On Tuesday, the 2nd installment of my “cover series” was released. With Aaron Tosti on drums, Justin Ward (of Scotty McCreery’s band) on pedal steel, and long-time collaborator Nathan Thomas doing the mixing, we took on Rilo Kiley‘s modern classic, Portions for Foxes. Nashville Scene named it one of their weekly “Fresh Tracks,” as well as saying “Cover master Shane Tutmarc… and a couple of his pals covered RK’s “Portions for Foxes,” and I’d say they did a nice job of it.” See the full feature: HERE. You can download it via iTunes, Amazon, or CD Baby.

And while Portions for Foxes was being released digitally, I was on a plane returning to Seattle for a series of shows with my long-time friend and NW sensation, Star Anna. Check out the banner above, and the show listings to the right to see if we are playing near you! As the shows progress, I will share more with you along the way. If you live around the NW, i will be seeing you soon!

Just wanted to keep you up-to-date with some cool stuff happening..

Our cover of Lana Del Rey‘s Ride, which has enjoyed near-“viral” status on YouTube garnering 2K views in less than 2 weeks, is now available for digital download! Nathan Thomas did a fresh mix/master for the download version, which has a much improved sound over the unmastered mix that’s been on YouTube. Featuring a cover photograph by Lauren Napier and a design by my brother Brandon Tutmarc, Ride is currently available via iTunes and CDBaby, but will be available thru Amazon and other digital outlets within 48 hours. Preview/buy: RIDE via iTunes,
RIDE via CDBaby.

Also – my good friend, Mary-Beth Blankenship has a photo of me is currently in the top 10 (out of 30+ photos) for Nashville Scene’s Photo Contest… but there is some stiff competition, so please share the link via email and social media to help out! The winner, apparently, gets the cover of Nashville Scene! How cool would that be?? See photo/vote: Nashville Scene Photo Contest.

Our second cover, in this series begun with Lana Del Rey’s Ride, has been sent to Nathan Thomas to be mixed. And look out for a special guest on this upcoming track!

After falling in love with Lana del Rey’s song and video for Ride, I decided to tackle my own version. I mostly recorded it at home by myself, but I brought in my longtime buddy and collaborator Aaron Tosti to provide the drums. Another longtime collaborator, Nathan Thomas mixed and mastered the song. We will have a digital release very soon! Check out the video for now…

Take a look at the EPK for our upcoming album. There’s interviews, photos and live footage that tells the story of the making of the album and the personal growths that came with it. Keep checking the sidebar for upcoming shows. There’s some Nashville stuff coming up as well as some more NW dates in late March/early April! More soon…

On Friday, September 14th we completed the mix for the still untitled next album. I couldn’t be happier with the results. It’s really a leap forward from any of my previous work. It’s been a busy summer since I last updated. Between finishing up the record, we also had the privilege to open a string of out-of-town shows for – the “Queen of Rockabilly – Wanda Jackson! I also made a cameo in her new video, Tore Down directed by my friend, Seth Graves. Look for me towards the end.
Backstage before our Birmingham,AL show opening for Wanda, I was interviewed by Birmingham’s Shine Spring Farms Podcast. You can listen to the interview HERE, which also debuts 3 songs from our upcoming record. Look forward to some changes around this website as we gear up for this heavy fall of working to get this record out.

It’s looking like we are down to the last session (maybe two) before finishing this new record. Mostly just background vocals/harmonies is all that’s remaining. While you wait to hear these recordings… here’s all the live videos I could gather that have songs from the next record. While some of the songs have changed drastically before being recorded, you should be able to get a good idea of the direction of the record. Enjoy!

