On February 22^nd, Sol Driven Train will be performing a hometown show at the Charleston Music Hall in celebration of their album release of Underdog. Everyone who attends the CD release party will receive a copy of the album and a portion of proceeds will go to benefit the Jerry Zucker Ride for Hope, an annual South Carolina fundraiser for cancer charities.

For media inquiries, including album and interview requests, please contact: Crissa Requate(crissa@masonjarmedia.com) at Mason Jar Media (828-337-6002).

Confirmed Underdog Spring Tour Dates
**Opening for Tim Reynolds and TR3
2/7/2013              The Well                                      Knoxville, TN
2/8/2013              Gottrocks                                     Greenville, SC
2/15/2013            The Hamilton                               Washington, DC
2/16/2013            Clementine                                  Harrisonburg, VA
2/22/2013            Charleston Music Hall                   Charleston, SC
2/23/2013            Soapbox                                       Wilmington, NC
3/8/2013              Visulite Theatre                           Charlotte, NC
3/9/2013              Smith’s Ole Bar                            Atlanta, GA
3/10/2013            Capital Oyster Bar                        Montgomery, AL
3/12/2013            Real Life Real Music Radio           The Woodlands, TX
3/15/2013            Luna Live                                     Lake Charles, LA
3/16/2013            Mid City Lanes                             New Orleans, LA
3/17/2013            Happy Harbor                               Orange Beach, AL
3/21/2013            The Bamboo Room                       Lake Worth, FL**
3/22/2013            Skippers Smokehouse                  Tampa, FL**
3/23/2013            Spirit of the Suwannee                Live Oak, FL
3/24/2013            SpringJam                                    Charleston, SC
3/30/2013            Hannah’s Haus                             Beaufort, NC
4/12/2013            Down Home                                 Johnson City, TN
4/13/2013            Albino Skunk Festival                   Greer, SC
4/16/2013            The Melting Point                        Athens, GA
4/18/2013            Funky Biscuit                               Boca Raton, FL
4/19/2013            The Green Parrot                         Key West, FL
4/20/2013            The Green Parrot                         Key West, FL
4/21/2013            The Green Parrot                         Key West, FL
4/23/2013            Paradise Bar & Grill                      Pensacola, FL
4/24/2013            Paradise Bar & Grill                      Pensacola, FL

We have some time off over the holiday season to spend time with loved ones, play some music with our side projects, and reflect on the busy year ahead of us.  We’d like to invite you to celebrate the arrival of the new year with us at the Charleston Pour House.  Heck, come for the whole year-end weekend and enjoy some other great bands  playing at the Pour House.

12/28 Perpetual Groove and Old You
12/29 Dangermuffin and American Aquarium
12/30 Mama’s Love and Gaslight Street
12/31 Sol Driven Train

Visit www.charlestonpourhouse.com for tickets and details

We’re very excited to begin 2013 with our 4th annual Virgin Islands Tour.  Join us in paradise Jan.16-28, 2013 for shows on St. Thomas and St. John.

2013 Virgin Islands Tour

Wednesday, 1/16 – Latitude 18 – St. Thomas
Thursday, 1/17 – Jack’s Bight – St. Thomas
Friday, 1/18 – Beach Bar – St. John
Saturday, 1/19 – Island Blues – St. John
Sunday, 1/20 – Beach Bar – St. John
Monday, 1/21 – Island Blues – St. John
Tuesday, 1/22 – SS Kekoa Musical Sail – St. John
Wednesday, 1/23 – TBA
Thursday, 1/24 – Iggie’s – St. Thomas
Friday, 1/25 – SS Kekoa Musical Sail – St. John
Saturday, 1/26 – Montessori School Fundraiser – St. Thomas
Sunday, 1/27 – Hull Bay Hideaway – St. Thomas

When we get back from the Virgin Islands, we’ll be releasing our new album, Underdog.  Some of you who supported our Kickstarter fund-raising effort may have already received your advance copy.  If you didn’t help us kickstart this thing, you’ll have to wait until Feb.5th, 2013 when the album will be available for sale online and through local record stores (just kidding, those don’t exist anymore).  Or you can tune into Sirius/XM’s “Jam On” to hear our song “Lady from Chiang Mai” from the upcoming Underdog release.  We’ll be supporting the new album with tour dates stretching from Texas to NYC in the first quarter of next year.  Save the date:  Feb.22, 2013 CD Release party in Charleston.  Stay tuned for an exciting announcement about the wonderful venue will be   taking over for a Sol Driven Train CD Release Party!

