Hello everyone! it’s been a little while since I have updated my posts. A lot has happened for all of us it seems. Today, I’m wanting to let everyone know about a new project I have been working on with Sarah Lawing. We are called “the Lonesome Dawn”. We have been writing music for a show called "View Finders”. It is a travel show, showcasing some amazing and beautiful parts of Georgia! We were asked to write music for the show and came up with some great songs. So, we are going to be showcasing some of our new work at Hendershot’s Coffee coming up on October 1st. I am excited to bring this music to life with an amazing backing band of some of the best musicians in Athens! Keep your ears open to the new goings on!
New Lives and New Ways to Share
Hello Everyone! I apologize that it has been a while since I’ve updated my website. Life has been running at breakneck speed; and then… Everything has slowed way down. I can actually think and do the things I have been wanting to for a while, but have had to put on the back burner due to the increased demand of performances, gigs and teaching. As we are all adjusting to our “new normal,” I have been fortunate enough to be able to maintain some of my performances and teaching via various internet tools. Today I have pre-recorded a concert for the Linger Longer Concert Series entitled “Transcendent Guitar; Finding Musical and Personal Connection with the use of our Digital Tools”. A long title, I know, but an important one. I hope that everyone is staying healthy and safe and also reaching out on whatever platform you have to ensure that you are making those personal connections and maintaining a healthy mind, body and spirit. If I am allowed to share this concert, I most certainly will! Keep an eye out of Facebook as I have been posting some videos there to keep the juices flowing. I will be downloading some videos to YouTube and various other places over the next few months while we are in quarantine. I will also be trying to update and maintain my website a bit better. New photos, videos and more to come! Stay tuned!…
Good Times
I had such a great time working with the Suwanee Community Guitar Ensemble Summer Campers today! What a great group of students. Many thanks to Greg Shivers for bringing me up and letting me work with and play for the students. Greg is a great teacher doing some great work fostering some good vibes and good skills for his pupils. Y’all keep on rocking!
May This Be Love
“Waterfall, don’t ever change your ways
Fall with me for a million days
Oh, my waterfall”
As we come together this holiday season, let us take the time to remember our waterfall. May you all be refreshed and at peace! I dedicate this piece to my amazing wife Natalie and my sweet and kind daughters Lorelei and Sylvia. I love you all so much! Many thanks to Matt Anderson for the video and audio recording and editing and to Thrive for the use of the amazing space. Please feel free to check out my website and donate to help me keep making music.
Time After Time
“If you’re lost you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you, I’ll be waiting, time after time.” To me, these lyrics point to the human ideal. By simply being there for someone with open ears and hearts and responding with loving speech we can heal many wounds within others and ourselves. I dedicate this piece to the monks, nuns and laypeople I had the pleasure to get to know at Magnolia Grove Monastery. It is my hope that we can all learn to see ourselves within every living being and respond with empathy, compassion and loving kindness. May this tune bring you peace! Many thanks to Matt Anderson for the video work and Thrive for the use of their beautiful space! Please feel free to go to my website and donate to help me keep making music. (The donate buttons can be found on my video and audio pages.)
Hope!
Here is the first of several videos coming your way! I begin with "Hope".
“Hope, love, my people come together!” This piece was written by Carl Lindberg; my arrangement is dedicated to him in the hope that all of us can come together as one people through love, compassion and understanding. May this tune bring you joy! Many thanks to Matt Anderson for the amazing videography and editing work. Thanks to Thrive Integrative Medicine for the use of their awesome space. Please feel free to donate as you can to help me keep making more music!
Videos!!!
New videos are coming soon!!! It was great to get to hang out with my friend Matt Anderson at the beautiful space Thrive and make some music happen. Thanks to Matt's amazing editing and video work, I will be releasing some great quality videos over the next few weeks. I hope everyone enjoys them. Stay tuned! More to come!
Coming up for air
It has been a busy year so far! Happily so, I must say. "Mama Mia" was a rousing success with over 50 sold out performances in Lawrenceville and another 14 performances at the Ferst Center at Georgia Tech. Performing "Avenue Q" with Gainesville Theatre Alliance was a blast and very well attended to boot. In addition to these performances I was able to work in some solo programs including a concert at Georgia College and State University where I premiered "Automaton" by Nicole Randall. The piece turned out beautifully! Many thanks to Nicole! I also performed with my friend Phil Snyder at North Georgia College and was able to perform a few times with the World Music Ensemble. Good times and good music abounds! Now, I am finally getting a little taste of summer before the next group of performances begins. I will try to be better with keeping my news feed up to date. The next order of business is new recordings and videos. Keep an eye out for what's to come! Life is always bringing new and wonderful opportunities. I always feel so grateful and happy to be in this creative town doing what I do with some amazing musicians and artists. Here's to the next step!
New Year!
