Bobbo Byrnes

Tour Journal, September 8, 2026

For some reason I thought Swiss Air would be more organized than this. While checking in I get a notice that they have oversold the flight and are looking for volunteers to take a later flight. I consider it but they are not offering any incentive to do so - just take a later flight and no guarantee that they’d get me to Bremen the next day. I had built in a buffer for travel so I would’ve been a great candidate for that but I pass.

My bags are ridiculously heavy this year as books are proving to be more cumbersome to travel with than CDs or even vinyl records. I guess this is obvious but holy crap they are heavy. I had looked into shipping them ahead so I wouldn’t have to carry them but the cheapest service to ship from California to Germany was quoting me just under $600 for 18 books. So instead I bought an extra suitcase and I can fit 20 books in each suitcase and it ends up costing me half as much for twice as many books in the two extra suitcases on board the plane. Logistics and economics are boring for tour journals.

But if you saw the little video Tracy took before I left - I had a small backpack with toiletries and essentials, a checked backpack with my clothes for six weeks, a second checked rolling suitcase full of books and a third checked suitcase full of books AND a guitar. Physically I can carry it all with the added shoulder strap on the guitar case but it is heavy. The two suitcases of books are both weighed in at 48 lbs each (almost 23 kg - the max allowed)

I am a touring pack mule.

Landing in Bremen and I am pleasantly surprised that all my luggage arrives unscathed. My guitar is left by itself all alone no where near the baggage carousel but I find it just by walking around and spot it by the an equally abandoned customer service window. Three of the five latches are undone but the guitar is fine.

I booked myself into a hotel by the Weser river to try and acclimate myself and sleep off the jet lag before I see folks and it nearly works. Hotel Nena is nice, it’s just a room with a bed and not much space to do anything beyond sleeping. I end up sliding an end table over to the side of the bed to finalize the ordering of the next (fifth) pressing of books.

Book promo and book thinking have been in the front of my mind for a while now and I’ve been rehearsing my show at home to bring to Europe on tour but making that switch in my head has not been smooth. I know how to sing and play guitar and put on shows but my thinking keeps getting distracted by bookstuffs.

Saturday.

Jeanette has been booking me to play the Open Air Verden show for years now. I have historically been late almost every time. It’s unlike me and it really bothers me. When it first happened it was kind of because it was Tracy, Ben and I not waking up early on tour and being somehow always forgetting that Verden was just a little further away than we thought. Jeanette has had to rearrange performance times around our tardiness a few times. I even remember one time when we played unplugged in Verden square and another time when we played Verden’s horse festival.*

So today I have no excuse - I’m going to be early.

…and I show up late.

Not terribly late though. Just like, if I wanted a soundcheck, I should’ve been here at 10:30 am but I have never had a soundcheck (because I’ve always been late for this gig) and just assumed it was like plug in and play, because that’s what I’ve always done! So the show started at 11, I was here by 11:05 and in plenty of time for my noontime set.

Some freind/fans have shown up to see me and they buy books before I even start. The European Companion version of Too Many Miles is proving to be an interesting thing - it’s a 100 page, selected stories from TMM but in German just for this tour.**

Tina is doing my introduction today and she buys one of the TMM European Companion books and asks “Is there anything special you’d like me to tell the audience before you start?” “Yes, please let them know that I am an American that hates Donald Trump.”

As I plug in my guitar, Tina is introducing me and I’m a little distracted by what I’m doing but when I hear her say Trump’s name all the folks in the audience cheer at her clarification of my political leanings.

It’s a fun, albeit, short set and short visit with my friends in Verden. As I’m playing I notice a couple with a baby in the second row and the woman has taken her jacket off and I see that she’s wearing one of my t-shirts. My show gets some terrific wind gusts that make folks grab the legs of the easy up to make sure it stays put and as we start to pack up, the rain drops start falling. Pretty perfect timing actually.

Making the rounds to talk to as many folks as I can and I finally get over to the couple with the baby. The baby laughs and smiles as I say hello. “This is her first concert.” They tell me. I am honored.

I drive back to my hotel, drive my car onto the elevator and ride it down to the parking garage, return to my room and fall asleep for 5 hours. I wake up in time to walk over to MA (the name of the restaurant) that overlooks the Weser River and I order a schnitzel and a glass of Merlot. Return to my hotel room and lie awake until after 3:30 am. I use this time to Google myself and see where the latest mentions of Too Many Miles have shown up - MusicIndustryweekly.com / Canadianbeats.ca / Portalsplishsplash.com in Brazil / Spielemagazin.de in Germany / Netfan.pl in Poland / CashboxCanada.ca / Recordworldinternational.com / Tinnitist.com in Canada / Broadwayworld.com and Findyoursounds.com in Wales, U.K. !!!

