Hey folks! Excited about the progress made on the pocket park at Miller Avenue (just off Main St, between Iron and Center Streets – or between Fog & Flame and the Exchange gallery), I just talked with Oren Helbok about playing a lunchtime show there tomorrow (May 26). So, from noon to 1pm, that’s what I’ll do. Bring a lunch, bring a lawnchair, bring a friend, or just show up for a minute or an hour.

Hey! I’m delighted to tell you that Susquehanna (Here it Comes Again) has yet another chapter in its long journey. Written and winner of 3rd prize in the Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest in 2011, performed onstage at BTE in Flood Stories, Too in 2013, it’s now on volume 3 of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association’s Songs of the Susquehanna. If you’re the type that buys CDs and wants a bit of Pennsylvania culture and history, here’s a good way to do that AND support a really good organization.

http://www.middlesusquehannariverkeeper.org/store/p21/Songs_of_the_Susquehanna_CD_albums.html

Hey folks! I’m excited to announce three shows in August.

The first is the August meeting of the River Poets on August 4 at 7pm. I’m the featured reader/musician. That’ll be followed by an open reading on the theme Struck by the Poetry Lightning Bolt. For this and all of these, check the “upcoming shows” tab for more information.

Second is the Sunday Brunch at Brewskis on Main Street in Bloomsburg, 11am to 1pm on August 7. Brewskis has quickly become a great (maybe the best?) place for live music on Main Street, and I’m delighted to be part of their Sunday Brunch series.

Third is the official release show on August 25 from 7 to 8:30pm, at the Exchange, also on Main Street in Bloomsburg. I’ll be joined by my cousin Katie Loomis-Adams, in from Vermont to play violin with me. (If you’ve heard the album, you’ve already heard Katie.) We’ve never played a public show together, so this is special.

Hey, everybody! I’ve gone far too long (five+ years, which is an eternity in internet time) without an update. But there’s news worth mentioning. First, on March 6 I’ll play a short Sunday morning show at the Priestley Chapel in Northumberland – first indoor gig since 2019!

Second is the big one: I’ve been working on my 4th album, tentatively called More Songs (can you find a better title?). I’m excited that the amazing fiddle playing of Katie Loomis-Adams graces 6 of these songs. Safa Saracoglu plays percussion on a few, and Jeremy dePrisco plays a bit of bass. (I’m excited about that too.) I’m recording this one at Green Valley Studios outside Hughesville; Jeremy is doing the mixing down in Philly. If you’ve heard me play in the last 5 years, you’ve heard a lot of these songs already, but they sound even better with Katie, Safa, Jeremy, and hopefully a few others on there. I hope to have something in hand by summer…stay tuned!

I’m really pleased to tell you that you can go listen to me in a 55-minute episode of Song of the Soul, a program hosted by Mark Helpsmeet of  Northern Spirit Radio in Wisconsin. I met Mark in April when he came through Bloomsburg with the Friendly Folk Dancers.

In Song of the Soul, Mark talks to musicians about their lives and inspirations and connects that with musical selections the guests have chosen. Since I (sometimes) write short songs, I managed to get 8 songs in there.

The air date was May 29, 2016. In case you’re reading this well after that, here’s a link for that particular episode:

Song of the Soul – Paul Loomis

In case that isn’t enough, there’s even some bonus material that didn’t fit in the 55 minutes.

Thanks to Mark Helpsmeet for giving me the opportunity to do this. It’s nice to be asked questions that make you think a bit.

Canoes. Kayaks. Kids. Pizza. Beer. Folk Music. Outdoors. All good.

I had a great time Saturday at Canoe & Brew, first kayaking 12 miles down the Susquehanna, then playing an hour of Paul Loomis songs, canal songs, and sea chanteys. I don’t often get to sing the line “one year they got a steamboat all the way to Nescopeck” just hours after navigating around Nescopeck Falls (which were, with the low river level, pretty wild). Spending five hours on the river with your audience also gives a rapport that most shows don’t have. So thanks, everyone!

Reverse angle. Note minimal gear.

Guitar not in kayak, disappointing many fellow kayakers.

Up next? This Friday, October 2, from 6-7:30pm, another no-microphone no-amp show, at the Antler, 24 E. Main St., Bloomsburg. There will be music all over Main St. from 6 to 9pm.

Lastly, no one ever seems to talk about album sales, so I will. When I made Dry Ridge, my first album, in the summer of 2004, I felt the moment someone who was not a friend or relative bought it, I could consider it a success. I spent $250 on recording and production and $300 or so for 100 discs. A few years later, I ordered 100 more. That CD came out in spring 2005, and in the ten ensuing years, I have sold 99 copies, many to family and friends. But also many to people I don’t (or didn’t yet) know, so it was a success.

I recorded and released Yuspe in 2009, spending more on recording and ordering more CDs. I still have hundreds, but every one I sell is (now) all profit. Yuspe has sold 94 copies in 6 years, even though I gave more away to family and friends.

I spent more time and money (and had lots of help from fellow musicians) on World Famous in Bloomsburg, and have benefited from Jeremy dePrisco’s marketing ideas. So WFIB has sold 96 copies in 10 months, with even more given away – especially to family who bought one or both of the first two.

Which will reach 100 first? I’ve been wondering for months, and didn’t think the three would get this close together. You can affect the outcome, you know…

{Note added October 15: Two days ago someone bought copy #100 of World Famous in Bloomsburg. Adjusting for population, I think that makes it Double Platinum in Bloomsburg.}

This year: More hair, more beard. My promise to you.

Hey folks! There’s a great stretch of gigs ahead: This Saturday (Sep 26), a show so good you have to paddle a canoe (or a kayak) 12 miles to see it! It’ll be about an hour of my usual set of originals mixed in with sea chanteys, canal songs, and other appropriate things that come to me at the time. This is part of the Shickshinny to Berwick edition of Canoe and Brew, a fun group of people paddling the Susquehanna in search of good beer, as the t-shirt says. Go to that website for details. We’ll be arriving at the Berwick Brewing Company sometime in the afternoon – the river is low low low these days. It’ll be great fun.

And then on Friday, October 2, I’ll be playing completely acoustically (that is, electricity-free) at the Antler, right on Main St. in Bloomsburg. This is part of a First Friday event that will have bands in lots of locations around Main St. from 6 to 9.

And then on Saturday, October 10, I’ll be at the Ferry St. Grower’s Market in Danville from 9am to noon. A Saturday morning in the fall is a good time to be out of the house. Come! Listen! Buy some good food too!

Retro photos, Kocher Park.

Lots of outdoor music this summer. As it should be. More coming for the fall – see the upcoming gigs page, and look for more information on these really soon!

Paul Loomis and John Huckans take the West End by storm.

Another good night at the West End open mic – a three-song set with John Huckans on tuba. Have to Pee, from World Famous in Bloomsburg, Lights Went Out, from Dry Ridge, and Devil on the Wild Side, a mix of Walk on the Wild Side and Devil Went Down to Georgia that I crafted about twenty years ago. It sounds much better with the tuba.

The tuba brings in the folks, too, from the other room with cellphone cameras, etc.

And how many people can tell “TUBA SOLO!” in the middle of a bluegrass song about having to leave your tent to go to the bathroom in the rain and have it actually happen? I only know of one, and he’s a happy guy.

Thanks to Darren Inman for the photo.