Georgia quartet WITHERED have issued the following update from vocalist/guitarist Mike Thompson:

"Well, many of you have noticed that Chris (Freeman) didn't perform at any Withered shows over the summer. And, I've been receiving numerous inquiries about this. So, I suppose it's time to make it official.

Chris, after much soul searching and consideration, decided it was time to leave the front lines and persue some personal goals that he had been putting off for years. Touring became too much of a burden for him at a time when the rest of Withered was striving to push the envelope and increase touring activity.

Personally, I must say that I'll miss him a lot. We've been playing music together 2 or 3 times a week for the last 14 years and mutually conceived Withered in 2003. He was key in nurturing the ideology behind our music and lyrics and his contributions will be missed. Despite all of that, Mike, Beau, and I completely respect his position and there are no negative feelings towards the situation.

As for his replacement, our friend, Dylan Kilgore, filled in for Chris on the last leg of the Blackenedfest tour last June. He did an amazing job and his work ethic in learning the songs was unparalleled. So, it was very natural for him to assume Chris' position full time.

We're moving full steam ahead on the new album and the writing is going better than expected. At this point, we have 4 new tracks almost completed and anticipate the new album to be released sometime in mid 2010. We'll post more updates as they develop."

Another message from the group reads:

"(Vocalist/guitarist) Dylan (Kilgore) has a new kid!

That's right, Dylan's newborn daughter, Virginia Isabella Rene Kilgore, joined us all yesterday afternoon! A huge congratulations to Dylan and Glenna for actually pulling it off!! LOL

Cheers, brother!!"

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