I have four great gigs in April. Each of them would be a great anchor gig for a month – surrounded by a few others that would be fun to play but low-profile. Instead, they’re all in the same month. In a perfect world, that wouldn’t have happened. I try to spread my shows out across the year, and keep the high-profile ones in a calendar spot where they stand out. But each of these shows came because someone wanted to book me at that specific time, and it was either then or never. The first one to get booked was the “Sampler” house concert in Bolton (April 16th), with three other acts. And then I was lucky enough to get asked to open for Tracy Grammer at Passim (pretty much my dream show) on her birthday and mine, April 8th. Didn’t think for a minute about saying no to that one. And then Jim Emerson, who does a great house concert series in Newton, came up with the idea of co-booking me with another great songwriter, Rob Morseberger, in his series. Jim has been a big supporter of my music (among other things, he had me open for Pete Morton a couple years ago), and this also was a great opportunity – and only date that worked for all of us was April 9th, the day after the Passim show. Finally, I was asked to participate in a songwriters-in-the-round show at Johnny D’s – also an amazing place to play – and the date I was offered was April 3, take it or leave it. I couldn’t not take it. I’m not complaining – these are four great concert opportunities, and all of them happened because people reached out to me and asked me to play, a sign that my music is reaching some of the right places. I’m excited about all of these. They’re exactly the kinds of shows I vowed to prioritize, when I decided to stop doing the kinds of shows in noisy places where people don’t show up to hear the music. And part of that decision included the recognition that if I’m going to play good shows I need to be able to deliver an audience. I did a great job of that last month at Bloc 11 (another great show I was asked to do) in Somerville, turning out a bunch of public-transportation-reliant fans who find it hard to make it to my shows in the suburbs. But having just gotten them out in February, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to do the same in April (for two more T-accessible shows). I’m about to begin a full-on publicity blitz. One idea I’ve come up with is to offer a free CD to anyone who sees two of the four April shows. (If you pick the right shows you can see two for less than the cost of a CD, so it’s a particularly good deal.) I’m also going to make a point of playing new or rarely-played songs, different ones, at each of the shows, in the hopes of enticing people who have seen me play a lot to come hear something they haven’t hear me play. These are all great shows – and at each one also involves other great musicians whose music people should also like if they like mine. I genuinely believe that it will be worthwhile to come to one or more of these shows. Please come! Any other suggestions for how to turn people out welcomed!