Hope all is well with you.   As you may have read or heard, this past Spring I was having trouble with my voice and went to an excellent local Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. He diagnosed an injury (a hematoma) to my left vocal fold (vocal cord). At his suggestion, over the summer I worked with a Speech Pathologist to try to reduce the harm to my voice with some vocal exercises. In late August I went back to the ENT who said that the problem was still there and he referred me to a specialist in San Francisco named Dr. Clark Rosen.

Dr. Rosen told me that I was in danger of doing permanent career-ending damage to my voice. At this point, he believes that I can fully recover and may be able to heal without surgery, but only with a much longer vocal rest. The plan is for me to tour England in October as planned, but with some precautions to avoid hurting myself, and then I will get off the road and rest my voice until January. At that point Dr. Rosen will see if I am healed, and if not, we will consider surgery. Needless to say this is all pretty strange, since I make my living primarily by talking and singing, but I am determined not destroy my voice permanently.

Here are the conditions under which he has allowed me to do the shows in October: 
-  I will not be talking other than during the concerts.
- I will not do any concerts without a microphone
- I will find friends to handle the CD table for me so that I'm not trying to talk above the background noise.

Those of you who know me, know how much I love to talk, so this will all be pretty challenging, but you can help me! If you are planning to attend any of the UK shows and would be willing and able to help out at the CD table, please send me an email and let me know. I have some shows covered already, but not all.

For those who are wondering about progress on "Cerulean Sky", the good news is that we are in the final stages finishing up the album.  Unfortunately, it will not be ready in time for the UK tour, but should be out in time for the holidays.

Thanks to all who have supported me through this challenging time. I will do everything I can to keep the music coming!

       All the best,
        Dave

If you are in England, I hope to see you at one or more of the shows this October!  I'll perform songs from previous albums and some new ones from the upcoming CD "Cerulean Sky". Here are the dates.  Tickets are going quickly, so make sure to reserve now.  I'll start off in Eastbourne, where we had a standing room only crowd last time. 3 Oct -  Lamb Folk Club - Eastbourne - MORE INFO 5 Oct - Music at the Unicorn - Abingdon - MORE INFO 6 Oct - Uxbridge Folk Club - Hillingdon - MORE INFO w/guest Amy Goddard 10 Oct- Lowdham WI Hall - Lowdham - MORE INFO From 11 October through 18 October I'll be joined by special guests, my friends Plumhall (Michelle Plum and Nick Hall). 11 Oct - Elland Golf Club - Elland  - MORE INFO 12 Oct - Brigsteer Village Hall - Brigsteer - MORE INFO 13 Oct - Black Dyke Mills - Queensbury - MORE INFO 14 Oct - Spread Eagle Inn - Sawley - MORE INFO 18 Oct - St. Oswald's Church - Malpas - MORE INFO Then, a few more shows as I close out the tour: 19 Oct - Farncombe Music Club - Farncombe - MORE INFO 20 Oct - The Stables Stage 2 - Milton Keynes - MORE INFO Sold out last time! 21 Oct  - Gayton Village Hall - Gayton - MORE INFO benefiting the Macmillan Cancer Support organization