It’s strange trying to understand what the online world can mean. I’m still primarily an in-person musical salesman but I checked my website analytics to see if there’s been any change since all this publicity. Typically my website gets 20-30 visits per day. September 4th saw an uptick to over 1000 visits - just that day. Folks getting downloads and what-not. I offer the digital versions of my music as a “pay what you want” and it’s nice to see that being utilized but I only get notified if someone pays for the downloads and I didn’t get any notifications.

What else is strange is the locations of my top viewers (40+ visits) - Virginia, USA. San Jose, CA. Iowa. Paris, France. Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dublin, Ireland. Toronto, Canada. Wales U.K. and all over Australia.

I don’t pretend to understand it alol and I think it would be a brag if it also corresponded to lots of sales. Instead I’m left with a strange feeling of being seen that I feel grateful for but also like…what does this mean?

Then I get an interview request from Tofu Dave for his show “Between the Covers” on Chapel Hill, NC’s WCOM radio and a request for music as well. I look it and him up and it’s a great, in-depth interviewer who is known for researching his guests and having great conversations. So that’s cool.

*There was even a very funny picture of Tracy, Ben, Julian (our drummer on that tour) and me watching a pantomime horse rolling on the ground in front of us - and the picture was the front page of the local newspaper!
**Shoutout to my cousin Natalie for the German translation!

———————————
Tour Journal. September 8, 2026 (part two)

Sunday.

I am always excited to return to Heike’s Garden. It’s like a homecoming in Bremen for me with lots of fans who are now friends coming out to see me.

The last time I played the Garden it was super hot and humid and I remember being a sweaty mess before we even started playing. Today is absolutely beautiful weather, about 70 degrees, partly cloudy and perfect weather.

Heike greets me with some freshly made raisin bread that she made for me to toast. The stage is set up and the garden starts filling up. Mona is going to join me today on some songs and we don’t exactly go over songs or practice but we do discuss what songs she is going to hop up and sing on. It’s enough prep for us.

Folks are buying some books before I even start and it’s a great feeling of knowing people are excited for this. I set up the stage and plug in my pedals. The Sparkle Drive works, the volume pedal works but the Line 6 M9 pedal is dead. Ok, no spacey effects today. The looper on my other side works so maybe I will do a couple little loops in songs.

The stage is set and as I step up to the microphone the sun hits me square in the eyes as I set up too far forward from the canopy. I slide back and have a great first set with Mona joining me on a few songs. I go to use the looper and it stops working on me too. One show, two broken pedals. My gear page friends are right: #BobboSmash.

I take a set break and when I start back up again I play one song in the PA and then unplug and play acoustically in the garden and I love it so much more. A few songs in and I am feeling my voice settle in to where I am liking the sound coming out of my mouth more. It’s so different not using a microphone.

Norbert is up front taking pictures, Hans is to the side and Johan and Heinz are on the other side also taking pictures. I’m feeling very special, lots of photos are taken of me today.

Whenever I see the camera lens’, all I can think of is a Replacements bootleg I used to have where you hear Paul Westerberg tell the lighting tech on the gig “No spotlight tonight, I’m not feeling very pretty.”

I don’t need a spotlight today, the sun is right overhead and shining down on my melon. Knowing they are taking pictures I actually try to get my face a little bit in the shade to help them out. I mean, I can’t do nothing about my face but I can move out of the light.***

I tell some more stories and it’s a good show. I like the no PA shows best. Lots of folks line up to sign my guitar. Petra has brought me some chocolate as per tradition.****

I get extra clapping at the end letting me know that I’m not done so I finish up the set by playing a couple of extra songs and then I put my guitar down on the merch table and invite anyone that wants to, to sign their name and a line forms immediately.

A younger me dreamed of playing stadiums. Now when I write new songs I imagine playing them here in Heike’s Garden.

It’s a great post gig hang and we share some wine and chocolate and we say Tschuess to everyone.

Sleep comes easy and I don’t wake up for over 9 hours.

Moin.

***Move out of the light Carol Ann!
****Petra has given me the chocolate from the Hachez factory for years. Her grandfather worked in that factory and she told me that giving the gift of that chocolate is how she keeps the memory of her grandfather alive.

#toomanymilesbook

Thursday, Sept 10 
Haus am See 
Ottestedt, Germany
8 pm

I’ve also crossed a pretty huge milestone with the book: more than 500 copies sold. And the crazy thing is that more than 450 of those have gone directly from my hands to yours, either at a show or through my website. The rest have come through Amazon, Kindle, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble.

I’ve already ordered another pressing so I’ll have plenty waiting for me when I get home from Europe and head into a bunch of book events around Southern California in October and November.

For now, though, I’ve got about 15 copies left before I leave. So if you’d like one, order in the next few days and I can get it in the mail before I head across the Atlantic.

