Spring 2013
...continued from home page

that it wasn't something they were comfortable with. I realized quickly that "you dudes wanna frolic?" was too open-ended of an invitation so I left as fast as I could. But it's hard to hurry when you're taking the bus. When the driver shut the door behind me there were six of 'em slammed up against it with various tools in their paws. 

In mid-May I'm performing some private concerts in the South. I'm playing in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, then wandering around to enjoy some of the beautiful country down there before the wall of humidity crashes down on 'em. I love to travel where I have open ended days and can drive three of four hours and stop for the day if I like, or if I'm in the mood and "makin' good time!", drive the whole day if I like. It all depends on what calls to me along the road. There's nothing like rolling into a little town you've never seen before, loving the feel of the place, and just checking into a hotel and spending the day wandering around town. I'm a wanderer at heart. I have no degree, but somebody should give me an honorary Doctorate.
I have had some really wonderful concerts over the last year. Last fall I played in Vail, Colorado at the Season of Song Festival, then did a concert in Los Angeles and one in Casper, Wyoming. You can't really get more varied than that. I also played several concerts around Washington State. For many years I played all over the US but not often in the Northwest. It's been very enjoyable to sing for folks in some of the Washington towns I've always loved but never sang in. Anacortes, Snohomish, Conway, Oysterville, Issaquah, Olympia, Bremerton, Winslow. You'd enjoy any one of those towns if you were to walk through them and see their neighborhoods. 

I still have plans to begin a Kickstarter campaign this year in order to raise the funds and get a buzz going for my next album. I have some strong songs that I really love for this one. I tend to go slow in my writing, collecting songs here and there until I realize that I have a batch of songs I believe in and that will flow beautifully together on an album. I am going to need a lot of help and a lot of word of mouth when I get ready to launch this. If you've never checked out Kickstarter.com or any of the other crowd funding sites, they essentially are a way for people all over the world to help a work of art or a project or new business get off the ground by participating at one of several levels offering various gifts for your money. If you love my music and want to hear more, and would like to be a part of the groundswell that gets it going, I would love to have your help. I'll send you notice when I'm ready, so please be sure I have your current email address. 

There have been some really deeply painful things happening in our world this last year. For me and for many, there has been nothing more painful and despairing than the loss of those precious children's lives - and their teachers' and guardians' - in Newtown. I stumbled around like everyone else over Christmas. It just didn't seem possible that it had happened. I walked out on a dock in a lake one evening, trying to find my way, and I began writing a song. I knew I could not hurry it. Those precious lives and that earth shattering tragedy are forever a part of our lives now. I trust that if I am going to be able to write anything meaningful and comforting and uplifting, it will have to come not from my mind, but through my soul. For me, the only way to do that is to take my time and allow to come through what is there in the moment. I pick up my guitar every few days and I sing what I have and I sense faint pictures and  messages forming. Sometimes there is a new line or only a new word. When I feel in my heart that it is done I will share it with you. 

I have a strong desire to come to New England to sing. The upper East Coast and New England have endured some extremely difficult challenges in this last year. I would love to sing in rooms full of neighbors and help people to remember that we are in this together, no matter our political leanings or philosophies. I hope to find a way to get there in the fall. If I do, I will definitely send you notice.
As I always do, I would like to remind you to take some deep conscious breaths every day. As many times as you remember to do so. While this idea can sound like simple common good sense - and it is - it is truly something so much greater than that. There is literally a path to peace in following your breath. There is a transmutation of pain and fear that can come about, a natural process given to humanity. We don't need to know how. We only need to sense ever so slightly that there may be something of value here - and it will begin to happen. We don't have to understand. We don't even have to have such faith that we KNOW it will happen. Just a speck of faith in your own inner voice. If anything I write here calls to you in some way, inhale and exhale slowly into your heart, and follow your sense of where that leads. You may do it far better than I do. I hope you do. 
I greatly appreciate that you listen to my music and that many of you have shared it with friends over the years. I have 13 albums. If you're missing any, or you feel you have a friend who could benefit from having one or two CDs, please consider going to my CD Ordering link and browse through. See if there are any that call to you. You'll be helping me to make a living and keep on recording and singing. But more important, you'll be sharing something that often brings comfort and peace and a sense of gratitude in the world. Thank you for that. I hope this springtime is a loving one for you. 
Your friend in breezy Seattle,
   ~Michael
PS, I have this Standing Offer: If you have a friend or loved one going through a difficult time of loss or illness - yourself included - please allow me to email a kind note and an uplifting song. Anytime you wish me to do this, just email me and send this information; first/last name, city, email address. I will send a song and a note.
Also, I am a frequent updater of my Basefook page. If you do not normally enjoy FB or if you fear that it might be a waste of your time, I understand. But I believe you will find that my posts are uplifting and sometimes hilarious, on occasion even insightful. You can find me at www.facebook.com/michael.tomlinson

   

Download Albums | Order CDs | Pr