WinterGrass!

WinterGrass was a blast! Seldom Scene, Vassen, Joe Craven, Dave and Nova - - too many musical highlights to count and the new venue is a WINNER. The Wintergrass staff are pretty pumped about the new Bellevue Regency Hyatt location and rightly so. The staff are friendly, the hotel spacious and the community supportive.
It is nice to see the move go so smoothly.
Our hats are off to Steve Russo, Patrice, Wendy Tyner, the sound crew and the jillion volunteers who make it run.
Verrrrry nice.
If you've been wondering whether to attend next year, my advice is - book early.
See you on the road.
We are in Colorado March 19-21
OK & KS the following week
Details follow soon!

February Gigs and more a'comin

NEW!! Streaming clips from our new CD are up on the website- Just hit the 'Play' icon!
We are playing in Northern & Southern CA and Washington State this month KS,OK and CO next month to celebrate the release of our new CD "Ghost Town",
Here's the latest
Feb 5 (the New!) Freight & Salvage - Berkeley CA
- This is our first trip to the all-new Freight.
They built a brand-new building with a much-enhanced performing space,
classrooms and more - closer to UC Berkeley campus.
We're excited and hope you'll come share the excitement with us.
2020 Addison Street / Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 644-2020 / info@freightandsalvage.org

Feb 6 Sebastopol Community Center -Sebastopol CA Cloud Moss has a
great venue - we don't get up here often enough so please come out and
help us celebrate.
390 Morris Street / Sebastopol CA
707-829-7067 / www.cumuluspresents.com

Feb 10 Matt's Music, Stage & School - Paso Robles CA
Matt & Heidi are the greatest. If you live around Paso you've been to their shows.
This is shaping up to be a good'un.
617 12th Street / Paso Robles, CA
805-237-0054 / http://www.mattsmusicinpaso.com/

Feb 11 River Valley Church - Bakersfield CA
Musical Home of Buck and Merle - We can't wait.
5131 Office Park Drive / Bakersfield, CA
661-324-900 / www.kernarts.org

Feb 12 Boulevard Music - Culver City CA
We heard they built a second
story - Dan can't wait to hear it!
4316 Sepulveda Blvd. / Culver City, CA
310-398-2583 / www.boulevardmusic.com

Feb 13 Grace First Presbyterian Church - Long Beach CA
We know Phil & Arlene Cox will be there... but how about you?
3955 Studebaker Road / Long Beach, CA
562-420-3393 / www.gracefirst.org

Feb 25-26 Wintergrass - Bellvue WA
What a cool winter festival in a Hyatt hotel!
Usedta be in Tacoma, now moved to Bellvue.
Jammers paradise - who needs sleep when there's music?
Hyatt Regency
900 Bellevue Way NE / Bellevue, WA
253-428-8056 / www.wintergrass.com

New Website www.marleysghostband.com

We have a new website at MarleysGhostBand.com which is now the spot to go to sign up for the mailing list and find out where we are playing.
The new CD "Ghost Town" came back from mastering and we think it sounds pretty darn good.

Our Esteemed Producer and Nashville Legend Cowboy Jack Clement will be playing some dates with us on the road, so check our website to see when we are playing near you. Come meet Jack and get him to tell you a story ... he has some good ones (Waylon, Johhny Cash, Charlie Pride, U2 ... many, many, more).

We will have copies of the CD at Winfield this year (!!!) and are pretty excited about the whole thing.

See you soon!,

Mastering...

The record is off being mastered! After mastering magic is done, they'll send it to Cowboy Jack to get his approval and any changes and, when he approves, it combines with the art and goes to production. Review copies go out, the distributor gives us our windows... but, like you, I just want to get a copy in my hot little hands...
Patience...

Back in the states and back to work!

Italy was wonderful! ... Jetlagged like crazy, we played the Freight & Salvage – for the last time in the old location!
We have had so many great times at the Freight. Marley's Ghost played our first gig there as a band following our debut at the 1986 Strawberry Spring Music Festival - the first Spring Strawberry (!). We recorded our "Live At The Freight" Live CD there and have played countless fun shows to very appreciate audiences.
I am excited for Steve Baker and excited to play the new venue - but I will miss the old place for all the great times we have shared there over the last 23 years...

