2023 In the Rear View

2024 On the Horizon

Damn, 2023, that was one hell of a ride. If we had to sum up the past 12 months in one word, it would be: SURREAL. Surreal in every sense – bizarre, dream-like, fantastical. Whether experiencing our wildest dreams coming true one after the other in real time or trying to come to grips with being blindsided by yet another nightmare, we spent most of 2023 in slack-jawed disbelief.

Brandon. Amanda. Kelly. Kim. Michael. Tommy. So many others. Our beautiful family has been dealt so much loss this past year. There is a numbness that creeps in to protect our hearts from breaking right in half, but we have to acknowledge the pain and the terrible loss. We have to love one another even harder. We have to live a little extra each day for the ones that have gone on. We need to keep telling their stories, keep laughing, keep crying, keep them with us. Our hearts go out to everyone who is grieving and trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other each day. We love you. We feel it, too. You are not alone.

At the other extreme, it seems we have caught a tidal wave. Through tenacity, grit, and with a whole lot of help from our friends and family, The Ain’t Sisters have exploded onto the regional scene. As we have so often in the past, we played our way into the new year in Florida, this time teaming up with Tire Fire and Cody Bean to create a smaller and more intimate reboot of the classic Hometeam New Year’s rally. It seems a fitting start because if there was a location that was most central to our 2023 explosion, it was most definitely Florida. Including the Hometeam gathering, we would play 12 sets of music all across the northern part of that state over the following 12 months, the vast majority of which were some of the biggest, baddest, most well-attended sets of our career - rounding it out with another New Year’s Eve set kicking the night off for Donna the Buffalo in front of a big, beautiful crowd at Skipper’s. From Live Oak to Tampa to Jacksonville… Florida, we hear you, and we agree. It’s time to take this relationship to the next level. Y’all will be seeing A LOT of Aint sets in 2024!

Florida wasn’t the only state that got a taste of Aint this past year. We hit 7 states in 2023 with multiple stops in Tennessee and South Carolina, and one particularly wild two week stretch in which we traveled to Sevierville, TN, turned around and drove to Fort White, FL, snapped it back to Decatur, GA, slid over to Snellville, GA, left in the middle of the night to drive 16 hours to Stephenson, WI (yes, Wisconson, and Barb got massive food poisoning on the way), drove back and slept for a solid 24 hours and then high tailed it back down to Florida to play Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Consider us road tested. We’re ready to go hard again this year. We have plans to return all 7 states we visited last year and hopefully 2 or 3 more (AL, CO, CA, we’re looking at YOU!). If you want to see us in your neck of the woods, please reach out and tell us about your favorite mid-sized festival in the area. If you have ties to talent buyers or promoters, put us in touch with them. We want to come play for you!

We would be remiss if we were not to express our deepest and most sincere thanks to the festivals and events that have taken a chance on us and launched us into the arms of their huge, beautiful communities. Spirit of Suwannee, Beth and Randy Judy, Susan, and all of the amazing crew at both Spring Reunion and Roots Revival have had an immeasurable impact on our trajectory. To be taken into the fold by such an extraordinary musical family is a truly life-changing experience. Closer to home, Bill Flemming invited us to be part of his environmentally conscious brainchild, Get Off the Grid Fest, held this year in Spartanburg, SC. Not only was it an honor to be included on a lineup like that, but that’s also where we met the Captive Eddies who we simply could not love more. That friendship has opened up a beautiful connection between our Atlanta family and the Gainesville, FL family that we know is going to bear absolutely life-giving fruit. To Paul Diaz and Donna Hopkins, the opportunity to rock and roll in the hallowed halls of Tree Sound Studios has given us courage and more faith in ourselves than we’ve ever had. After our first set there in November of 2022, Arrie and Barb were wandering the halls upstairs and Barb said to Arrie, “We did it. We played Tree Sound. Now what?” Arrie grinned a very slick Bozeman grin and said, “Variety Playhouse, I mean fuck it, why not?” We had no idea how that might possibly come to fruition, but then Thomas “TDawg” Helland invited us to be a part of his 12^th Annual Holiday Hootenanny, and sure enough, on December 17, 2023 – just 13 months after Arrie spoke it into existence – we took the stage at the Variety Playhouse in the company of giants. Kevin Scott, Darren Stanley, Mark Raudabaugh, Peter Stroud, Benji Shanks, Jeff Mosier, Ralph Roddenbery, John Mailander, Kathie Holmes, Matt Williams, Gaurav Malhotra, Jim Lauderdale, Joe Craven… there were so many rockstars on that stage. Standing shoulder to shoulder with your heroes makes all of your dreams seem within reach. During soundcheck that night, Barb asked Arrie to call the next dream venue. She did. It will reveal itself in time.

