November 6, 2007

The New Minstrel Revue

This summer my good friend Jerry Barry and I started a new band, 'The New Minstrel Revue". Having worked with Jerry for years in his longtime group, 'The Minstrels of Mayhem', I was really excited to start working together on a new project with all new material. We've had a lot of fun putting together a new repertoire of traditional and original music.
The band started it's career at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. We had a great time and got to play for a lot of enthusiastic faire-goers. We were joined a couple of times each day by our friends Jimi Torrey, on percussion, and Craig Broers, on bass and lute.
The Ohio Renaissance Festival was our next stop, where we were able to have Jimi and Craig play with the band all day. Once again, we had great audiences.
We're currently at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival in Hammond, LA. We've just played the first of six weekends, playing in their Painted Badger Inn. It's a great spot to come have a drink and listen to music.
We're finishing up a new CD, which should be available by the holidays. Feel free to listen to a sample on the MUSIC page.

The Music of Hank Mills

For the last couple of years I've been archiving the work of my mother's first cousin, songwriter Hank Mills. Hank was a Nashville songwriter, prolific throughout the 1960's and early 70's. His songs were recorded by Dean Martin, Del Reeves, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, David Allen Coe, Connie Smith, Merle Haggard, Charlie Walker, Burl Ives, George Lindsey (Goober from the Andy Griffith Show), and many, many more.
Hank was the winner of several BMI songwriting awards, most notably for the hits 'Little Old Wine Drinker Me' (the Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum versions), and 'Girl on the Billboard' (the Del Reeves version).
Last year I began working with Hank's widow, Joan, to archive hundreds of his work tapes and demo tapes. In addition to the hundreds of songs that Hank had published during his Nashville days, these tapes have hundreds of songs that never saw the light of day.
I will eventually be releasing my own recordings of some of Hank's songs, and will continue to work with his family to preserve his musical legacy.

'Solo Guitar' recording available on iTunes

My 'Solo Guitar' CD, now out of print, is available for download through the iTunes music service.

I am also continuing work on a new cd of my own songs.........slowly, but surely.