We're driving to Florida where on Saturday, January 23, we will embark on our first Blues Cruise. Other performers on the boat include Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Johnny Winter, Guy Davis, Ruthie Foster, Joe Louis Walker, Duke Robillard, Jason Ricci and about 20 more acts and 1800 blues fans. It's a long trip so we thought we'd share some of the highlights of the 1500-mile drive from Boston to Fort Lauderdale as they happen (well, almost):

Sunday: Rain, germophobia and a surprise for Paul

Paul Rishell & Annie Raines have been nominated for 2 Blues Music Awards: Acoustic Artist of the Year and DVD of the year for "A Night in Woodstock."

The Blues Foundation will present the Blues Music Awards at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN on May 6, 2010. Online voting begins December 10 for members. Voting, ticket and host hotel information can be found at The Blues Foundation’s website, www.blues.org.

After 17 years and six albums, including the W.C. Handy award-winning Moving to the Country, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines have become the blues’ most dynamic duo. Their masterful performances have won them fans around the globe. Now for the first time, they beam their live show into your living room in the new DVD, A Night In Woodstock. Other musicians joining this talented twosome include brilliant keyboardist Bruce Katz and Lovin’ Spoonful founder/harmonica legend John Sebastian.

The concert, filmed at the now-defunct Joyous Lake in 2005, was released as an audio CD in 2008 and quickly shot to #1 on the Living Blues Radio Chart, remaining in the top ten for several months and earning two Blues Music Award nominations.

You hear gentle humor in Rishell’s heartfelt delivery of ballads like “It’ll Be Me” and the original “Blues On A Holiday,” but he takes a tough, no-holds-barred approach to both vocals and slide guitar on Johnny Winters' “Dallas.” Raines makes the notes dance out of her harmonica with rhythmic precision on Blind Boy Fuller’s “Custard Pie” and her original tour-de-force “Got to Fly.”   She goes head-to-head with Sebastian on the originals “Can’t Use It No More” and “Orange Dude Blues,” an intimate instrumental duet that showcases the mutual respect shared by two harmonica masters.  Throughout the show, Rishell's powerful voice is a beacon for Raines and the backing band of Chris Rival on guitar, Reed Butler on acoustic and electric bass, and Billy MacGillivray on drums.

The DVD video comes replete with bonus features, including extra songs, an interview, guitar instruction, liner notes and band bios. For hardcore DVD buffs, there’s an audio commentary track with Rishell, Raines and Sebastian doing a play-by-play peppered with anecdotes about blues history, famous encounters, trade secrets and the chaos unfolding behind the cameras.

We just returned from a 3-week tour that centered around the 30th Annual Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tennessee. It turned out to be a star-studded, action-packed gala: Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Hubert Sumlin, Koko Taylor, Taj Mahal, Maria Muldaur, Curtis Salgado and too many others to mention were on the stage or in the crowd, along with some of the most enthusiastic blues friends and fans who walk or wheel on this earth.

Paul Rishell and Annie Raines’ first live album, A Night In Woodstock, releases today as the flagship recording on their Mojo Rodeo label, distributed worldwide by Burnside Distribution. The album features special guests John Sebastian (harmonica), Bruce Katz (keyboards), Reed Butler (bass), Chris Rival (guitar), and Billy MacGillivray (drums) joining the duo for an eclectic, high-energy set of acoustic and electric originals and classic blues songs.