So, we’re definitely late with this, but … it’s still before the show!

• 26 Apr 2007, Lynchburg, VA
• 27 Apr 2007, Montreat, NC
• 29 Apr 2007, Vienna, VA
• 30 Apr 2007, Raleigh, NC
• 1 May 2007, Greenville, SC
• 2 May 2007, Jacksonville, FL
• 6 May 2007, Nashville, TN

The band will be Derek doing all his Derek-y things, Cason Cooley and Andrew Osenga splitting bass guitar duties when not playing their standard instruments, and Paul Eckberg on drums. It’ll be awesome.

I’ll be at the Nashville show if you go.

Later on, we confirmed that Manchester is also a full-band show. Now it’s back to being an acoustic show.

So on Thursday night, I made the drive down to Birmingham to hear our man DW play some tunes. I haven’t seen him since I last interviewed him, so it was good to see him, much less hear him. As you would expect, I took along my recording gear, so a bootleg of the show exists. It’s worth grabbing.

Now the really interesting part comes when Derek starts playing both some old Caedmon’s songs and some … new ones? How would he know what’s going on there? Seems a bit confusing to us … there has to be more to it. We shall see.

For the record, Derek’s full-band tour in support of The Ringing Bell will crank up this week. Derek’s site has the info, but we’ll have it up here just as soon as we can.

Back in late February, I was in Nashville for the weekend, and I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Derek about The Ringing Bell. Understand as you listen that some things may have been revealed since then that make me sound like a complete idiot, but … hey, isn’t that part of the fun? [And yes, I sound like I'm high, sick, and hyper. It's awesome.]

I’ll chop this up later into smaller pieces and put them together so that discussions about individual songs will be available, but … I’m already overdue in getting this to you. Enjoy. If nothing else, you’ll understand “Can’t Be Without You” better after listening to this.

So, you’ve gone to TheRingingBell.com and done your pre-ordering. You’ve got the tunes. You … just aren’t sure what the lyrics are. Maybe Derek’s spitting them out too fast … maybe the guy in the cube next to yours has the Alanis Morissette “My Humps” spoof/slam music video on YouTube up too loud. [Again.] Whatever. You need the lyrics, don’t you?

Well, thanks to Derek’s management, we have the lyrics for you. It’s all on our page about The Ringing Bell. Sorry that it took me a while to get it up … I’ve had the data and have been alternately too busy and lazy to post it. But now you have it.

[While we're on the subject of "too busy/too lazy", you may feel free to pingflood me in the comments with requests for the interview I did with Derek back in February that talks about the album. I was saving the lyrics work and polishing on this interview until the end of April, and then TheRingingBell.com preleases kinda came up on me fast and I didn't get it done. I suck. You can berate me for it until I post the MP3 if you like. I won't complain. :)]

If we told you that you could pre-order The Ringing Bell today, get a digital download of the entire album, and get the deluxe version that includes a 98-page graphic novel that interweaves with The Ringing Bell, all for $20, all today … would you think we were pulling an April Fool’s Day joke of epic proportions?

Well, we’re not. Or maybe we are. But perhaps you should check out TheRingingBell.com and find out if we are or not.

Update, 2 Apr: Some technical and coordination delays, not a desire to make me look like a really bad AFD pranker, pushed the launch to today, but it is indeed up and available.