And I’m bringing something special with me to Europe: Too Many Miles: A European Companion, a German-language companion edition I made specifically for this tour. It collects the European stories from the book so I can finally share them with some of the people who are actually in those stories—even if they don’t read English.  

Morning! New reviews happening. 

Good Times magazine in Germany. 

Translation:
BOBBO BYRNES — TOO MANY MILES

On his new album, American singer/songwriter Bobbo Byrnes tells stories of his life (on tour) in calm, soft-rocking folk songs—a life shaped by long drives, chance encounters, and countless performances.

He has structured TOO MANY MILES like a travelogue, concerned less with grand statements than with the small human details that emerge along the way.

Very likable, disarmingly open, and absolutely authentic.

Just got two things today:

1. A radio interview from last weekend has now been published as a podcast and it's live here.
2. Fantastic new review from Italian website Planet Country here.

“I’m scratching at the surface now and I am trying hard to work it out.”

I really am. The score is uneven. This is not fair.

***

Busking is hard. I don’t think most people understand just how hard it is to stand on the street with just your guitar and your voice and belt out your truth. It’s naked in a way that cannot be explained, only experienced. Glen Hansard started busking at 13 years old. At thirteen he said “rock and roll is here to stay, come inside well it’s ok.” Yeah, that’s an obscure lyric to most but he would’ve gotten it. 

I tried busking as a teen, first going in to Harvard Square when I was 17 and skipping my algebra and philosophy classes at college. I’d sit in the pit at the top of the Red Line entrance and try hard to be somebody better than I was. 

There were always other strummers singing non-stop Beatles all day and John Lennon’s Imagine. “Imagine all the people, living life in peace?” That song taught me more than any philosophy course could. John Lennon’s death was still fresh and painful to folks even though it happened almost a decade earlier. I felt the loss but I was also detached from it, he died when I was 9 years old. 

***

The Commitments came out around the time I was first heading into Harvard Square. It was a fun movie about Dublin soul. Bono would later have a guitar that said “The Goal is Soul” and I think he stole the idea from this movie. Glen was the scrawny red-haired guitar player in the movie but what was strange was that it looked like he was actually playing the guitar. It wasn’t some fake pantomime with a telecaster. It was a worn thinline with its black paint already wearing through. It didn’t even look like a prop; he played it like it was his own. 

At the end of the movie Glen’s character, Outspan Foster, can be seen busking on Grafton Street. 

Art imitating life?

***

My generation has had its fair share of musical heroes and plenty that have burned out way to soon. Kurt Cobain’s passing was one of the biggest and it was both tragic and sadly, almost predictable. We watched someone whose pain became mass marketing. What does that do to a person? Chuck Klosterman once wrote that Kurt's fans didn't just love his music, they wanted him to save them. Is it worse to claim you're the savior, or to have millions of people tell you that you are? Either way, it'll fuck with your head.

***

“Take this sinking boat and point it home.”

We're broken enough to know that no one is coming to save us. We have to save each other. We were taught to believe in fairness and doing what’s right will always win only to have that thrown back in our faces time and time again. 

“Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice.”

But what if we could try to live up to these ideals. We can still have hope. Hope can’t die in a wall street crash or a real estate bubble. And we can’t let it die on a motorcycle in Dublin. We can lift each other up. 

Glen did that. He lifted up. Always. 

The stories of him always reaching down to help lift someone else up are streaming in and are seemingly endless now. 

Mine? I gave him a sticker that I knew he would get. “This Machine Shares Love.” My take on the Woody Guthrie “This Machine Kills Fascists.” I knew he’d get it because it is his ethos too. When I told him that I had busked on his street. HIS Grafton Street. He just looked at me and said “My man.” And gave me a big hug. 

It was a hug that lifted up. He saw me, I felt seen. 

Was he a perfect human? Feck no. Was he working towards it? Always. 

I understand why people were lost when Lennon was shot. It made no sense. Why kill someone who makes art and preaches peace? 

Glen’s makes even less sense. A motorcycle? Seriously? A fucking motorcycle? 

***

For years his touring schedule was always the opposite of mine. I’d be in Europe when he was in California and vice versa. I was complaining about our opposite tour schedules to a guy named Jimmy that I was on the road with in Germany sometime in 2015 or so. He had known Glen since his early days with The Frames and Glen would crash at his place in New York City. After Once became a Broadway hit, they would still hang out in the city from time to time. Jimmy told me about Glen dumpster diving to get a jacket out of the trash and saying to him, “You got money now, you don’t have to get your clothes out of a dumpster.” And Glen responding “but it’s still a good jacket.” 

There’s no big takeaway from that story but it somehow underscores the idea that he never left the street. 

***

“Time will be the healer once again.”

I’ve toured solo across Europe and the United States. I’ve spent hundreds of miles where the only voice in my car was Glen’s. I’ve cried alone singing along through New York and the Carolinas and Texas and Colorado and Germany and Belgium when the stresses of being a musician by myself out in the world and trying to share love and positivity just beat you down. I never knew Glen’s specific struggles but somehow, he knew mine. 