Then it was on to Mill Valley Masonic Hall and all our friends from the North Bay! Thank you all for coming out - great party with all of you and fun to see your smiling faces.

The Sutter Creek Theatre is in the charming little foothills town of Sutter Creek. Byron made us very welcome despite the furnace heat and with Super Engineer Matt Gephart the gig sounded great.

Our new CD has been mixed and I will share the release date with you when I know it... I can't wait!!

Marley's Ghost SF Bay Area gigs in May

We will be playing
Thursday, May 14, The Freight & Salvage, Berkeley CA
Friday, May 15, Masonic Hall, Mill Valley, CA
Saturday, May 16, Sutter Creek Theatre, Sutter Creek, CA

... and we'd love to see you there.
We have been playing the new songs from the fabulous new GHOST TOWN CD, scheduled for September release.
Come hoot & holler with us.

The website has been living at www.marleysghost.org
We are redesigning it and it has a new URL... I am a few days away from announcing it - I'm excited!

Big Fun and wild weather in AR,OK,KS

Thanks to all of you who came out to our gigs from Fayetteville to El Dorado (which they pronounce el-door-AY-dough!).
We very much enjoyed playing for you and you seemed to be having nearly as much fun as we did.
Fayetteville and Mike Shirkey - always a treat and we discovered a new breakfast place - Ahhh,YES.
Karen Petitt and friends welcomed us back to OKC, OK and as we drove out,, the cloud shadows out-pacing us on the freeway should have alerted us that the weather was getting ... er, ... playful.
We loved Lawrence, KS - very cool town, lots to see and do and our good friend Jim Baggett of Mass Street Music dragged out a bunch of guitar treasures for our drooling pleasure. Bob McWilliams bent over backwards to make our stay a great one - which it was.

We would have loved Manhattan, KS more ... had it stopped SNOWING. The drive from there back to Wichita was far too exciting for a napless day with an evening gig ... whoa, Nellie. The Manhattan Arts Center was a great sounding room full of nice follks (including our pals Barb & Ken Wells) and El Dorado's Iron Horse is just plain cool.

Flying home we saw snow for three states going west - goodbye winter!
... and back to the beach.

ON THE ROAD Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas

Here we come - Please tell your friends - Winfielders especially welcome!
Mar 21
Good Folk -Fayetteville AR - www.goodfolk.org
Mike Shirkey
229 N. Block St.
Fayetteville, AR (USA) 72701
Phone: 479 521-1812
Mar 22
The Blue Door - Oklahoma City, OK -www.bluedoorokc.com
2805 N Mckinley Ave
Oklahoma City, OK 73106
(405) 524-0738
Mar 25
Unity Church - Lawrence, KS - http://www.westsidefolk.org
785-841-1447
900 Madeline
Lawrence, Kansas 66049
Mar 27
Mahattan Arts Center - Manhattan, KS -
Birdhouse Marley's Ghost
Friday, March 27, 2009 at 8:00 PM
MAC Grosh Performance Hall
1520 Poyntz Ave
Manhattan, KS 66502
Phone: (785) 537-4420
http://manhattanarts.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=171523
Mar 28
Iron Horse Concert Hall - El Dorado KS -
http://shorock.com/ironhorse/location.html
315 South Main
El Dorado, Kansas

MIXING!

So - We finished recording and Cowboy et.al. are mixing the record!
Whooppeee!
Pics etc. soon

Back To The Studio!

We are headed back to the studio with Cowboy Jack Clement Feb 10th to finish up our ninth Marley's Ghost CD. It is fun working with Jack and Brooksy Watson (Luke stayed behind to do something amazing) and we are as eager to see the finished project as you are!
I can't wait

Sage Arts engineer wizard Matt Gephart has recorded us in Nashville with these guys and also back in Arlington WA and will accompany us as our house engineer (score!) when we play three Washington state gigs Feb 20 (Green Frog Acoustic Tavern - Bellingham, WA), Feb 21 (Byrnes Performing Arts Center - Arlington, WA) and Feb 22 (Walla Walla Symphony Cordiner Hall - Symphony Adventure Series- Walla Walla, WA)- Stay Tuned.

Good lord! 2009!

