Heya folks & happy Easter,
I'm back from a busy and eventful five-week trip to the US from late February to late March. I recorded a new album, played the Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, Tennessee and played at SXSW in Austin, TX. Also played a few shows in Nashville.
Before I give you an account of my adventures, let me inform you about some good stuff coming up:
On April 24, I will be opening a concert for
David Olney, a longtime friend and running buddy of the late great Townes van Zandt and a great songwriter in his own right. This'll happen at the
Music Academy in Regensburg and I'll be accompanied by Robert Hasleder, dobro, mandolin, and banjo player extraordinaire.
On April 27, Andi Obieglo and I will bring our acoustic duo show to the Bürgerkeller in Ochsenfurt. It's a nice venue and we'll be introducing a few new songs so this should be fun.
My friend Michael Weston King, one of England's finest songwriters, will be touring Germany in April and I'll be joining him on Wednesday, April 18, at the Omnibus in Würzburg and Thursday, April 19, at the Dreikönigskeller in Frankfurt/M. Do check him out, you'll find his schedule at
www.michaelwestonking.com
Ok, here's the short recap of my trip.
It all started with an invitation to play the Folk Alliance National Conference in Memphis, TN. the last weekend of February. It looked like if I stayed in the US from FA until SXSW in Austin March 14-18, I might have enough time to cut a new record. And since I had the songs, I decided to go ahead with it.
Since George Bradfute, my collaborator on "The Price Of Sin" was unavailable due to a family emergency I had to make some last-minute phone calls to find different places to record and mix the album. And I lucked out on both counts. We recorded twelve new songs at
Joe McMahan's Wow & Flutter studios in Nashville with Joe playing some mind-boggling guitar stuff and Dave Jacques & Bryan Owings providing a wonderful groove on upright bass & drums.
Then I was off to Memphis for four crazy days of Folk Alliance. About 500 Musicians cooped up at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Memphis. Tons of showcases going on every day between 2 pm and 2 am in hotel rooms, conference rooms, seminar rooms. It took me a day to get used to the chaos of Folk Alliance but then I enjoyed it tremendously. Had a great time, saw some great music, met some wonderful folks - a fine experience indeed.
Drove back to Nashville on Sunday night and we started overdubbing at House Of David with Richard McLaurin at the helm Monday morning. Richard has produced some great records for his band Farmer Not So John and Mack Starks and I was really eager to see and hear him add his magic touch and swirly atmospheric sounds to my music. I'm really happy with how that came out.
The wonderful Jen Gunderman of Jayhawks fame came in to lay down some great organ, piano, and accordion parts,
Claire Small,
Dave Coleman, and
Mack Starks sang some fine harmonies. I re-did two vocals and a guitar part and Richard added some amazing stuff on lap steel, pedal steel, mandolin, synth and even sang some. Then he mixed it all to tape and made it sound real warm and natural.
Alex McCullough did a great job mastering the album at Yes Master in Nashville.
I don't want to give too much away cause it'll be awhile before the record comes out ... lemme just say this ... we got some things that rock a little harder than "Price Of Sin", we have real nice some mellow storytelling stuff and it all sounds mighty good and maybe slightly more adventurous and contemporary than what you've heard from me before. And it'll probably be called "The Things That Count".
One of the highlights of the trip was my show at the world-famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville where I did an in-the-round with Bob Delevante, Dave Coleman and Sara Beck. We went over very well and had a great time. A gig I'll certainly remember!
Also played a fun three-song set accompanied by my Texas friend Mark Viator at the Hole In The Wall in Austin, Tx. at the Swollen Circus show, the inofficial SXSW kickoff party hosted by Walter Salas-Humara of The Silos and Michael Hall. Other than that, Austin was mainly listening to great music, meeting interesting people and enjoying Texas. Plus my 45-minute set at the RedGorilla music fest.
Had a great time in the States and finding it hard settling back into the nine-to-five groove of the day job. So I'm hoping y'all come out to the upcoming shows and stay in touch.
You can find some music recommendations and more stories from my trip at
www.myspace.com/markusrill. New photos & press clips are here on the site.
Best wishes, hope to see you soon, y'all take care,
Markus
