A-Rod Blog

Nov. 22nd 2010

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 07:25:49 GMT

Hey everyone. Jordan and I have been planning our wedding. I couldn't be happier to have her as my bride. She means the world to me. Anyway we are very excited. I am nearing the completion of my solo album. It has already took me way too long, but I think it should turn out good when it is done. It should be out by January. Hope everyone has happy holidays. Thanks, Aaron

June 27th

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 12:43:21 GMT

Hey buddy sons, I"ve been extremely busy with Mountain Heart lately. We just finished a weekend of shows in Eastern VA. I've been on the road for 2 and a half weeks straight touring acoss the states with Mtn Heart, and am ready to get to the house. We just finished the new MH project which is in the mixing stages now. Those of you in the Carolina area should come hang with us this week. We are playing in Morganton, NC with Tony Rice, Greeneville TN, and Banner Elk, NC, July 1st , 2nd, and 4th. I asked Jordan Laney to marry me. She said yes! We have been engaged since the 1st of May. Anyway alot of things happening. I'll keep you posted. Thanks, Aaron

March 18th

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:28:33 GMT

Well I'm headed out the door again. We had a great time in the Virgin Islands, Brian and Denise took such good care of us. We swam, ate burgers, and took pictures that I will have up soon! We have been off for a week resting up. I had the oppurtunity to be a part of Ron Blocks upcoming guitar instructional DVD this past Monday. Its was a honor to get to pick with those guys. Mtn Heart is heading this weekend to Alabama and Mississippi for some fun shows. Oh, I also have some new "BUDDYSON" stickers if anyone is interested. I will eventually have them for sale on my website. Thats about it for now. Thanks everyone for your continued support of live music. Later, Aaron

January 24th

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:10:16 GMT

Hey everyone. Just wanted to say thank you all for the nice birthday comments today! Your kindness is very much appreciated. Thanks again, A

January 2010

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:05:08 GMT

Well I haven't posted in a while so I figured I would tell you whats been up. Mountain Heart has been exceptionally busy for this time of year. We made a run up to Ann Arbor, Michigan to play the Ark. We had great time. The show was sold out. The audience was very receptive. We had a ball. Oh and we once again enjoyed the always delicious Mongolian BBQ. We really had a good time. I have had a little time off during the week so I have been working on my new record. I have been in collaboration with my friend Tim Crouch, who is in the process of playing some fiddle tracks on the record. I really look foward to finishing the project. Hopefully I will have it on the merch table by June. Anyway getting ready for a fun weekend in Georgia. We are playing the Melting Point in Athens, GA. Hope some of yall can come out and be with us. Then I'm going to my friend Brian Stephens' house to get my old guitar worked on. It developed a top crack last week, due to extremely dry weather. After that since I will be in the area, me, Patton Wages, Brian & Maggie will probably go down Saturday to the Everetts Music Barn and have a big fun jam. Then I will be on my way back home where my sweet Jordan, and family have something lined up for my Birthday Sunday. Yes I'll be 25 getting alittle older everyday. Well thats all for now. Catch ya later buddysons, Aaron

November 2009 Update

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:30:34 GMT

Whats up buddy sons-

The new photo (of me and Jordan)on my home page was taken during a fine art photo booth in downtown Asheville by Castell Photography.
Mountain Hearts gigs have finally slowed down and I am glad to have some time at home. I am ready to buy a tree, watch Elf, and work some on my own projects. It has been a good year. I am looking forward to 2010.

Hope you have a nice holiday- A

September 2009 update

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:41:11 GMT

Stonehenge! That's it! We visited it on Saturday, September 5th, prior to our first show at the Didmarton Bluegrass
Festival. I didn't have any electrical converters, so my phone went dead and I couldn't use my computer. The internet service there was not very good either, so I guess it was about as good as it could be. We had a blast, leaving out on Thursday afternoon out of Charlotte, NC, flying to Cleveland, OH, going out to eat and then flying towards London in the late evening.

The weather was a bit chillier than we expected, but it wasn't too bad. We played that Saturday and then again on Sunday, September 6th. I returned home about 1 AM on Tuesday. Surprisingly, I got up reasonably early (about 11:30) considering the time changes and jet lag. It really wasn't too bad. When we went to Switzerland in February of 2008, I was up for about 30 hours straight, on the return journey home, without sleep. That was rough.

Today I'm in Kansas, near Wichita. I have watched Clay Jones and Josh playing golf with the bus driver. I just went along for the ride, to take piccs and video. We may catch something interesting. After getting back from England on Monday night/early Tuesday, I met Tony Rice here in town and rode with him to Claremore, OKlahoma, as we played a show with him at the Bluegrass and Chili Festival.
That was this past Saturday, September, 12th.