For now, we will just say thank you. Thank you for being a part of whatever this is… this ride, this wave, this movement. Thank you for listening and sharing our music with the people you love. Thank you for getting excited with us as this all unfolds. Thank you for showing up, for dancing, for asking for charts and lyrics to learn our songs! (That one really sends us – tears and everything – it’s truly the sweetest thing.) Thanks for repping us and wearing our outrageous shirts to all of the big shows and festivals, even on Jam Cruise! Thank you for supporting us in every way in everything we do. Most of all, thank you for loving us. We love you back. Big time. We can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for all of us. So much of it is a mystery, but one thing is for certain, we’re going to do it all together – and that right there makes it beautiful. Happy New Year, everyone! Dream big!

XO
The Aints

Upcoming Shows

January 26
Golden Grove Farm and Brew. Piedmont, SC

January 27
Smokey Joe’s Cafe. Charlotte, NC

February 2
Hendershot’s. Athens, GA. With special guest, Ralph Roddenbery.

February 9
Distillery of Modern Art. Chamblee, GA. Duo show. FREE!

February 10
Southbound Smokehouse. Augusta, GA.

February 16
Skipper’s Smokehouse. Tampa, FL. With Dotline and Cope.

February 17
Underbelly. Jacksonville. With special guest, Cosmic Wheelhouse.

February 25
Heartwood Soundstage. Gainesville, FL.

March 30
The Earl. Atlanta, GA. With Blair Crimmins and the Hookers.

For details and up to date show information, visit the TOUR section of our website.

Introducing…CHUPY!

Boudreau and Barb have been in the lab conjuring up new creatures to represent us. We are completely enamored with this little cryptid fella. His name is Chupy and he’s one chill chupacabra. He’s not really trying to suck your goats, he just wants a sip of your Mai Tai. He’s available now along with some new SYT schwag in a variety of colors and styles over at our one and only Bonafide Mercantile on Bonfire!

Updates

Boudreau finished tracking the bass parts for the new record, which means Barb is up next on acoustic guitar. We’ve got some surprise guests coming in from out of town to make some magic, too. We’re so excited to get these tunes on vinyl and into your ears!

Be on the lookout for another newsletter coming your way in the next couple of weeks because (fingers crossed) we expect to have some tremendously big news about upcoming shows.

If you haven’t already done so, it would be incredibly helpful if you could jump on Facebook and invite your music loving friends to follow us there - especially if they live in the cities where we are about to play. Having more followers on socials does a lot to help us get the word out about shows, and we want to show these new venues that The Ain’t Team can bring it! Thanks y’all!

Lastly, we have been working extra hard in rehearsals to get some brand new songs ready to debut at these upcoming shows, so keep your ears peeled (is that a thing?) for that freshy fresh!

And now… your moment of Zen…

Shit is NOT always easy. In fact, it can be downright frustrating and overwhelming - frequently. BUT, it’s important to remember your why. In the midst of hustling and scrapping and trying to get everything done it’s easy to get lost in the mire, but here’s an easy trick to help you find your way back. Think about what made you start doing whatever it is you’re trying so hard to do. Arrie and Barb started making music together because it was fun, because it moved people and let them feel their feelings, and because it brought their friends together in beautiful communion - usually around campfires. Today, they have a lot to deal with… booking, recording, promoting, making travel itineraries, doing FUCKING taxes… and it can get ugly sometimes, but at the end of the day, the why is the same. We do this because it’s fun, because the music moves people, and because it brings our friends together in beautiful communion. If you’re feeling stressed, take a nice deep breath, get still, and remember your why.

We love you.