You can't buy your kid moments like those. You can't whip them up from thin air. And it's the combination of all the various things — the band, sweating over nailing a song, being with my family, travel, trying to soak up an entire culture, meeting our heroes, and just having the courage to pursue our dreams — that makes this worth it.

Speaking of family, what does your wife think of all this?

She thinks I'm friggin' nuts! But she really does support what we're doing. She comes to gigs and cheers us on. And she doesn't just humor me, she's 100% there.

Of course, my step-daughter, who's 13, isn't into blues music at all, and yet, she comes out to watch us play, too.

I love being able to share this with them.

If you could break the last year down into highlights, what would stand out most?

Oh, it's not going to be any single moment or event.

Going to Memphis for the IBC was an honor and just mind blowing. Even though we didn't place, it led us to our gig at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival in Helena. We were on the Emerging Artist stage and had a pretty good draw. I think Chris was the youngest performer there. Next time, we want to be on the big stage with the big crowds!

With the CD... Chris, Mikey, and I had never been in a recording studio before July, so it was pretty exciting work with all the headphones and overdubs. Then, after the CD came out, it was picked up by Blues Deluxe Radio, which has over two million listeners. From there, we ended up on a compilation CD from Blues Revue with Robert Cray, Ike Turner, Aynsley Lister... really, that pretty much exceeded all our expectations.

We've been sending out CDs to Europe for play on radio there, too. We did an interview with a British blues magazine, NOW Toronto magazine, played NXNW, the Beaches Jazz Festival, and were nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award (in the blues category).

Along with being chosen for the 2007 IBC, our CD was submitted for the Best Self-Produced award. And we'll be performing at the Millenium Music Conference in Harrisburg, PA. just two weeks after Memphis.

There was also the trip to Hartford, Connecticut, where we taped an episode of The New Music Showcase (a public broadcasting TV show). We performed for 45-50 minutes and then did ten minutes of interviews.

And then there are the charity benefits we've played or are going to play. It's such a privilege to be asked to perform at these events. Getting on stage, setting the mood for the crowd, and hoping to get a lot of money for good causes, we get to do what we love to do while giving back to the community. It's a win/win situation.