Hey Everybody!
I know... it's been a minute since I've sent an email from The Fallen Stars.*
The music never stopped. It just grew into something more.
Some of you have already found me over at my solo project. Some of you probably wondered whatever happened to us. I realized the other day that you deserved an update.
Here's the short version:
• The Fallen Stars have a special Firefly set at WorldCon in Anaheim.
• I released a new memoir and companion album called Too Many Miles.
• I'll be back touring Europe this fall.
• And there are a few new projects waiting in the wings...
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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!
And as a band, The Fallen Stars very much do still exist. The truth is, it's mostly semantics. I started booking more solo shows, so it would've been strange to call them Fallen Stars shows when it was just me on stage. At the same time, most of those "solo" records still featured Tracy and Matt, so in many ways... nothing really changed.**
Sometimes The Fallen Stars are just Tracy and me, like on Tuesday, August 11 when we will be part of the Campus Jax Songstage showcase in Costa Mesa. Confused? Yeah, me too.
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What's this about a book AND an album?
As many of you know, I’ve been keeping tour diaries and journals for over twenty years and I found I'd accumulated more than 3,200 pages…and eventually realized there was a book hiding inside them. It’s 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.
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Since the last time I emailed you from The Fallen Stars, 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 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.****
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My solo European tour is happening in September and October and I still have some open dates that I can fill if you would like a house concert or venue near you. 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.
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What’s coming up?
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'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 book where I channel my inner WC Williams. It's also only 50 pages long.
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:
If you'd like to keep following along, I'd love to have you over at BobboByrnes.com. That's where I do most of my correspondence and stories from the road, new music, books, tour dates, and whatever adventure seems to find me next.
So thank you for listening, coming to shows, supporting me and The Fallen Stars, and helping make this life and all these miles possible. 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.
xo
~Bobbo, Tracy, Matt
The Fallen Stars
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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.
*Over three years!
**Really with the exception of Two Days in October which was just me in Germany and Ireland. Again, semantics.
***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 4 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.