CANADA TOUR WITH MICHAEL W. SMITH

Today we are on our way to Winnipeg after playing the 4th of 11 shows with Michael W. Smith across Canada over the next two weeks. So far we've had great shows in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. Here's what we've got left:

May 5 - Winnipeg, MB
May 6 - Winnipeg, MB
May 7 - Saskatoon, SK
May 8 - Red Deer, AB
May 10 - Kelowna, BC
May 11 - Vancouver, BC
May 12 - Victoria, BC

This is a historic tour for us: it marks the first time we will be joined by family on an extended tour in the bus. We are excited to have Glenn's wife and 2 boys out with us - it will definitely add a new dynamic to life on the bus.

NEW ADDITION TO THE THIESSEN FAMILY

In case you missed it, Jeremy, Erin, and Liam welcomed Karis Joy into their home on March 8th. She is healthy and fat (funny how those those things go together in our early years). Liam is still warming up to the idea of having to share the spotlight, and Erin is reminiscing about the good old days when sleep was a reality. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, and gifts on the road.

NEW RADIO SINGLE "YOU'RE NOT ALONE" AVAILABLE MAY 11TH

We are currently working on a new studio album which will release late this year (hint: being a last-minute Christmas shopper may actually pay off this year!). The first radio single "You're Not Alone" from the yet-to-be-named album will be available for download May 11th via all digital outlets. Click here to listen to a sneak peek of the song. Make sure you call and thank your local radio station when you hear it on the air.

BUSY FESTIVAL SEASON

We have a very busy summer festival schedule and hope to see you out there at some point. Here is a semi-comprehensive list of where we'll be:

Frenzy Festival - Edinburgh, Scotland - June 12
Fuel Festival - Ballymena, Northern Ireland - June 12
Atlanta Fest - Atlanta, GA - June 17
Creation NE - Shirleysburg, PA - June 30
Spirit Westcoast - Salina, CA - July 3
LifeFest - Oshkosh, WI - July 10
Hills Alive - Rapid City, SD - July 18
Creation NW - Enumclaw, WA - July 22
Kingdombound - Darien Lake, NY - Aug. 3
Inside Out Soul Festival - Gilford, NH - Aug. 4
Rock the Desert - Midland, TX - Aug. 6
Rock the River West - Surrey, BC - Aug. 7
Unity Festival - Muskegon, MI - Aug. 12
Downpour Festival - Great Falls, MT - Aug. 14
Rock the River West - Calgary, AB - Aug. 21
Rock the River West - Edmonton, AB - Aug. 28
Rock the Light Festival - LaCygne, KS - Sept. 3
Lifelight Festival - Worthing, SD - Sept. 5

We are discussing some ways we can make our short time at each festival even more memorable for you - make sure to stay tuned as we figure that out! (On a sidenote: if you have a connection with a private jet and pilot who would consider it an adventure to donate their time and resources for the summer, please email us - we'd love to talk with him/her. I jest... sort of.) Keep your eyes open for some money-saving opportunities in the upcoming weeks as we partner with these festivals.

"TWO AT A TIME: SNEAK PEEKS AND B SIDES"

To help tide you over until the new album comes out, we're excited to release at festivals this summer a 2-disc project called "Two At A Time: Sneak Peeks and B Sides". This is an album of - you guessed it! - sneak peeks of the new album as well as some never-before released songs (if you were a participant in one of our past listening parties you may recognize some of these tunes). This will only be available online and at our merch table, so make sure you come by to pick it up and say hi!

HARK THE HERONS RELEASES THEIR DEBUT ALBUM

If you haven't heard yet, Glenn has been working on a side project with Kalyn, an old family friend. The result is "Under Skies", a vibey folk record that will keep you hooked from start to finish. Click here to download the album from iTunes - or just visit www.harktheherons.com to see what's new.

And we can breath now.

