Dirk Hamilton is one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our time. Dirk's music gets me right in the gut. There have been times I've left the stage with him feeling like I just came out of a spiritual revival. His songs make me laugh and cry all at once. Wow.

Early in 2002, Dirk gave me a call. He had heard about me from my great buddy Pat Cambell. Much to my chagrin, I hadn't yet become familiar with Dirk's music, but that changed in a hurry. It turns out that Dirk has a huge fan base in Europe, and particularly in Italy, where he has been invited to play tours year after year - he has done the Italian tour at least fourteen times. He was getting ready to go on tour number 13, and he needed a keyboard player. Even though he had never heard me play before, he hired me over the telephone from Texas. I'll bet that made him a little nervous! But it all turned out great. I got to travel overseas and play for some great audiences - and these folks just love Dirk.

We played in ancient opera houses and theaters, outside in beautiful plazas and at the foot of incredible castles and cathedrals. During our last night there, we played in a little opera house in Ferarra. This was a magic night. We were all in a great mood and felt like we were victorious soldiers returning home, as Ferarra is Dirk's home base in Italy. We had tried to make recordings during our entire trip, but for various reasons, we couldn't make it happen. Reasons like a bolt of lightning that disabled the studio. Torrential storms at a live gig. Etc. But for some reason, this show went off without a hitch, and the entire night was captured on digital tape. We weren't just dreaming - these recordings came out great, and quickly recreate the magic that happened that night.

That's how this killer CD was born, but that's not all. It was snatched up by Horizon Records and now folks from all over the world are giving a big thumbs up to Dirk for his first commercial live recording. The whole show was also captured on video by an experienced crew and was produced on DVD for sale in Europe. Dirk really wanted his American fans to be able to enjoy this video, and went through great strains to make it available in the U.S. The DVD and CD are both available now and can be purchased at Dirk's web site.

Here are samples of the songs on the album. With permission from Dirk, I put four full length samples here for you to enjoy. One of the songs, "Black Dog Blues", was played early in the show and was a tremendous ramp-up for the excitement that was to follow. Another full length song available here for download is called "Billboard on the Moon". Dirk traditionally had done this piece with accoustic guitar accompaniment, but since he had me along with him he thought it might be interesting to try this beautifully touching song using mostly piano accompaniment. The results are here for you to hear. It was a major thrill for me to have had the opportunity to back him up on this tune, and that night signified one of the best performances we did.

Also included are full versions of two more songs. "Colder Than Mexican Snow" is a popular Hamilton favorite, and "On a Volcano" was co-authored by Dirk and song writing buddy, the master basist Eric Westphal.  The other music samples are one-minute snippets and highlights of the other tunes we played that night.

A tremendous debt of thanks goes out to Dirk for letting me play with him and for giving me one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. Thanks Dirko!

Enjoy!