That's awesome, ffo. You guys are great. I knew a lot of people that went down to Austin for Nickel Creek's farewell tour back last fall. I've only experimented a few times with mandolin (making it up, basically), and it's a fun instrument.
I've been playing guitar for five or six years and singing for significantly longer. I use a YouTube channel for practice, though my postings on there have been growing few and far between lately. Once I started playing live I kind of abandoned it, because I realized how freakin' fun it was playing live. When I'm in Waco, I do shows with my group-thing, the Better Days Revue, every few weeks at bars and coffeehouses, though I'll have to find a new coffeehouse as my usual hangout closed down. I say group-thing, because it's got 4-5 people, but we've never played all together at the same time. We book gigs separately, and when one of us has one, the others are invited to show up and jam. The guy that usually plays bass or classical guitar with me toured with Brewer and Shipley back in the 70's.
Background on my music - I very much take inspiration from the folk songwriters of the 60's that aren't named Bob Dylan - Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton being foremost among them. I don't try to do anything fancy, and I try to place more importance on lyrics than music.
I'm very much of a beginning songwriter. I think one of my original songs is on YouTube. I have others, but they're sorta meh.
http://www.youtube.com/kirobaito