Happy Holidays

A little gift for y'all — head over to the MUSIC section and download an MP3 of us performing "Please Come Home for Christmas" for 92.3 The Fort on the FM dial.

We enjoy opening for our heroes, part II

We'd like to open this show — WILCO at the Embassy Theatre. Cast your vote, make it happen.

We enjoy opening for our heroes.

Earlier this year, we had the good fortune of opening for Chevy Downs, and later The Avett Brothers. Next week, we're tickled pink to be able to play support band to Melbourne Australia's TnT, Tim Rogers (of You Am I) and Tex Perkins (Beasts of Bourbon). Check out the shows page for details.

In the press, and on the airwaves...

Whisperin' & Hollerin' (right column)

We'd also like to thank Berrie Koetsier from the Netherlands for making Ramble On his album-of-the-month on his radio programme, Songriver.

The Banks of the Cumberland (alternate mix)

We've contributed the oft-rumored 'full band' version of "The Banks of the Cumberland" to Anthony Wayne Services for their Inclusion fundraising CD. This version of the song features each Trainhopper taking a verse — everybody sings! Inclusion is an impressive collection of original songs by AWS employees, family and friends. We're pleased to be part of it. Order here.

Another great review —

RootsTime

...for the Maumee and St. Joe, St. Mary keep on risin'…

We're thrilled to announce that we've been asked to headline Friday, July 14 at the Three Rivers Festival main event tent in downtown Fort Wayne, IN. Cover is only $5 and support acts include many of our favorite acts, including The Possum Trot Orchestra, Taj Mahalics (who you may remember from our Album Release shows), Duane Eby & Friends, Cathy Serrano and, of course, the Mike Swanley Band.

New Record Reviews.

We've been picking up some steam back in the old country, recently receiving several very positive reviews from influential European roots & folk rock publications. View them below:

Americana-UK

altcountry.nl

RootsMusic.co.uk

Trainhoppers live at the Wayne Calhoun Troubadour Series!

MAY 26th with THE AVETT BROTHERS, and JUNE 16th with POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA.

In Defiance.

New Shows + Whammy Award.

We're pleased to announce that we are the proud recipients of Whatzup entertainment weekly's BEST COUNTRY BAND award for 2005-2006. Truly, we couldn't be happier, so thanks for voting. We also had a blast at the show — thanks again. Whatzup and Fort Wayne Reader covered the event.

At the event, we won the adoration of local hero Kevin Ferguson of Night Shift fame, and he invited us to be musical guests on the show (along with a comedian named Gallagher). We recorded the show last week and it will air in two parts, the first on April 30 and the second on May 7.

We've also announced a couple of new shows over in the 'Dates' section. Big news is on the way, cross your fingers.

Finally, new songs are up in the 'Music' section — get 'em now before the band demands they be removed!

Trainhoppers thank YOU.

A full week after the fact, The Legendary Trainhoppers would like to sincerely thank everyone who came out to support our Album Release shows. We know many of you traveled great distances to be there. We also hear that many kids in the crowd signed up for guitar lessons the very next day...who knows, maybe the next Bruce Springsteen was born that night?

Anyway, it was a tremendous weekend for us, one we won't soon forget — hopefully you feel the same. There are now well over 400 proud owners of 'Ramble On' in this town, and we couldn't be happier about that. Play it loud.

The Journal-Gazette writes about Trainhoppers

Fort Wayne's number one arts & entertainment tastemaker, Steve Penhellow, wrote a great article about our album release shows — read it here.

Fort Wayne Reader writes about Trainhoppers

The good folks over at the Fort Wayne Reader have written a dazzling article about the LTH. Read it now, read it here.

Fort Wayne Reader writes about Trainhoppers

The good folks over at the Fort Wayne Reader have written a dazzling article about the LTH. Read it now, read it here.

CD Release Shows announced

Three shows in one weekend:

Friday, February 3, 6:45PM featuring "happy hour" doors at 6PM — Indiana Hotel Lobby (all ages) — $10 (includes CD) — all ages with bar by Mad Anthony Brewing Co.

Friday, February 3, 9:00PM — Indiana Hotel Lobby (all ages) — $10 (includes CD) — all ages with catering by Mad Anthony Brewing Co.