Wow.
We have a new president, home prices might be sinking back to reality, financial markets are getting the respect they have earned ... but music is still fun to listen to and play, singing is still free.

All of Marley's Ghost wishes you a Happy New Year and our fond hopes it be a great one.
There is always opportunity in times like these - May you discover them!

We are finishing up our new record with Cowboy Jack Clement - We mix in February for an April release. There is some good stuff on the record - a few tunes we have been performing that you asked we record, some that Jack brought to us, some we wrote ourownselves. I'm liking the rough mixes I have heard and I think you are going to like the record.

whew.
I just got back from Winter NAMM 2009. I've been working for my friend Rick Shubb there for several years slinging capos and doing Shake & Howdy.
I always see friends there I haven't run into much of the year -this time Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter came by to visit.



Jeff has great news - his solo CD is almost finished and he intends to take 4-5 months of the year to tour and support it!
If you only know Jeff because of the Doobie Bros. or Steely Dan you might not appreciate that he makes great music on the Dobro, pedal steel and B3 as well as any sort of guitar he has at hand.
One of the most musical cats it is my pleasure to know as well as a superior human being.
I can't wait to hear the CD!
Mike

Gigs, Recording, pics... and beautiful October

I love October - everyplace looks great, Fall is in the air... ahhh.
We have been very busy playing, recording, rehearsing and writing and loving it. Our time at Cowboy Jack's Bunkhouse and Recording Spa in Nashville was productive and a gas. That is one smart, fun, quirky, talented guy... not to mention a legend in the music biz.
I have a bunch of photos to post from the various fun-o-ramas The Fall Strawberry Music Festival, recording in Nashville, Dead On The Creek, and more- Joe Bob sez "check it out"...
P.S. Click on a pic to see a larger version

The Road Beckons

Wow.
We have been out having fun again...The Lincoln Center Theatre in Mt. Vernon WA is a gorgeous venue in a very cool town. We got the royal treatment - like they give everyone (!) - and had a great show and a great time. The band is sounding good and the folks we meet out there keep it fascinating.

Uncle John's "Dead On The Creek" was amazing. Nice folks, beautiful rural location, excellent weather and vibes... Even our friend Peter (pictured at Right) would have been having a fantastic time if he weren't preoccupied with the Viking Invasion ... or Danish Pacification as they called it when they were busily killing my ancestors....

Now it is time for me to go teach at CRMC music camp in Colorado for a week, then we are off to the Strawberry Music Festival near Yosemite, The Palms Playhouse, the Winfield Fest in Kansas - off to record with legend Cowboy Jack Clement in Nashville -- all good stuff. I need to consolidate our photos and post more but man, the time does fly by... I don't want to become a prisoner of the Mac like David here...

This travelling around playing tons of music - I just can't tell you how I look forward to the part when we actually count off the first tune...
all the airport, load-ins, load-outs, strange meals and bad road signage, jammed-up freeways and weird bumpy toll raods fade away and I just can't get enough...
See you out there -

Don't forget to come right up and say " Fellas, Can I buy you lunch?
Do-doot-do-do-do-doot-do-doot-do
Dang me.

Slide & Steel was Cool!

We had soooo much fun in Port Townsend, WA.
Thanks to all my students for their patience and progress. Thanks to Stacy Phillips and Billy Cardine for their generosity in co-teaching with me. Thanks to Peter McCracken for hiring us!
The venue - Fort Worden is an amazingly lovely spot, particularly this time of year.
wow.

I played a bunch with steel guitar legend Bobby Black and he is an amazing player and a very fine person as is fellow steel guitarist Joe Wright. Those guys made me fall in love with clasic country all over again.
Add in Billy Cardine - red-hot Dobroist and dynamic vocalist Mary Lucey (shown above), not to mention fiddler/singer Odessa Jorgensen (shown with Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum) and fun was on the menu.

Special Thanks to Ghost Jerry Fletcher for teaching Sight Reading for Singers and putting a bunch of us well on the road to better sight reading.

We are off to do more playing - I hope we see you out there!

Back to Work!