Hey friends – I’ve been slacking on the website again. That usually is a good thing though, meaning I’ve been busy. I just got back last night from a great week and a half in Seattle. Played a string of shows with The Dusty 45s, visited Sharlese at KEXP and debuted some new songs on the air, helped Three Imaginary Girls celebrate their 10th anniversary at Chop Suey, and wrapped up the trip playing the beautiful Columbia City Theater. Here’s a video from Saturday night’s Columbia City show…

Tonight kicks off our mini-tour with the Cave Singers. We play Caledonia Lounge tonight in Athens, GA and tomorrow night we open for both Dan Sartain and The Cave Singers at The Earl in Atlanta. Ticket info is available on our shows page… and here’s our facebook event for the show.

We are over halfway done with the record now. After the initial whirlwind day and half which gave us all our basic tracks (drums, bass, organ/piano, and some guitar) we have since gone back and tracked more guitars, which we will continue tomorrow in the studio. After we get all the guitars done, we bring in the horns and the backing vocals, and at some point in between there I will be finishing up my vocals.

But let me back up and tell you a little about the players on this record. I brought in my good friend, Zach Setchfield on lead guitar. who has been playing live with me since about January. He’s one of the best guitarists I’ve ever worked with. And I’ve worked with many good players over the years, but Zach has a way of knowing exactly what to play with very little direction. I appreciate that. On keys
(mostly Hammond B3) we have Josh Shilling, who in addition to being a versatile singer/songwriter has also toured with Tower of Power and more recently he joined the acclaimed bluegrass ensamble, Mountain Heart. On bass we have the studio legend, Michael Rhodes, who can be heard on recordings by everyone from Rodney Crowell and Conway Twitty to Etta James! And on drums, we have Chad Cromwell, who has been Neil Young’s drummer since the late ’80s, as well as playing with Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits and many others. With this amazing “wrecking crew” we were able to track 12 songs in a day and half. The most takes we ever had to do was three, and that was on only one song! If everything continues to cruise as smoothly we should have this album wrapped up by early May.

Click HERE for a photo gallery from the sessions via our facebook page.

Hey friends,
there has been a lot going on behind-the-scenes lately. Some of which I can talk about now. In just over 2 weeks I will be going into the studio to cut a new album! I can’t believe it has nearly been 3 years since the release of Shouting at a Silent Sky. I’ve probably written enough for about 3 very different records, but we have whittled those songs down to a very focused batch of tunes that I can’t wait to record and share with everyone. Let me tell you a little bit about the team I have assembled for this record. The sessions will be co-produced by RJ Stillwell, a Tennessee-native and modern day renaissance-man with experience as a studio/touring musician, production and management, and even work in film and TV, as well as the founder of Sound Healthcare. His most recent project involved co-producing and managing the country-duo The Devious Angels. The other producer on the album is legendary studio musician and arranger, Mike Leech. Starting in the mid-60s at American Sound Studio in Memphis, Mike played bass, percussion and many of the string and horn arrangements for the likes of ELVIS, Joe Tex, Dusty Springfield, and The Box Tops (to name just a few). After American Sound closed in the early 70s, he moved to Nashville and worked with Willie Nelson, John Prine, and was even a touring musician for The Highwaymen and subsequent Merle Haggard tours. I’m very excited to be added to his illustrious list of credits. Check out the full list over at All Music Guide.

There will be a room full of great musicians (which I will tell you about later), as well as a horn section, and lots of back-up vocals. We’re thinking a mix of vintage Memphis Soul with a healthy dose of unpolished rough edges. I’m continuing to write until I walk thru the studio doors, so I can’t give you a full track-listing yet. But if you’ve been to a show over the last year or so, you will definitely recognize a few of them.

I am also looking forward to getting back to my hometown of Seattle for a string of shows. I should have some sort of sampler of my new album ready by then, so Seattle will probably be the first place to hear the new music. You can already buy tickets to my show at the Tractor Tavern opening for the great Dusty 45s on May 25th. Order tickets here.

One more thing to share… I’ve started writing for a great new online magazine that focuses on music history. My first article was published in late January. If you are at all interested in pre-Beatles rock and roll take a look at the article, and feel free to leave me a comment with your thoughts. Read it here.

I promise more studio/recording details as the dates approach, and once we begin tracking. More soon!