We played a few songs at a fairly large church near Claremore on Sunday morning. I had to pack church clothes for this trip. That was good. In Claremore, we were only about 150 miles from Winfield, Kansas, where we will be playing this coming Friday and Saturday, at The Walnut Valley Festival. It made sense to stay here, instead of driving 970 miles back home, taking 15 hours and then doing the same thing again on Thursday AM, coming back out here.

Next week, if nothing don't change, I may have to travel to Nashville on Wednesday evening, for a couple of day's worth of recording, then go to Georgia for a gig on the 26th, and THEN, returning to Nashville for a week's worth of IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) to attend their trade show for a week. It'll be fun, but it will involve a good bit of promotional work for us as well.

I have several pics of the England trip up on the photos page, one being in the RANDOM folder. Be sure and check it out.

A bunch of dates coming and I'm going to be playing in NORTH CAROLINA for an entore weekend in October. One of those dates is in Lenoir, about 12 miles from my home, with Tony Rice. I hope some of you can attend. Look for details on the schedule page.

Thanks for keeping up.

a

August 2009 update

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Well, a bit over a month has past since my last post, so here goes.

We didn't get the bus fixed in time to use it get to GreyFox or the Grassroots Festival, but a couple of vans did the trick. It made the weekend a bit harder, but we made it anyway and had a blast at both of those festivals. We finished up that weekend in Kent, Ohio and then got back home for a day or two.

I left out on Tuesday, July 21st, and headed to the MACC (Musicians Against Childhood Cancer) Festival near Columbus, OH. I've been going up there since 2003 (back when I was still playing with Dad) and have played it with Randy Kohrs on a couple of occasions and now for the past 2 years with Mountain Heart.

It rained. Hard. I was in a tent camping and had to move it to higher ground (we were just in a low spot where the water was standing). We (MHeart) were scheduled to play on Wednesday evening and the rain fell and we ended up playing only about 3 songs until everything had to be shut down. Most of the guys went back home but I stayed and the weather improved a bit later in the week and I ended up playing some mandolin and a bunch of bass with Tony Rice, during the Rice tribute show on Saturday. There are a few pics of this (and the other festivals earlier) on my photos page.

Back home, then a show at Randy Wood's in Bloomingdale, GA, on July31st, and then a show at the Fiddlefest in Roanoke, VA on the first of August. There's a pic or two up from Fiddlefest, too. The Fiddlefest was another fun show with Rice and Terry Baucom. There's a couple of videos up on youtube.

Then, I went to the beach with my family. For most of a week. I didn't even carry a guitar or a mandolin with me. As much as I love playing music, I was ready for a complete break. We ate fish, swam, rode bikes, slept and just generally chilled out. Holden Beach, NC is a wonderful place to rest. We've been going there as long as I can remember.

This past weekend MHeart played twice in one day in the Salyersville, KY area. It was fun and I got home about 5 AM Sunday. Monday morning, I traveled to Nashville, to work on Randy Kohrs new recording and he is going to work on mine. Back in the door late on Tuesday night.

Mountain Heart is off for the next 2 weeks and then, on Labor Day weekend, we travel to Didmarton, England for a bluegrass festival there. We'll be there for 3 days and then get back and start rolling here in the states again. I've never been to England and hope to have a small bit of time to see a little of the area.

I'm working on some details of some guest singers on my recording and hope to be able to update you about that a little farther on. The IBMA at the end of September is shaping up to be a pretty busy time and I'll give you more info about that later on as well. More dates have just been added and I've changed my calendar appearance. It may be easier for even ME to understand what I have to do and where I'm supposed to go.

Thanks for keeping up,

a

July 2009 update

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:05:11 GMT

This was a shot from our show last night in Uncasville, CT, at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

At the present, we're waiting on a repair to the bus we're in, so we can get on over to Greyfox Festival for our show tonight. The glorious life of making music for a living!

The show in Morganton was fun, even though I scared my folks when I jumped off the stage at the end of the encore. Friday, July 3rd, was spent relaxing in Georgia, prior to Saturday's show in Athens, Ga, at The Melting Point.

Blissfest was a long ride up to the northeastern part of the lower penninsula of Michigan. We enjoyed ourselves there, got home in time to head out on this trip on Tuesday evening. Tomorrow we head to another festival in New York state....well....you can check my schedule. That's what I have to do to know where I'm supposed to be.

I hope somebody is getting pics of all these places we're going....

Hope to catch up soon,

A