So... back to work for the Ghost.
June 24-30 we are Band-in-Residence at The Centrum Slide & Steel Festival combined with Voiceworks at beautiful Fort Worden in Port Townsend WA. We have played the Fiddle Tunes festival there numerous times over the years and have also been involved in other fests and shows there, but this is our first time at this event.
Fort Worden is a glorious venue and Port Townsend spectacularly beautiful.
I will be teaching Dobro, Danny slide, Jon harmony, Eddie steel, Jerry reading music and raising your game.
We are really looking forward to being there and I hope we'll see some of you!

Then it's Lincoln Theatre (Mt. Vernon, WA)
Dead On The Creek (Willits, CA)
Strawberry Fall Festival (Yosemite)
The Palms (Winters, CA)
The Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, KS)
Bernie's Guitar (Redding, CA)
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (San Francisco, CA)
... and on and on

Barcelona, Mediterranean, Rome...

Wow.
We fell in love with the great international city of Barcelona. Clean, beautiful, great food, friendly people and the sea... you must go there. If you were on the fence - hop off and go. You'll be glad you did. We took a few days there before embarking on a small (148 passenger) sailing cruise ship the Wind Spirit across the Mediterranean to Menorca, Mallorca, Sardinia, Corsica, Elba and Rome.
Yeah, baby.
Our entertainment duties were fairly light and our enjoyment and appreciation of the boat, crew, islands, sights, sounds and fellowship profound. If you have not been to Europe or it has been a while since you did- I recommend you go.
We had a ball...

It All Seemed So Simple

It did seem simple - get into the studio and start knocking out basic tracks, mine and refine - Shazam!
...another record.

But then Nick and Van Dyke had this idea - What if we created a story line compelling enough that we could integrate characters, parts for a symphony to play.... dare to dream big!

... wow.

So it looks like the development cycle may take a bit longer and, potentially, be pretty darn interesting.

Stay Tuned!

In other news, we are playing in the San Francisco Bay Area in early April, then off to Spain at the end of April. We begin in Barcelona, then embark on a 7-day cruise across the Mediterranean, arriving in Rome and then we are back home sometime during the second week of May.
Gotta love it.

I hope Spring is treating you all well and that we will see you out there on the road sooner rather than later.
Cheers,
Mike, Ed, Dan, Jon and Jerry.

December thoughts...

As the year sweeps on to its end, I am happy to be alive. The photo is one I shot out my living room window a few minutes ago – clear as a bell and chilly – one of my very favorite kind of days anywhere. Of course, I live in California, where, henceforth, state legislation will be decided by senior power-lifting and square-jaw mugging-for-the-camera competitions (and some people wonder why we elected Arnold gov... sheesh) – but I digress.

This is the time of year when I, and possibly you, contemplate the past year and assess our experience... some friends are no longer with us, lots of laughter, a scar or two – I can recall so many great images from fun times all over the country. I was a student, a teacher, played a lot of music both formally and informally and spent some exceptionally fine time with family and friends...
I hope your year has been as much fun as mine.
If not ... there's always next year!

What's Next?!

Thanksgiving is coming right up so I guess it will be Christmas which will seem like a couple days later - and ta-da ... 2007!

Before I forget – Thanks to all of you who have come out to our shows around the US and in Ireland, who have bought our CDs in stores, from Sage Arts, Amazon.com and on iTunes (search for Marley's Ghost from within the iTunes Store). We very much appreciate your support, as we hope to continue to sing, play and write until we fall over.

...So what IS next?
Well, we are holding meetings in a couple weeks with Producer/Wizard Van Dyke Parks to select material for our 9th CD (!) which we hope to start recording in January.
Moving schedules around is complicated but we will get it done and I, for one, Can't Wait!
When I know a bit more ... or just get chatty(!), I'll post again.

Florida ...

Florida gets a bad rap these days.
That may be because more folks don't know Mitch Lind and his Riverhawk Festival down in Brooksville, FL
What a great bunch of music, wonderful folks and an all-around good time.
The weather was easy and we heard a bunch of very different styles of excellent music as we played through the last couple days of our 2006 touring. One of the highlights for me was Claire Lynch with a killer band.
Hanging with Mitch is a treat I would recommend to everyone, any chance you get. Putting on a fest is pretty demanding and Mitch pulls it off with grace and style. It is good to know there are folks like him out there presenting every kind of music ... just because.
... good reason IMHO.