“This gift will last forever
This gift will never let you down
Some things are made from better stuff
This gift is waiting to be found.”

I’m not a religious man but I absolutely believe in the power of song. Song can lift us all up to our better angels. To see and feel the struggles of those around us and want to help. The issue may be bigger than me - but maybe I can help. 

Glen started the Christmas Busk over a decade ago as a way of helping the un-housed in Dublin through Simon Communities of Ireland. The busk grew to be bigger than him. 

I’ve been trying to organize one of those in my city for a few years now. The red-tape and unfriendliness towards busking in the U.S. have caused some challenges but strangely, the city got back to me yesterday about making a Christmas Busk for un-housed charity and the local foodbank happen here in my hometown. 

Maybe that’s how this goes on.

***

Glen’s funeral will be next week and broadcast on RTÉ News and in lieu of flowers or gifts, the family has asked that donations be made to Simon Community & Ukrainian Action. Even in death he’s still trying to help and lift up. 

This is why his death hurts so fucking much. He was one of us. He was our brother. He was still living the promise of being a real decent human being and he still fucking dies on a motorcycle by himself in the middle of the night. And goldbrickers who have only taken and never given get to die comfortably of old age with no consequences. And... and! FUCKING AND.

***

I have Joe Strummer’s quote “The Future is Unwritten” and Glen’s “Don’t Give Up” from his song This Gift both tattooed on my arm. I’ve listened to This Gift at least once a day for maybe a decade. It is a constant reminder to be grateful of what it is I do. The gift doesn’t promise everything working out but if you keep showing up for it, maybe, just maybe…

And I am. 

Somedays the reminder to not give up that comes at the end is what pulls me through. Now it’s also a tribute to Glen that I carry with me.  

“If you long enough
And you don't give up
If you're strong enough
And you don't give up.”

The two tattoos almost seem to be in conversation now. The future is unwritten, don’t give up. Strummer to Hansard. 

***

If Glen's life meant something to you, please consider supporting the causes his family asked us to remember.

Ní bheidh a leithid arís ann! 
There will never be their like again!

Dublin Simon https://www.dubsimon.ie/donate

Ukrainian Action Ireland - https://www.ukrainianaction.ie/donate

Ukrainian Action UK - https://donate.justgiving.com/.../ukraini.../donation-amount

Ukrainian Action (Rest of the World) - https://www.ukrainianaction.com/donate

Hey everybody!

It's been a minute.

Looking back over the last year, I realized there's been so much happening that I haven't really stopped to tell the whole story.

Here's the short version:

• Too Many Miles is out in the world.
• I've toured 7,000 miles across America.
• I'll be heading back to Europe this fall.
• The Fallen Stars are doing a special Firefly performance at WorldCon.
• And there are a few new projects quietly taking shape...

***

The Fallen Stars are excited to be a part of the WorldCon show going on the weekend of August 29^th at the Anaheim Convention Center. We will be performing a full set of our Firefly “Leaves on the Wind” music on Saturday afternoon. We’re scheduled to perform in the Pacific Ballroom on the Cabaret Stage at 3 P.M. See you there Browncoats!

On Tuesday, August 11, Tracy and I will be part of the Campus Jax Songstage showcase in Costa Mesa. 

***

I honestly didn't know if anyone would want to read twenty years of my journals. Thankfully, many, many of you proved me wrong.

Too Many Miles is not the common rock and roll rags to riches story. No, it is more of a story of perseverance, showing up and constantly evolving within the music business. It is also a story about me learning what it means to be an American while traveling the world. The full name of the book is Too Many Miles: On the Road with an Unofficial Rock & Roll Goodwill Ambassador. 

The book and album have both been out for about three months and getting great reviews.* I’ve done a cross country 7,000 mile California to Boston and back book and music tour already. I’ve sold over 400 books in person and through my website and more through Amazon and online retailers. One of the unexpected honors this year was learning that Too Many Miles has been added to the archives of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It is currently being translated into German and I’m working on getting the audiobook done as soon as I can. 

The album Too Many Miles is like my greatest non-hits and are the songs I talk about in the book. The album has also been finding its way onto radio across Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, the U.K., Ireland, Canada and the U.S., which has been both surreal and deeply encouraging - including being named “one to watch” on the Euro-Americana Charts.

Book and album available here or you can find on Google. 

