, after all that travel--often flying across the country several times a weekend--what now ? How about a few days of relaxation at home, followed by a new album!

That's right... we're heading into the studio on Monday (this Monday... really ?!?) to track a dozen or so brand new songs! Exciting stuff... this new material is just SCREAMING to be recorded--songs that have debuted at recent shows like Tired of Being Right, Conjugal Visit, and Black Cat (Warren's blazing Bach-and-Grapelli-inspired fiddle instrumental), as well as a handful of tunes that haven't seen the stage lights, yet. We're looking at an early spring release date for this new CD, possibly a debut at Merlefest 2008 ? Stay tuned... more details and periodic updates from the studio available on our home page.

Now for some personal news: Waybacks co-founder Stevie Coyle has decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. We've shared many years of great music and memories with Stevie, so it isn't easy to see him go. But, Warren, Chuck, Joe, and I, are all very excited to see Stevie working on a project of his own, and we hope all you Waybacks fans out there will give him your support. Here's Stevie in his own words:

Howdy, Compadres -

Folks, it's been a long and wonderful run for me, but now my muses are calling me away to a new adventure. So here at the end of the band's seventh touring season, and with much gratitude to the guys and to you, I'm bidding a fond farewell to The Waybacks. Oh, I'll still be out there doing music! It's just that these days I find myself intensely interested in doing solo shows at intimate venues and at house concerts and in teaching fingerstyle guitar. Betwen the band and the circus, I have spent fully one third of my adult life on the road, so there's WAY too much sawdust in my shoes for me to sit still for too long. I'll be recording a solo CD these next few months and as soon as that's cooked to perfection, I'll be back out on the road gigging and teaching.

In the meantime, please don't be a stranger over at http://www.steviecoyle.com. I'll have tour dates and blogs and photos and CD updates as well as periodic offerings of individual song downloads, iTunes-style. There will also be preposterously self-aggrandizing propaganda available at my MySpace space,http://www.myspace.com/coylestevie. And if I may trouble you to help me with just a couple of housekeeping items, please remove stevie@waybacks.com from your address books, and for correspondence intended for me, please use stevie@steviecoyle.com instead.

As far as me staying in touch with all of you here in the virtual realm, well, I'd first of all like to thank you for enduring my frequently-over-caffeinated ramblings these past several years. Your indulgence has been much appreciated. Too, I will hope that I may invoke the old English canon law axiom that "silence betokeneth consent," and occasionally send news of my own new doings to all y'all. If you'd like to opt out of those periodic missives, just follow the appropriate "unsubscribe" link over at my site and presto, it will be done.

My sincere thanks to the mighty Waybacks, to our manager, Michael, to our agent, Mary, and to all the fine folks at Compass Records. It's been a great ride. And last but not least, my thanks to all of you for all the warm vibes and all the great times.

Onward and upward for all of us! I'll see you down the road.

S

__________________

Stevie Coyle

http://myspace.com/coylestevie

Thanks for that, Stevie. It has been great working together, and next year promises to be a very exciting one with new album releases from both The Waybacks and Stevie Coyle.

Joe, Chuck, Warren, and I, will be heading to Nashville this weekend to begin recording our new album at Compass Records with producer Byron House. If you've never heard Byron before... well, actually... I'm quite certain you HAVE heard Byron play before. He has recorded and toured with a veritable who's-who of American music, working with Sam Bush, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Jerry Douglas, Jorma Kaukonen... the list goes on and on. Byron is one of those musicians who always has something exciting up his sleeve... take, for instance, that time last year at Suwanee Springfest when Byron suddenly transformed from mild-mannered Sam Bush Band bassist into a fire-breathing Robert Plant impersonator. Holy crap! If there was ever any doubt that Byron would be the perfect producer for The Waybacks, believe me, that sealed the deal! What can I say... we are all THRILLED to be working with one of our musical heroes, and we can't wait to hear how this album turns out.

Byron's quite a road warrior in his own right, and he'll be taking next weekend off from the recording schedule to play some shows with mandolin maestro Sam Bush. Rather than letting Joe try his luck "reinvesting" our album budget at the Nashville craps tables, we decided to go play a show next weekend ourselves:

Sat, Oct 13 at 8pm

SHAKORI HILLS GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL

Chapel Hill, NC

Donna The Buffalo, The GreenCards, Snake Oil Medicine Show, Menage, Toubab Krewe,

Jim Lauderdale, The Duhks, John Jorgenson Quintet, Corinne West, Mamadou Diabate

We hear it's a wonderful festival, and we're psyched we were invited to play. Please come out and see us and all the tremendous musicians on the bill.

Stay tuned for album and gig updates, take care, and see you soon!

James

james@waybacks.com