It’s playoff time in Montreal. There are few places that get more jacked up for this time of year. I really enjoy the intensity of this hockey. Even the marginal fan (although there seem to be few of those in this town) gets pulled in to the spirit. As a lifetime fan of the Buffalo Sabres, I can watch the Montreal angst from a distance, but I have to admit, I always root for them (except against the Sabres). But in more relevant news, Rob MacDonald and I are about to release a live album. …

Greetings! I’m sitting watching US Open tennis on TV on a cool September 5 afternoon. The end of an intense week of unseasonably hot weather, and in an upper duplex with no air conditioning, it was one of those times when we just had to embrace the environment. My nearly two-year-old son said “money” for the first time today. Truly. This morning. Soon he will put that question mark at the end with his hand out. But not yet. I think writing one hit song could be a good trick for …

By now, it is a standard blog opening for me to apologize that I haven’t written more blogs. If I go too far into this, the blog implodes, so to avoid that I will just say that I have several stock excuses that are available upon demand. Feel free to contact me. I’ve been incredibly happy to see the warmer weather arrive. There is an apple tree just behind our second-floor place in Montreal. It was in full bloom last week, to the point that when you stepped out onto the back balcony you were …

March Madness has begun. Roots music and basketball, do they mix? Please discuss. Yes they do for me. So the past while has been intense and busy but not with gigs. I’ve been working at some freelance writing for a few different projects. There are few feelings better for me than finishing a writing job late at night and feeling like the hours of musing, thinking and trying different approaches to get the information to work as you want it to were all worth it. It’s like writing a song. I can …

Hey everyone. Under the category of shameless self-promotion, I am posting some reviews down below. The first is in Penguin Eggs, Canada's premiere roots mag. I am being interviewed this week by the magazine for a feature interview in their next issue. I appreciate their coverage. There are also a couple live reviews there. I did two openers for a Massachusetts femal artist called Eilen Jewell. She and her band do a kind of alt-country thing... and they do it really well. Great groove and she just sings …

I am sitting in my familiar perch in the office near the window in my Montreal apartment, listening to Tom Waits on CBC Q. I wanted to send out a short and hopefully a little bit sweet Christmas blog. I don't have the sweetness planned. As this is one of those days when you are not supposed to work, I am treating this more conversationally. I truly don't want to be one of those people who is anchored to his computer. Or to my guitar although I would certainly choose the latter. This has been a busy year …

Hello to all of you who are following the blog. I won't begin this one with an "I'm sorry it's been so long" because that would just be repetitive from the last and the one before last I think. I've been busy. After a little tour in the northeast US including a gig at the legendary Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass, I'm in the UK on tour right now, staying at my agent's home in Devon for a few days as I do shows around the south coast of England. The landscape here is just stunning...gently …

Hi to everyone who has this on the screen! Thanks for following the sporadic Rob Lutes blog. First off, I am headed to Maine for week of vacation. Can’t wait. Before I go, my next show is late August in Trois Rivieres Blues Festival. Anyone in Montreal, please come check out the September 5 show with David Lutes (from Austin, TX) at Centre St-Ambroise! E-mail me to reserve tickets. All the dates on the Tour page here . Anyway, it’s probably more than a month since the last entry, and a busy …

Hey everyone: I just read that 95% of blogs lie dormant after a very short time... so I want to buck the trend and keep this one rolling. I am sitting in an old cottage in PEI, right near the water on the Northumberland Strait side of the island. In the distance I can see the "Fixed Link". I was living here in 1990 and 91 when the debate was really raging about whether a bridge should be built. I was against... a starry-eyed 21-year-old idealist. Now I realize it was probably a good idea. We …

Okay, so blogging requires me to turn my attention to the page once in a while. I’ll start doing that more regularly! In my defence, it’s been a busy time. After weekend shows on the 23, 24, 25 of May in Saskatchewan, I flew back to Montreal for one night before driving down to NYC and Philly, and then drove back to Montreal for a show on Friday. That show, a live hour in studio with Dan Behrman on the national French network of the CBC is available here . You get to hear live tunes with Rob …