***

In the past two years I've also released two albums that are so different from everything I've ever done that the algorithms don't know what to do with me. It started when I was stranded in the Liege, Belgium train station and I was staring at the beautiful architecture while also being, you know, stranded. I just started imagining music to fill that traveling space. Out of that was born Music for Train Stations volumes 1 and volume 2. Recorded on a 1964 Steinway & Sons baby grand piano and featuring no guitar, no drums, no words - just sound. They are wonderful records to put on in the background when you're working, napping or daydreaming. Space is the extra instrument in these albums and I've already started composing volume 3 for release in 2027.** 

***

I'll be spending September and some of October wandering across Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. If you know a venue, house concert, bookshop or festival that might be a fit, I'd love an introduction. I will be starting in Verden, Germany on Saturday, Sept 5, 2026 and winding my way through Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Ireland and finally Northern Ireland. I have reserved a place to stay for about 10 days of those six weeks - so a lot is flexible!

Show schedule here and I also use BandsinTown.

***

What’s coming up? 

I'm also putting the finishing touches on my second book, Sometimes You Get Paid in Tomatoes for a 2027 release. If Too Many Miles is about the road, Tomatoes is about the people I meet when when I'm not on stage, but in someone's living room tuning their piano. It's a collection of true stories shared with me by people whose pianos I tuned, stories I was trusted to carry and share. It is a much quieter little book that owes more than a little to WC Williams and Raymond Carver. It's also only 50 pages long

A new album with my buddy Morgan Keating from The Gypsy Mechanics. We booked two days in a studio in New Hampshire and wrote and recorded the whole thing during that time and we’re going to release it in October and have a CD release show in New Hampshire then. Seven songs and one cover of an obscure Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane song called Heart to Hang on to that felt appropriate to us.

I have some book events happening in November in SoCal with Indie Author Day in Anaheim and Twentyninepalms Book Festival where I'll be on a panel about Route 66 and the enduring legacy of road writing. I also have a book signing on Saturday Nov 21 at The Open Book in Pasadena as well as the Anaheim Library has asked me to be part of their “Let's Talk Music” monthly series where I will be explaining writing, recording, book writing and performing all in a 90 minute show on November 18, 2026.

.

I have also updated my FAQ page but I don't spill the tea on Dropkick Murphys.

I’m also working on a very ambitious project for 2027 that I can’t tell you about yet. 

Oh and I got a new guitar:

Thank you for continuing to come along for the ride.

Whether you've been here since the Fallen Stars or Riddle & The Stars days or only discovered me through Too Many Miles, I'm grateful you're here. 

None of this happened overnight. It happened because so many of you kept showing up over the years and I hope to see you at another show soon. Here's to more songs, more stories, more miles and more conversations.

xo
~Bobbo

If you do other social media things - I likely do them too.

TikTok
Bandcamp
Patreon
Instagram
Linktree
YouTube

P.S. I almost forgot about the free song. By now most of you probably know about my love of toast. A while back my buddy Kris was visiting, and we decided to make some noise in the studio. I had just received a fantastic custom amp from my friend Gio at Black Volt Amplification. The moment I plugged my Gretsch into it, it just screamed Crazy Horse at me.

Cinnamon Girl didn't feel quite right…so I sang about Cinnamon Toast instead.

Enjoy this little rock & roll breakfast treat.

*And if you like footnotes, sweet jesus does Too Many Miles have footnotes. One reader commented that they had read the whole book on their Kindle and then noticed they still had 14% of the book to read - just in footnotes!
**Volume 3 may have a little bit of a Steven Universe vibe to it - depending on whether or not I can get my hands on an Omnichord.

Good morning!

I don't usually send out emails on Monday mornings but since the local show I'm playing is tomorrow and I'm on the radio today - I figured a little more notice is always better. 

First things first:

Monday, June 29, 2026
KOCI Radio interview with Michaela Compton
6:30 P.M. PST - can tune in from anywhere!

Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Campus Jax Singer-Songwriter Showcase
6:30-8 P.M.
Costa Mesa, CA

Over the weekend I played a really unique show at T.H.E. Show.* Being asked to be part of an event in a hotel conference room is usually…eh? You go into the thing knowing that the only people that wander in are just looking for a place to sit down or trying to get away from other things - whatever, right? And this event is for super-duper HIGH end audio stuff. My buddy Matt Moran was in charge of bringing in the musical acts and he was like “I'll introduce you around to the folks with the fancy speakers.” 

He brings me down stairs and I meet Gabe from Supreme Acoustic Systems. Really nice dude in a cowboy hat with a room all tricked out with $20,000 speakers and an $8,000 record player and I don't even know the rest but it sounds incredible. I don't see a CD player anywhere around here. 

He takes my record and puts it on. 

The lighting helps with the sound. This is the Supreme Acoustics room.

Now, I've mixed my albums. I have decent studio monitors and I've heard my music and albums easily more than anyone else just from me being the one working on them. I don't tend to listen to my own stuff all that much after it's done but this? This was like hearing it for the first time. Oh my god. Hearing music like this is on a different level. I love it. 

