I really appreciate your concern, Joe (and I got your PM about it). In this case, Musicman is right, the book is not available right now and we can't afford to reprint it at this time. But Bill Staines is not the type to play "dog in the manger" with his songs. I'm reasonably sure, Kat, that he would be happy that you were eager to sing one of his songs. I would think that putting the tune into a personal message would be okay with him. I'm not so sure, on the other hand, as to how the publisher of his "First Million Miles" (it was Rounder, wasn't it?) would feel about having his performance of it spread about as an MP3 freebie, thereby side-stepping their product. Bill does make his living with his music, you know, and we all should bear that in mind.

Bill holds all of his own copyrights now, through his publishing company, Mineral River. You might want to go to his web site and inquire about your concerns.

Bill's other songbook, published by Hal Leonard, is still in print. Check it out.

Sandy