In May, Charlie's wife, Nan, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Fortunately, it's one of the easier types of cancer to treat and they expect full recovery and complete remission after a few months of treatments. She is doing well and her spirits are good even though it's a tough process. Thanks to so many people who have called, emailed and sent cards, both Nan and Charlie greatly appreciate it. In lieu of her usual performance with LynnMarie and the Boxhounds at the Schauer Center in Wisconsin, they taped a special performance of The Tennessee Waltz at the GAC studios which will be posted! (The laundry room floor thing is a bit of an inside joke from a couple years ago.) You'd never know Nan was fighting cancer and that's pretty much the way she's handling the whole situation, with strength and her usual positive and gracious attitude! As always though, you can still see her on GAC's Top Twenty Countdown and on Opry Live.

So, Charlie will be home a little more than usual this summer in order to help Nan through the treatments, but the recording continues. Currently an instrumental project with LynnMarie is being mixed for an August release. There will be a couple of old tracks that have been favorites, but most of it will be new material that recently written in the last few months. Some will be traditional, but they'll be pushing the creative boundaries again with what can be done utilizing accordion and guitar.

Hal Ketchum has recorded "Million Dollar Baby", a song written by Hal, Lynn and Charlie. He did a great gypsy jazz version of the song for an album to be released on Curb records sometime in September. Keep your eyes peeled for that one, because the whole project is fantastic and is one you won't want to miss.

The infamous "Mayor of Broadway" aka. Redd Volkaert flew in from Austin Texas to help out on a song called the Strip Polka. Redd added guitar and his distinctive vocal to the track that is sure to be a crowd pleaser. If you're not familiar with Redd, check him out at www.reddvolkaert.net He's a master of the Telecaster and plays western swing and country, but he grew up in Canada, so he knows accordion music well!

Charlie and LynnMarie's version of Happy Feet from the Party Dress cd has been used in the French film titled "Hollywood, I'm Sleeping Over Tonight". Happy Feet is used in the body of the movie as well as the closing credits. The film is scheduled for international release in late November.

2008 is starting off busier than ever. I’ve been working on two songs for LynnMarie
specifically for the Dutch market. One song will be more traditional and the other a mix of European dance music. These songs will be sent to Holland via cd where they will then be sent to Belgium to be turned into a vinyl 45! That’s what they like and I can’t say that I blame them. I’ve been transferring some of my own vinyl recordings lately and they sure do sound good!

In December I finished another television project for Rink Entertainment and the Sky Angel network which should be airing soon. I also recorded some great song demos for Bobby Tomberlin of Curb publishing and Mark Narmore of Noble VisionMusic Group. Both of these guys are good friends and co-writers of mine and their songs include Diamond Rio’s One More Day and Craig Morgan’s That’s What I Love About Sunday. Check out their My Space sites to hear more from them.

That’s the news for now, more soon........

Rockin' In Interlaken

Charlie has recently returned from a 15 day European tour of Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia with LynnMarie and the Boxhounds in support of their 2007 Grammy nominated release, "Party Dress". It was a very successful trip as they covered about 11 cities and played diverse venues each night. From the American Embassy in Slovenia to 1,000 year old castles, to Rock Otocec, the largest rock festival in Slovenia, they spread their modern version of traditional music to enthusiastic audiences each night. They played the Lent festival in Maribor one cold and rainy night in the perfect venue......a round brick structure built in 1200 that was once used to hold witch trials! They had a great crowd and everyone made it out without any hexes or curses placed on them....at least none that they know of yet! Currently Charlie and Lynn are writing and recording demos for their next project due for release in June of 2008.

In June Charlie was in the studio with two legendary artists, Dobie Gray and Hal Ketchum. Having written songs for upcoming projects with both Hal and Dobie, they were in tracking the new material and turning the songs into records. Hal, being a part of the country music boom of the early 90's was one of Charlie's early influences with songs such as "Stay Forever", "Small Town Saturday Night" and "Sure Love" and Dobie.....well it's Dobie Gray! Having recorded one of the most popular songs of the 60's, "The In Crowd" and later one of the most widely recognized songs of the 70's, "Drift Away", Dobie is certainly a living legend. "It was a great experience to write and record with both Hal and Dobie. As a producer, it really doesn't get much better than working with artists that you truly respect and admire", said Charlie. Future co-writes are on the books, so keep your ears open for these new songs.

In May Charlie composed new music for the Heart Of Country. Produced by Rink Entertainment, the series features country music artists discussing causes they believe in from music in schools to battling cancer. The first two artists to complete spots for the series are Josh Turner and Craig Morgan. You can also hear Charlie's music on the GAC Shortcuts series which feature a "day in the life" with different country stars. Artists in the Short Cuts series include Phil Vassar, Taylor Swift and Rushlowe Harris. Watch for both of these short features on the GAC network.