Hiya folks,
whew, I got lotsa news.
Fist off, the European release of my new album "The Price Of Sin" has been pushed back to April 7. I'll probably be able to sell the record a few weeks earlier but we don't have the finished product yet. Can't wait to lay my hands on those CDs and I'll let you know as soon we got them ready for sale.
Big news: My song "Dying Bed" made it to the finals of THE major international songwriting competition. 15,000 songs were entered into the competition, now my song is one of only 14 songs left in the Americana/Roots category. There's about ten or twelve categories altogether.
This competition is really huge. Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, and blues legend Charlie Musselwhite are among the judges.
Some great artists are part of the competition as well. Fred Eaglesmith, Darrell Scott and Will Kimbrough come to mind as finalists in the folk category. These are heavy hitters.
If you're so inclined you can even support me and cast your vote for "Dying Bed" in the People's Choice Awards. Just go to the website and look around, it's self-explanatory.
I'd much appreciate your support.
Hey, and there's a new site where you can hear my music and read up about my goings-on in an online blog
www.myspace.com/markusrill
Do check it out! You can get a preview of the new album by listening to my song "Broken Puppet" there, you can check out a brand-new recording of the Bob Dylan-song "Not Dark Yet", and you can hear "Hobo Dream" as it was played live on the air in Berlin.
I'll try to always have some music on there that's not on the regular website so it'll be worth checking out regularly!
On Thursday, February 16, me and my partner in crime, Andi Obieglo, will be playing at the
Dreikoenigskeller in Frankfurt. Andi is a wonderful piano player and nimble-fingered accordionist. I'm planning on playing a whole bunch of shows with Andi this year. We've also got a gig on Saturday, March 4, at the
Amviehtheater in Arnstein-Halsheim. Get your tickets early for that show! We'll sound good, I promise. Come on out!
There's also plenty of new stuff on the website:
pictures from the Berlin/Stickhausen trip, an excerpt from steel guitarist
Martin Abend's online blog about my two days in Berlin, new gig dates - as well as all the usual good stuff: news, infos, pictures, soundfiles.
I hope to see you soon. Do check out the songwriting competition, visit the myspace site, drop us a line, and spread the word.
Be good,
Markus