When Not Lost finishes playing, Gabe asks what instrument that was and when I tell him it's just pedal steel and acoustic guitar, he asks me if he can buy my record to show off his sound system. I'm chuffed. A feeling of “my album sounds pretty damn good” comes over me. It's not like I don't think my albums sound good but I also know I'm not Daniel Lanois or Bob Clearmountain. 

Then I go back upstairs and perform and have a great set with a fully attentive audience. The folks dig it and the guy who made the speakers I'm playing through comes up to me after to tell me the lyrics in Around Here made him cry. Books and records sell. Only one CD though. Interesting.

I forget who makes these speakers but they sounded incredible.

It's not enough of a cross section of the population to make proclamations about vinyl vs CD sales but it was interesting that all the stereo equipment that I saw - no one had a CD player. Then there was some good conversation about how the thing that AI cannot replace is the connection at a live performance. With all the ways we can digitally connect, we still need to be in the room where it happens.**

___

Ok, recent bookstuffs: 

The first draft of Too Many Miles translated into German was completed yesterday. It's now going through the second phase of smoothing it out and making sure it reads right and all that. I'm super excited that my cousin Natalie is working with me on this. I knew the translation was going to make it longer but I did not expect it to jump in page length from 456 to 538. 

I'm happy to report that I've sold over 400 copies of Too Many Miles in the past three months and I'm sending another 10 out today by USPS. I'm amused every time I'm at the post office and they ask “Sending anything hazardous?” I enjoy saying “Just ideas.”

Books ready to be mailed.

And I just found this review that I somehow missed a few weeks ago. If you've read my book and feel like sharing your thoughts on it, I'm putting together a page on my website for reader testimonials. I would love it if you felt like sharing your thoughts - just send them here to me. Or if you want to be more official about it - Amazon and Goodreads have places for you to submit your own reviews as well. These are all greatly appreciated!

___

Later on this week I will be performing around noontime at the Anaheim Farmer's Market on Thursday, July 2, and The Fallen Stars will be doing a 4th of July event in Long Beach, CA. Further out will be a songwriter event at The Artists Village Cafe in Santa Ana on Sunday, July 12, Jug Band Coffee in Long Beach on Saturday, July 18 and I'm finalizing the schedule for Bobbo's Backyard Benefit Concert on Sunday, July 19. This is our annual benefit show for the OC Foodbank. 

Ok, that's a lot going on.

As always, thanks for hanging out with me, see you soon.

xo
~Bobbo
BobboByrnes.com
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*The acroynm is for something like The Hi-Fi Event Show or something. Kind of a terrible acroynm if you're trying to google it. 
**Yeah, I went Hamilton on you. 
***In English the word count is 141,792 and in German the word count is 138,925. So fewer words but apparently longer words and I guess that makes sense. When you say “sorry” in German it is "Entschuldigung" or “Es tut mir sehr leid.”

Moin!*

I got a new tattoo a couple of days ago. It was my first time getting the poke and stick type of tattoo and was given to me by my friend Emma from the band Potential Lunatics.** I asked her “Did you learn how to do this in prison?” and she flatly responded “I can show you how to make a shiv too.”*** 

Upon seeing my new tattoo, Tracy gave me a hard time about how random my tattoos are and how it's taking me forever to get sleeves. My tattoos are more like stickers on an old suitcase. To be clear, I have no intention of “giving up” but I really love the reminder, the persistence, the grind of, seemingly, everything I do - plus I can see it while I'm strumming guitar. At the end of the Glen Hansard song “This Gift” he often sings “Don't give up.” and that mixed with the angelic voice of Kate Bush in her duet with Peter Gabriel of the same name was the inspiration. You also might remember the last email had a picture with it too but now it looks different - that was a water based temp tattoo that I got to see if I liked it. This is obviously, the permanent one and it is my own handwriting. It's me telling me - don't give up. 

On that front - I've been working hard trying to get my book into places and in front of people that don't know me. I am incredibly fortunate to have been building a community of fans here and all around the world through my music. Most first time authors do not have that kind of fanbase or have the flexibility of playing music while reading from their book. I still can't believe that I've sold 400 books in the past two months.

I've been writing to newspapers, literary places and book festivals trying to get some coverage and so far the return rate is roughly one email response for every thirty emails I've sent out. I've been accepted into the Twentynine Palms Book Festival and they've asked me to be on a panel about the enduring allure of writing about the road and road trips. I will also be at the Anaheim Indie Author day in November and I will be packing up books to take with me to Europe on tour this autumn. 

I am blown away to be featured this week on the website Hypebot with a great introduction about me and my book from Ariel Hyatt. She is also the author of Music Success in Nine Weeks and her new book is called From Buzz to Bond and talks about how connection in music is where it's at - not chasing streaming numbers or fuzzy metrics. It's all about the human connection. 