Saturday, February 4, 10PM — Columbia Street West — $5

Let's Be Friends Again

Yeah, we're on MySpace. Be our friend, won't you?

Trainhoppers Rock Columbia Street

We had a tremendous show tonight with the Possum Trot Orchestra at MOMS Midwest Original Music Showcase. 155 people — not bad for a Tuesday night of original music, we'd say. Read the review here.

Trainhoppers Nominated

The Legendary Trainhoppers have been nominated for two Whammy Awards by Whatzup entertainment weekly — Best Country Band (yes!) and Best New Band (but we're so old!). And of course, we accept write-ins for all categories we didn't actually get nominated in…

Vote here by January 31, 2006.

Monkey Wings Records & Tiki Town Studio

In early October 2005, we traveled to Mill Valley, CA to record eleven songs with Grammy-winning producer Scott Mathews, as part of a deal with Monkey Wings Records. We did it "Dylan-style" — 11 songs in 6 days. On four songs, we were joined by the Grateful Dawg himself, D. Grisman on mandolin. Scott's production & vision was simply tremendous and inspiring, and it shows in the final product. We eagerly look forward to our album release in February 2006, on Monkey Wings Records.

Hugs & kisses to Scott & Tom, and sincere gratitude to Jeff Britton and the Monkey Wings Records team. OK, hugs there too.

Trainhoppers play Downtown Improvement District's Block Party, get reviewed

Ye good ol' folks at Whatzup decided to write up our performance at the final block party of the year, which featured free food, but not free booze. Read it here.

Whatzup entertainment weekly profiles Trainhoppers

The good folks over at Whatzup were nice enough to write us up for our debut show. Read it here.

The Legendary Trainhoppers: a past-modern band for the new world order.

When my grandmother passed away a couple years ago, I saw this picture at her funeral:

That's her dad on the left, my great-grandfather, Lafayette "Layf" Bacon. Soon after this, my first child, a son, was born. With these two events swirling in my head, I became relatively obsessed with history, where we come from, what we leave behind, the destiny of legacy and footprints — where we've been and where we're heading. My aunt being the family's resident genealogist, I asked for a working copy of the 400+ page family history she'd been working on for over a decade. There was much about my grandmother's side of the family, an just a couple dozen pages about my grandfather's side. His story grabbed me — a young Nashville man who had blazed quite a trail to end up in Indiana, and start our family here. His father (my other great-grandfather) was a trainhopper — he wasn't around much. You see, he rode the trains, ate around a campfire, chased dark-haired girls, played an old guitar. As the story is told, he wrote the song "Wabash Cannonball" one night, maybe to impress a girl. Sure, Roy Acuff made the hit, but these songs grew verse upon verse on the rails and who knows where they came from. Maybe he did write it, or maybe he just said so to win the affections of said dark-haired girl. Either way, this was all tremendously inspirational. Using this family history, we wrote the song "The Banks of the Cumberland" from my grandfather's point of view. A rambling, chugging narrative song, it became the blueprint for a new band.

We are Damian Miller, Dan Smith, Phil Potts, Matthew Sturm, Jon Ross, Chris Dodds and Matt Kelley. Within this group of friends, all successful local musicians, we put together a modest proposal. A call to action. The lighting of a fire. The filling of a void. The time is now to create music that needs to be made, to come together because we're friends and we have songs and we want to hear eachother sing and play on these songs. Because we've spent too much time staring down tall lagers and talking about Exile on Main Street and Blood on the Tracks and Music from Big Pink. Sound ramshackle? Perfect. The whole thing might only be ruined by thinking about it too much — but I bet not, and so here goes:
We aim to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the greats. Our forbears: The Wilburys, ol' Golden Smog, The Highwaymen, and yeah Chevy Downs.

And so we wrote vaguely country-ish songs. Songs about girls, cars, lost love. Maybe songs about a crime, about time in jail. Indeed, somebody wrote a song about a train. Everyone thought about their own family history. Thought about how their great grandkids are gonna sit around and wonder about them. What do we want to leave for them? What is the mark we all leave behind? How will we be remembered? And so it's with this spirit in mind — maybe our grandsons will one day play this music for the affections of a dark-haired girl — that we decided we must take advantage of living right here, right now, and knowing eachother. Let's make magic.
We are The Legendary Trainhoppers.

- MK