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 29th 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.