Weirdly this all ties in with a new song I'm trying to write. My great grandmother was born in the early 1890s and she passed when I was about 11 years old. Knowing all the things she lived through - cars, planes, moon landing - we would ask her “what was the best thing you saw invented?” And she would always say “The crystal radio.” 

As a kid, radio had always been there. I mean - tv, cars, radio, planes - had always been in my world but to hear her explain how nighttime was quiet and lonely. When the crystal radio came to be - it connected people unlike any other medium had before. The outside world could come into the house. And I've been thinking a lot about this in relation to where we are now. We have the world at our fingertips and yet, we often still feel alone. We still need connection and people.**** 

Anyway, I don't have it all worked out but I have done something I've never done before - I've reached out to my mother to see if she'd like to help me write this song. 

I got these new stickers made with Lena. Yeah, it's like the shirt! A new Lena sticker comes with every book purchased! (You can BUY the book here.)

Folks are always turning me on to new amazing music and when Emma was doing my tattoo she asked if I'd ever heard of Frightened Rabbit and we listened to one of their albums that had Swim until you can't see land. And I'm loving this song right now.

The free song in today's email is the album closer Not Lost. This was an interesting collaboration with the poet Kirk Diedrich and was part of the reason I split with my manager. As a song, it was just a snippet that I started singing in my head one night lying in bed. It wouldn't leave my brain so I waited until Tracy fell asleep and I got up and whisper sang and strummed it into my phone so I wouldn't lose it. When I was recording it - I loved it but something was missing. A friend shared a poem by Kirk with me that read:

“I'm not lost 
I'm just looking for the last place 
I felt like me.”

With just slight modification and repetition, it sat in with what I was already singing and playing. It was perfect. I did not know Kirk but I wrote to him and told him about the song and asked if it would be ok for me to use and we could split the songwriting 50/50. He listened, loved the song and agreed. 

I had been working with a manager during that time and we had a meeting with another producer where we listened to the whole album and the two of them gave me notes. When it got to this song they were both bored. Said the song didn't belong. It's weird and it esoteric and no one will like it. I argued that it was exactly what was needed to close out the statement of the album about how music can heal when we feel broken. They thought I was being too much of an artist and indulging my weird side. Then he said I should write darker material like Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. I said “That's not who I am.” and he said “And how's that working out for you?” I decided right then to fire him and to eponymously title my album Bobbo Byrnes as a show of ownership.  

Not Lost isn't a pop song. It's a small meditation of peace. A dreamy bit of beauty that finds itself within all the distractions of the world. There's a dissonance on the pedal steel that happens 24 seconds in that I left because the rest of the take was perfect. Hope you dig. 

Ok, I have to go now. Writing this email blast was a bit of a procrastination away from recording my audiobook. 

Oh and I have shows coming up:

Saturday, June 21
Day of Music Fullerton 
I have three shows around Fullerton - details on my website here.

Saturday, June 27
I'm playing a Hi-Fi show in Costa Mesa, CA but I don't have any details yet

Tuesday, June 30
Campus Jax Songwriter Soundstage Writer's Round

xo
~Bobbo

*Moin is the greeting in Northern Germany. It's a lot like “morning” but is used at all times of day. It's pronounced like cutting the first letter from “more” and dropping the c from “coin." 
**You may remember that I produced two albums with this sibling band starting when they were like 13 and 11. It's been great watching them grow up and grow as musicans.
***She's never been to prison. Her girlfriend taught her how to do it when they were teenagers and now she's been tattooing for over a decade.
****Through researching some of this I learned that the first radio station to be broadcasting in the Boston area was at Tufts University in 1921. This would be the same time my great grandmother would've been working in Cambridge at her job on Confectioner's Row making bonbons. The second radio station was from the top of a department store in Boston and they had Mayor James Michael Curley on and then there was WBZ - who are still on the air today.

My left knee feels like jelly. Not a lot of support unless I have this elastic brace on. Navigating the U.S. healthcare system is beyond frustrating. I know something is wrong - it's a different kind of pain and I can barely walk. 

Then Ariel shares a feature on me and my book on the website Hypebot and I'm almost walking on air. Metaphorically anyway. She has written a great introduction and Hypebot is featuring a chapter of mine on their site. 

I may be singing from a seated position for a little bit. 

Good Morning!

My Book and Music Tour came home to California after a little over 7000 miles across the USA and back.*

First things first:

Saturday, May 30, 2026
I am the guest speaker at Songsalive's Monthly Meeting 
Singing some stories, talking some music
Goldenwest Diner****
Westminster, CA
6:30-8:30 p.m.

*****

It's been a few years since I drove the width of the USA and I'm still unpacking all that I saw and experienced. I kept notes like I always do but the travel times made the actual writing few and far between. I was driving into Texas as the sunset was blinding my rearview mirror and I thought about how Kerouac described an Arizona sunset as “a mad orange fool raging at the gloom.”** 

I found a salad at a Mexican bar and got a message from Hartley Pleshaw about the next morning's radio interview on WCAP. He texted: “I will call you at 10 am EST.” This is all fine and good but I don't know what time zone I'm in. I went up to the bar and asked the bartender, “Can you tell me what time zone we're in?” She looked at my tired face and asked “Honey, do you know where you are?”  

