hello friends,

¡LA PRIMAVERA ESTA AQUI! SPRING IS HERE!

¡ya terminamos nueva york! yes, we're finished with ¡nueva york! and it's coming your way this june.

I couldn't be happier with the music, the package, the friendships that have come as a result of the recording, and of course, the plans to play these tunes for you as we tour the country (and the u.k. and australia) during the next year. if you want to be the first on your block to have our follow up to catch that train click here to order ¡nueva york! 17 songs from various parts of latin america, recorded with the spirit of celebration and collaboration in new york city.

our guests on this cd include lila downs, daphne rubin-vega, the villa-lobos brothers, la cumbiamba eNeYé, marc ribot, la bruja, silvia sierra, and bernardo palombo, the founder of el taller the latino americano workshop – the cultural beating heart of the upper west side where I started taking spanish lessons a few years ago and where the idea for this cd was first developed with bernardo in the long musical times after class.

it's been immensely satisfying to have the incredible derick grant tap dancing at so many of our shows this year

the spring tour has been fantastic so far. the band has never sounded better, danced harder, and jumped higher off the stage and the audiences have never sung with as much gusto as they do these days. it does seem that people are coming to the shows ready to make some noise and dance with wild abandon. ...and speaking of singing and dancing with wild abandon, we are going to have the dynamic tap dancer

derick grant and the wonderful father goose appropriately joining us in the city of brotherly love, philadelphia so get ready! here's your big chance to say "hello! hi!" to the goose in person and ask him to sign your copy of his latest cd "it's a bam bam diddly!"

sonia de los santos joined me at a local rally for immigrant and worker rights in union square, nyc

may 1st was international workers day not a party but a rally for immigrant and worker rights here in new york city. all around the country people of all backgrounds assembled and marched to call for immigration reform and justice for all workers and families here in the u.s. our friends from the new sanctuary movement were at the event and on may 8th they'll be celebrating their one-year anniversary at the riverside church in new york city. in case you are not familiar with them, here is the first paragraph of the new sanctuary movement pledge:

"the new sanctuary movement is a coalition of interfaith religious leaders and participating congregations, called by our faith to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our immigrant brothers and sisters residing in the united states."

most of what I know about the tragedies of unjust deportations taking place in the u.s. I've learned from the new sanctuary movement. we're going release a gospel compilation called the welcome table: songs of inspiration, mystery, and hope later this summer to help raise awareness about their fantastic and important work. in the meantime, here they are! http://www.newsanctuarymovement.org

john and elena keep things fun on the road

the blog is looking pretty fresh thanks to recent postings from johnny and elena. and in more band news: saskia is taking tuba lessons. johnny started playing banjo and is finishing up his solo album. elena just learned the spoons. sonia is picking up the mexican jarana guitar, and colin has written and recorded almost 60 songs in the past year. I'm honored to be hanging around with these people — they are a constant source of inspiration.

and so are you (and your family bands)...

thank you to everyone who has emailed in requests, it really helps keep us on our musical toes. we're digging deep into the catalog for deep tracks to play at shows just for you. I have so many other things I want to tell you but it's getting late after a weekend of dance parties I have to get some rest. hope to see you all dancing very soon!

love,
dan