Wishing you a happy, safe holiday season,
Joel, Ward, Russell, Rusty, and Wes

We’re in the midst of our Fall Tour, and it is going great.  We’ve been travelling from festival to festival, and meeting smiling faces at every stop.  The food was delicious in Louisiana at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival, Seafood Festival, and Red River Revel, and we had a wonderful time catching up with old friends at the Sautee Jamboree, Albino Skunk Festival, and Lake Eden Arts Festival closer to home.  I’m writing to you from Key West, Florida, currently in the midst of Fantasy Fest!  We’ll be here at the Green Parrot for three nights!

For many of these events, we have to rush in and then rush out to the next gig.  It’s nice when we can stay for a few days and really get a taste of what each festival has to offer.  We got to spend nearly a week around beautiful Asheville, NC recently for the Lake Eden Arts Festival.  We got paired up with a local school through the festival, and spend the first part of the week teaching the students some of our children’s songs and a simplified version of our percussion piece.  Fall is a beautiful time in the Southern Appalachians, and we enjoyed getting outside during the afternoons for some hiking and paddling.  We played 3 sets at LEAF, including a saturday morning set with the students that went great!  After that set, our work was done, and I set to enjoying the festival immediately.  I caught some music: Appalachian Rising, Your Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Tinariwen, Mickey Hart, Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Footloose, Darrell Scott, and some more I’ve forgotten.  I also got on the contra dance floor, and rediscovered my love for this form of high-energy square dancing.  I finished up saturday night with a trip to the drum circle, and played until 6am.  What a blast!

After 3 nights of madness down here at Fantasy Fest, we’ll head north for shows in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas for the rest of the year.  We’ll be finishing out the year at home in Charleston with our annual New Year’s Eve celebration at the Charleston Pour House.  Oh, yeah, then we’re heading down to the US Virgin Islands for our annual tour, Jan.16-28,2013.  Check out the facebook event here for more info.

I’m happy to announce that we’ve got the cover artwork for our upcoming album, Underdog.  Thanks to Kevin Curran at Charleston Graphics for the cool painting!

The album will be released in February 2013.  Stay tuned for an exciting announcement regarding our Underdog CD Release Tour!
Thanks for listening, and we hope to see you soon!
Joel and Sol Driven Train

We’ll be wrapping up this tour at an outstanding musical festival.  The Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival takes place September 14-16 at the Birthplace of Country Music, Bristol, TN.  Along with such legends as Robert Earl Keen, Sam Bush Band, and Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, the lineup features younger bands like Dr. Dog, Delta Spirit, Tift Merritt, Steep Canyon Rangers, and a strong representation from the Charleston music scene: Shovels and Rope, Megan Jean and the KFB, James Justin Burke and Co., and Sol Driven Train.  Tickets are still on sale for just $40 until August 31.  Visit bristolrhythm.com for full lineup and details about this amazing event.

After Bristol, we’ll head back to Charleston for a week off the road before our Fall Festival Tour begins.  While we’re home, we’re going to be a part of a special benefit concert for a friend of ours.  Local guitarist and vocalist Nick Collins was severely injured in a car accident on August 3rd. Through tremendous love, prayer and God’s grace, Nick and his family are experiencing a miracle.  Signs of recovery, stories of hope and a sense of peace are emerging, though his recovery will certainly be long and costly.  Awendaw Green has teamed up with a host of local bands for NAC Wins Awendaw Green, a fundraising concert for Nick on Sunday, September 23rd, including Sol Driven Train, Fowler’s Mustache, The Reckoning, Ten Toes Up, Danielle Howle with Firework Show, Killer Whales, Stained Glass Wall, Gracious Day, and A Fragile Tomorrow.  Food and drinks will be available for purchase at this all day event, and proceeds will go to a fund to help with Nick’s medical costs.