At the Love's truck stop in Pecos, Texas I saw a guy washing up in the restroom with a Mexican blanket over his shoulders singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and for a second he looked like a sunburned Jack Kerouac. That night I learned about the Permian oil basin here in Pecos*** and started singing a song with Kerouac in mind and how I've been chasing his spirit across the country. 

My new song was writing itself.

The heat was already getting to me and my mind drifted to San Francisco and how I like the San Fran gloom, it reminds me of Galway, Ireland and why is it so goddamn hot in Texas this early in the year? I should do a show at City Lights Bookstore. I should contact them. Heading up to San Francisco as Paul Westerberg would say. Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Coney Island of the Mind came back to me - poem 20 ends with “and the leaves cried as they fell, too soon, too soon.” I will take the “too soon” and make it the end of my chorus. 

In my Best Western motel room I set up a microphone in the bathroom and recorded Kerouac's Ghost and it's the free song included today. If you listen close you can hear not just the motel air-conditioner but also a few scratchy notes as I was still just learning how to sing this. I was originally talking to the folks at the Kerouac Foundation about doing a collection of songs inspired by Jack's work but they seem to be busy with other things. I might do it anyway. Record all the songs in motels across the country? I don't know. Something though. I like the spirit of this song.

*****

June is going to be a slow moving month with me hopefully getting my left knee fixed.*****

I almost forgot that I wrote the theme music for the podcast “Are you seeing this?” and they have asked me to be a guest on an upcoming episode. We've rescheduled our Backyard Benefit Concert for OC Foodbank for Sunday, July 19. I've booked a joint author event in Saltash, U.K. for October 3 with author Annalisa Crawford. I will be at the FAR-West Folk Conference in Portland, OR in October. I will be at the Anaheim Indie Authors day on November 7 and on Nov 14, the Twentynine Palms Book Festival has asked me to be on their “On the Road Again” panel discussing traveling across the U.S. and it's cultural legacy in literature. The Fallen Stars will be performing our Firefly themed music at WorldCon on August 29th. My show dates are slowly filling in for Germany and Austria in September. 

I'm also still recording the audiobook for Too Many Miles. It is slow going but going to be worth it. 

*****

The companion album to Too Many Miles book just got this great review from the Dutch website Muziekwereld where they said "Taken as a whole, Too Many Miles is a warm, honest, and meticulously crafted album that aims not for spectacle, but for humanity. It is a record that takes you on a journey, yet also invites you to pause for a moment—precisely as the very best Americana does."******

Lastly, I met the talented Celtic singer Amelia Hogan last year at a festival and we've been scheming to do some recording together. There is a beautiful Italian song called Bella Ciao that I heard last year in Austria when performed by friend Roman's band. It is a song of resistance and was a WW2 anti-fascism anthem. I suggested to Amelia that we record it together and she has a beautiful voice to carry the tune and I'm excited to be working with her. She is currently running a Kickstarter and if you're a fan of traditional Irish music and songs of freedom - you should really look her up.

This email is way too long and I apologize. I had so much more to tell you about! Hope to see you soon at a show or whatever. 

As always, thanks for hanging out with me and tolerating my ramblings. 

I nearly forgot to remind you that my Too Many Miles book is for sale here and it's on Amazon here and Goodreads here, Barnes & Noble here. If you're still up in the air about whether to get your own copy - Look at these reviews and the testimonials on the Amazon page.*******

And since I told you about my book - I'm also going to tell you about another book that I'm reading right now. My Billerica friend Joanne Diaz just published an award winning collection of poetry called Electric Dress. It's inspiring to me and I'm loving reading how she blends art, science and history into her poetry. 

xo
~Bobbo
BobboByrnes.com
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*I went through 25 U.S. States and drove 7,014 miles (11,285 km). California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and then home to California. For my European friends - if you drove from Lisbon, Portugal through Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and all the way to St. Petersburg in Russia AND THEN BACK to Lisbon - you would still have to drive another 2300 kms to catch up. 
**This is from Kerouac's book Desolation Angels. I had to change this because “mad orange fool raging” would make everyone think of our current President.
***Pecos is pronounced “Pay-kus” for some reason. 
****about a mile from where that chemical tank thing was happening!
*****Devotees will remember that I was once hit by a bus. Something happened in the last week that has me wondering if in my dreams I ran a slant pattern through a zone defense and was chopped by the cornerback and the strong safety because I am moving like I got hit going for a first down.
******If you'd like to read the review in English, click here.
*******If you've read the book and wanted to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads - I highly encourage that!!