MP3 Michael McNevin - In The Rough
Skilled storyteller, great voice, fine guitar picking.
10 MP3 Songs in this album (41:25) !
Related styles: FOLK: Folk-Rock
People who are interested in Paul Simon Gerry Rafferty Nick Drake should consider this download.
Details:
Michael McNevin has logged 15 years of concerts across the U.S., and he''s been a main stager at some of the bigger festivals around, including Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, and Philly. He has a seasoned voice, innovative guitar work, and some hilarious tour adventures. His songs read like short stories, full of humor, heart, and a keen eye for Americana. With 5 CDs under his belt, he''s back in the studio recording his sixth effort, tentatively titled "Kickin Tires". Look for California CD release concerts this Winter, and U.S. concert tours through 2009.
A SF bay area native, Michael started his career with a six month stint in New York City, cutting his troubadour teeth in the subways and streets of Greenwich Village. Perhaps the most defining New York experience for McNevin was a night he spent in the slammer for jumping over a subway turnstile. This would become a song titled "Jersey Jail" off his debut release "Secondhand Story". While many of his songs chronicle the people and towns of his travels, they also capture the Huck Finn childhood he had as the youngest of 4 boys growing up in the rail town of Niles, California. "Two Feet Ahead Of The Train" depicts a close call on a train trestle over the Alameda Creek when he was ten years old, while "Bagger" describes his days working at the town grocery store.
Michael is a winner of the Kerrville New-folk award, a 5-time winner of the West Coast Songwriters Association "Song Of The Year", was nominated "Artist Of The Year by the National Academy Of Songwriters, and was chosen by Performing Songwriter Magazine as a Top 12 “DIY Artist Of The Year". Some fans also know him as an Etch A Sketch artist; not kidding, he illustrates his songs on the little red toy. His art and music have been featured on CBS "Evening Magazine", NBC, ABC, Fox, and in numerous rags and papers around the country.
Michael still lives and plays in his home town. He recently converted an 1860s barber shop into "The Mudpuddle Shop" -- a performance arts space for concerts, jams, art classes, and writing workshops. His original Etch A Sketch drawings hang proudly on the walls, waiting for an earthquake. The shop also serves as the Golden Spike Headquarters - where a host of locals greet and guide riders of the historic Niles Canyon Railway trains that run through Niles Canyon on Sundays. A rail hub in the 1860s, the town of Niles was part of the Transcontinental route, and was a major player in the silent film industry as well. Broncho Billy came to town and shot 300 hundred silent westerns there from 1912 to 1915. During that period, a young actor named Charlie Chaplin also came to town. Charlie headed south to Hollywood after only five films, but one of them was ''The Tramp'' in Niles Canyon - the defining role that launched Chaplin''s career. Last year, Michael was given a cameo in an indie film shot in Niles, and landed five songs in the soundtrack. "Weekend King" is about a dot-commer who buys a bankrupt town in rural Utah. Michael plays a bartender with no lines, but true to to the silent era, he wears a Chaplin bowler hat. The credit roll also features a 92 year old man named Jack Totheroh. The song Michael sings ''I Shot Broncho Billy'', is about Rollie Totheroh, Jack''s father, who came to Niles as a baseball player, became lead cinematographer during the 3 year silent film era in Niles, and went on to shoot 40 more years worth of films with Chaplin. Rollie''s son Jack was a 10 month old baby in a Broncho Billy film. His appearance in the indie film last year gives him the Guiness Book record for the longest ever acting career.
"I don''t know what''s best about this CD - Michael McNevin''s music or his Etch A Sketch drawings that accompany each song. McNevin is a singer-songwriter of the highest order."
-Acoustic Guitar Magazine
"The talent of Michael McNevin lies in his ability to extract juicy bits of life from his surroundings and let a tale unravel."
-Performing Songwriter Magazine
"Michael McNevin has been kicking around from coast to coast for years now, a maven who delights his audience"
-Sing Out! Magazine