Matt and I were very honored to be asked to join the team of judges for this year’s Garden & Gun “Made In The South” awards.

This contest, rich in southern craft, design and ingenuity, is a very special project for artisans who enter, and a real big treat for the spectators that get to read about the winners later this fall.

Matt and I, along with Nashville, are proud as peacocks that two grass root brands from our community – Otis James and Emil Erwin – were winners last year.

It has been such a pleasure watching these guys grow their now-globally recognized brands, partly because of the opportunity that Garden & Gun provides with this project.

It’s true. Believe it. If you have a craft and a dream, then you can make it. For a little boost, enter this contest. It helps!

Love,

C

P.S. If you don’t already subscribe to G&G Magazine, do it now!

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For someone who more or less detests large crowds, isn’t terribly fond of super-loud music, and prefers to be entertained in enclosed settings (or at least those that don’t require standing in line for a Port-a-Pottie when you need to do your business), I love a good music festival.

Back in the live music-filled salad days of my early twenties, I braved the original Lollapalooza, hit H.O.R.D.E. (warning: latent hippie tendencies may surface from time to time), and even five or six Grateful Dead shows (see: previous warning). When I lived in New York, I’d hit the Siren Music Festival in Coney Island each summer (Superchunk + the Wonder Wheel + Nathan’s hot dogs = major fun in the scorching sun) and stood in the dirt to watch Pavement, Sonic Youth and Guided By Voices play the SummerStage at Central Park (not on the same bill… pity).

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I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives.  I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.  ~Abraham Lincoln

Bonnaroo starts two weeks from today – and we’re getting excited. Although the I+W crew isn’t closing up shop and heading to Manchester (our blue jeans don’t make themselves!), we are celebrating the mighty festival to the east with a big party in our backyard on Thursday, June 7.

Some of you guys might remember the shindig we threw on the same night last year with Billy Reid, featuring music by Deer Tick, Apache Relay, Justin Townes Earle and a special solo appearance by Dan Auerbach. For this year’s lineup, we are stocking the bill with some of our favorite local performers (you don’t have to actually play the ‘Roo to get our love) including – you got it – another very special mystery guest. We’ll announce the complete lineup next week, so watch this space.

The fun goes from 5 until 9. As always, our backyard parties are free and open to all ages. Plan on eats by Mas Tacos as well as a smattering of other Nashville restaurants we love; same for drinks: we’ve got some visiting bartenders lined up, so come thirsty! Otherwise, you can BYOB and a blanket. But please leave your cigarettes at home: as of this week, Imogene + Willie is officially a smoke-free environment.

See you on June 7!

Big thanks to our good friend Chris Brown for the multiple shout-outs in the new issue of Refueled Magazine. Co-starring i+w family and friends – Dave Gilbert, Brian Awitan, Matt Eddmenson and Lauren Wilkins.

“Shelter is more than a roof over your head, it’s the feeling of warmth and security.  It’s best described by walking into our house.  When people walk in there, they feel it.  It’s not science.” – Lloyd Kahn

-Jonathan

watch our new Elizabeth Crop come to life in this peppy short film, then head to our online store or drop by to the shop to score the newest member of our ever-growing denim family for yourself. available in two vivid summer hues, Elizabeth Crop is destined to be your new warm weather go-to jean.

special thanks to the men  behind the camera: Tony Czech and Chad Davis.

I’ve been trying to get my head around cable TV’s attempt to brainwash me into believing the world’s going to end on December 21st, 2012, for some time now. It’s like an Indiana Jones movie that’s not been written yet!

So I set off to get a little clarification on the matter through a very trusted source known as the Internet! But seriously, I did find out some interesting things about the date known as “the day the world ends.”

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Adventure motorcyclist Austin Vince gets around – and we mean that literally. The spirited Brit is famous for riding his motorcycle around the world.

So it made sense that when our friend Patrick Keeler interviewed the legendarily peripatetic biker in preparation for the slide show presentation he’s giving at imogene + willie tomorrow night (Tuesday, May 8th), he asked Austin to name his personal Seven Wonders of the World.

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Boy, do we live in a material world.

And in my case, we work in that same world.

It is wearing.

I breathe at night and take time to remember that nothing material really makes me happy.

With an exception:

Beautiful goods made by RTH.

They got me at hello about a year or so ago.

They got me again after I realized how relaxed and happy the smell of the sweet shop made me.

More happy when I touched the leather goods… pouches, bags, hand hammered leather brooches, bracelets and squash blossoms,  all offered in dainty small sizes to shockingly oversized and big.

I know where the happy comes from: Rene Holguin, the owner, makes most all of the pieces himself.  He comes by it honestly.  His father started Laramie Boot Co. out of El Paso, Texas.  I imagine he spent a lot of time as a child watching the boots be made by hand.

If you haven’t already been and if you find yourself on La Cienaga in Los Angeles, please do stop by their shop. Relax and enjoy the stroll through the tiny museum.

If you can’t get there, we hope soon to carry some special pieces from Rene’s collection in our gas station, right here in Tennessee.

Love,

C

P.S. We ordered a slew of pieces from them a couple of weeks ago. Our friend Caylin in the picture below (by Allister Ann) is wearing the leather squash blossom made by RTH.