To donate to the “NAC Wins” fund to help with medical costs, visit:
http://www.gofundme.com/106bn0
To follow Nick’s story and receive updates about his recovery, visit:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nickcollins
We’ll kick off our Fall Festival Tour in late September with a slew of festivals across the South:  The Sautee Jamboree, The Albino Skunk Festival, The Red River Revel, The Voice of the Wetlands Festival, and The Lake Eden Arts Festival.  Oh yeah, and Fantasy Fest at the Green Parrot in Key West.

Many folks have been asking about the progress of the new album, Underdog.  We are quite anxious to release it, but are taking our time to get the artwork and packaging just right.  After a busy September and October tour schedules, things will slow down for us for the rest of 2012.  It’s important to have a full tour schedule supporting the release of a new album, so we are going to wait until the beginning of 2013 to release Underdog.  Those of you that helped us out on kickstarter, we’ll send you your copy as soon as we get it!

We are planning Sol Driven Train’s Virgin Islands Tour 2013.  We’ll be playing shows on St. Thomas and St. John, January 15-28, 2013.  Stay tuned for specifics.  Interested in coming?  Email beachsidepromotions@gmail.com, and we’ll send you info about accomodation packages and activities while in da islands!

We couldn’t do this without y’all!

Joel, Ward, Russ, Rusty, and Wes

Greetings from the Interstate,

Sol Driven Train is back on the road for our summer tour.  We had nearly two weeks in Charleston, and we were treated with beautiful weather, beach days, time with family and friends, growing gardens, and the delicious, salty air of home.  Our side projects played around town from Sullivan’s Island to Folly Beach.  A new music video was shot on Johns Island, and we marched in a parade with Bill Murray.

 We kicked off this tour at Patriot’s Point, sending our music across Charleston Harbor with over 2,000 people in attendance!  Fowler’s Mustache did a great job warming up the crowd of beautiful people.  Thanks to everyone who came out and made it such a fun night.  Thanks to Charleston SUP Safaris for providing our stand-up paddleboard entrance to the point!

Now we’re back on the highway, with summer tour dates stretching from Nantucket to Key West.  We played yesterday at Belle Farms in Long Creek, SC for the Chattooga River Festival.  After our midday set nestled between the apple trees and grape vines, we hit the river for some paddling fun!  Touring can be hazardous to your health, and it’s a challenge to remain active and to eat healthy while traveling in a band.  Some of the things I enjoy most about touring in the summertime are all the recreational possibilities and fresh local produce along the way!  Nothing better than eating some mixed berry cobbler from Belle Farms before challenging the whitewater of section 4 on the Chattooga.  Props to Russ for kayaking it!

This summer tour looks to be packed full of highlights: 3 nights on Nantucket, New York City with George Porter, Jr. of the Funky Meters, The US Whitewater Center in Charlotte with Eric Lindell and Tab Benoit, a weeks worth of shows through Georgia and Florida with Tab, 3 nights in Key West at the Green Parrot, Downtown After 5 in Asheville, our own two-day festival at the beach (keep reading for more info…), and then a trip out west to Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana!  Check our tour schedule to see when we’re coming near you, or make a road trip to one of the wonderful locations we’re visiting this summer.
Nothing beats the Carolina coast, it’s the shore we love the most!

We’ve nearly finished two music videos for songs from the upcoming Underdog album.  If you haven’t seen the video for “One More Day” featuring Elise Testone of American Idol, check it out here for a sneak preview of an unreleased song from the new album.  The cover artwork is nearly finished, as well.  Look for a release date announcement soon…

thanks for listening, and we’ll see ya soon!

Joel, Ward, Russ, Rusty, and Wes

We also very excited to announce that 180 people pitched in and helped us reach our Underdog album fundraising goal.  The album is back from mastering, and we’re working on getting the artwork together, and figuring out our diabolical marketing plan for this project.  We’ll be releasing a sneak preview soon…  We’re excited to have made a video for our new song “One More Day.”  This song features guest vocalist Elise Testone (currently on American Idol!), and tells the story of our “extra day” on tour in the Virgin Islands last year.  Watch American Idol next wednesday and vote for Elise!  As far as a release date for Underdog goes, well…  we’ll let you know as soon as we do!

We’re also going to be making a music video for Rusty’s song, “Guest List.”  We need extras!  If you’d like to be in the video shoot, April 12 in Charleston, SC, send an email to ramblingjoel@yahoo.com, subject “Guest List Video.”

Click here to go to Kickstarter!