So we've been home for a week after a very long 25 day trip which included a tour in Canada from Toronto ON to Vernon BC as well as 3 U.S. festivals. Our Canadian tour with Building 429 was a great experience. 500 kids were sponsored through World Vision in the 13 shows we played!! That is incredible! Leaving a tour knowing that 500 lives have been directly impacted really helps making the time away from our families more bearable. Kudos to Jason Roy of B429 for doing a great job presenting the needs of these kids to our audiences.

Tim Horton's (a popular Canadian coffee and donut shop) is definitely better off because of our visit too. I'm pretty sure we stopped there at least once every day and often it was more than that. We did have one bizarre driving experience during the tour. During our trip across the west side of Ontario we decided to follow our GPS even though we knew which way to go. It's always the same argument.

"Well maybe it knows a faster way."

"No, that can't be faster, I've gone that way before."

"Then why would it suggest it?"

"Fine, let's try it."

Well next thing we knew we were on a dirt path (aka road) where the branches from the trees on either side were touching our van and we were traversing over massive bumps and puddles, trailer and all. This is the kind of road that only 4 wheel drive vehicles should be using but for

some reason the old Garmin had much confidence in our old trusty van and trailer. After a good 30-45 minutes of driving on this road we made it out to the "main" road. We stopped at a fishing outfitter/gas station and after talking to the owner gave up all hope of having lunch that day. The next gas station was hours away. Good thing we stopped. Eventually of course, we

made it to our destination and thankfully the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. Thanks for praying!!

After 14 shows in our home country where we got to see family or good friends every single night we left Vernon, British Columbia and headed for Montana. The reunions were not over

though because we were heading to Jeremy's in-laws to play a show at their church and spend a little time with them. I think most of us have recovered from our afternoon on the lake. Here

are a few pics. Jeremy's father-in-law successfully knocked all of us off the tube at least once! (Below, Glenn, Marc, Dave Jason)

After Montana it was festival time. Rock The Light in Kansas City was first. Beautiful location and thankfully the rain held off for the show. We reconnected with the Casting Crowns folks there too! Then it was off to LifeLight in Sioux Falls SD. We played the same night as our good friend and label mate Lanae Hale. I'm sad to say between traffic and a miscalculation in time we arrived slightly late but the festival and audience were really forgiving and we had a great show! From South Dakota we were headed to our last show in Peoria IL. This was a great way to end the tour. It was a free show and once again, even though it had rained on and off all day

the rain stopped for show time and they had over 2000 people there! Below are a couple of

pics that some of our Downhomies took. Thanks Mindy and Liz!

So it was a full trip and we had fun but we are all happy to be back in our own beds. So now we're taking some time to do some writing and tend to the myriad of things that were missed while we were away.

Glenn

The International Year

2009 is turning out to be quite an international year for us. In April we traveled to Vancouver BC to be a part of the Canadian Juno Awards celebrations. In May we were back in Denmark for some lovely time there.

June saw us again in Northern Ireland for a festival called FUEL. If you didn't catch it, while we were there Marc did a little impromptu performance of In The Light with Kevin Max formerly of DC Talk.

We're ending this summer with a Canadian tour. It's been a while since we've toured Canada so we are pumped to be able to play our home and native land again. This tour will bring us from Toronto to Vernon British Columbia.

In September we'll be back in Ontario for a weekend at my home church in Cambridge. I'm looking forward to that! Then in October we're returning to Western Canada for the Covenant Awards as well as a few Alberta shows.

And lastly, in November we'll be doing about a week of shows in Norway as well as maybe Ireland. We've played Norway before but it was such a short visit. Last time we were there it was for a festival called Seaside. We were in the country for no more than 12 hours. But man was it beautiful!

So yes, quite the international year for Downhere. On top of everything I mentioned above we've still been playing throughout America all year. We've even been able to hit up three camps this summer, two of which were beach camps plus 6 U.S. festivals. Can you tell we're having fun?

All that said, I hope we'll be in your area sometime soon so we can get a chance to say hi.

Glenn