Well, it's a new year and there's new things happening! It's been a great start to the year so far. I have a few musical theater performances coming up that will take up a good part of the start of this year. I will be doing "Honk" with Oconee Youth Playhouse here in Athens, followed by "Avenue Q" with Gainesville Theatre Alliance in February and finishing the semester playing "Mama Mia" with Aurora Theatre for the months of March and April. Along with this I will be performing a solo concert and giving a masterclass at Georgia College and State University in February. I will be joining my good friend Phil Snyder in March at University of North Georgia. I have also started working with a new group called Side Hustle. The group was started by David Osborne's Sound Insight Productions, and will be playing weddings and events here in the Athens area. Also, keep an eye out for the World Music Trio with Jeremy Raj and Louis Romanos. This group is playing music from around the world as well as our own original compositions. It's a lot of fun and we will be expanding to include other musicians and styles as well. I will be posting and giving a heads up as the year progresses. Finally, I will be returning to the studio to work on a few different recording projects. One will be a more traditional classical album showcasing the influence of Spanish music and guitar from around the world. The other will be more original in scope and there will be a few surprises. Thank you all for your support last year! I hope you can come out and enjoy some music with me this year!
The Good Kind of Busy
It's been a while, but luckily because it's been so busy! I just finished performing with Gainesville Theatre Alliance for their production of "Crazy For You". It was a great show to perform and a challenge as well. The cast and crew were all amazing! I feel so honored to be a part of such a good company!
On the 3rd of this month, I'll be performing with Louis Romanos and Jeremy Raj in a world music group at Hendershot's here in Athens. We'll be doing some traditional music from around the world and some of our own material as well. It's going to be awesome!
I'll be playing at Hendershot's on the 13th of this month with my friend Marc Gilley! We will be doing some ambient droney goodness! Solo set at 8:00. Marc will join me at 9:00. Come on out! There's no place like dronze for the holidaze!
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season!
Small Box Series
It was so awesome to be a part of the Small Box Series this weekend! Events like this make me feel so lucky to live in Athens, GA. There are so many talented and creative people here. There always seems to be some amazing things going on. Here is a video of me performing "Trimurti" on the 2nd night. Also, I will be playing at Hendershot's this Wednesday with Jamie Derevere. My solo set starts at 8:00, Jamie will join me at 9:00. If you are in town, come on out!
Automaton
I'm so excited to announce that Automaton is here!!! It was great to hang out with Nicole, Brian, Natalie and Sylvia at Desta tonight and pick up the finished copy of Automaton along with the music box and scroll paper. I am so excited to work on this piece and play it live! The music box part is beautiful. I will be live looping this part and then playing music Nicole wrote on top of this AND I will get a chance in the piece to improvise on top of this wonderful foundation! I can't wait to bring this piece to life. Many thank to Nicole for her creativity and hard work!
A little Bossa for Summer
I've been having a wonderful time working on some new music this summer! It was fun working on some new tunes for Hendershot's with Todd Mueller. If you are on Facebook, you can go to my site and watch the live stream from our gig on 6/14/2017. Next month I will be performing with Jeremy Raj! We'll be bringing some new and different tunes and possibly some classics as well.
This past Sunday, I got to hang out with my good friends Tony Oscar, Todd Mueller and Marc Gilley to record a little something to get the summer vibe flowing. I hope you enjoy our version of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". Enjoy!
Entering into Summer
Coming into summer with some good things happening! I will be continuing my residency at Hendershot's Coffee each month for the summer. This month I will be playing with my good friend Todd Mueller. Todd is the principal timpanist for the Asheville Symphony. I have played music with Todd for 20 years now. Our primary group has been the Odd Trio along with Marc Gilley. The show will be at Hendershot's Coffee on Wednesday, 6/14/2017 at 8:00pm. Come on out if you are in the area. If not, feel free to tune into the show via Facebook Live. It will be good times!
I have just commissioned a new piece from my friend Nicole Randall Chamberlain! The piece will be for music box and guitar. Nicole is primarily a flute composer, but is very familiar with the guitar world as her husband is a great guitarist and guitar composer to boot! I have wanted Nicole to write something for me for a while as I love her writing style and I love the textures she gets in her music. I was blown away by some pieces she wrote and built for music box. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore some new territory and work with Nicole on this cool idea. The piece will be in my hands in August and I will hopefully premiere it not too terribly long after that. Keep an ear out and I will make announcements.
Lastly, check the Live section for some new dates and concerts! Good times are afoot!
Brian Smith / Phil Snyder
I am looking forward to playing with Phil Snyder coming up on May 10th at Hendershots Coffee. I will be playing a solo set at 8pm and Phil will join me at 9pm. We will have some cool tunes and pieces as well as a few new things to perform. Come on out!
What a Month!
Wow! What an awesome month April has been! I have had some amazing experiences this month performing with some awesome musicians and playing in a wide variety of settings. I feel so grateful for everyone who has come out to support the shows and for the musicians and directors I have had the honor to work with. Some highlights were performing with Luca Lombardi at Hendershot's, performing for the guitarists at Georgia State University, playing with some great musicians at Clayton State University for "A...My Name is Alice" and performing for the first time with Aurora Theatre for "Bridges of Madison County"! However, April is not over yet! There are still some good shows coming up and I'd love to see you there!
I will be playing at Porterhouse with Luca Lombardi and Louis Romanos this Wednesday (4/19) from 6-9pm. Then on Sunday (4/23), I will be playing with John Norris and Brad Bassler for Classical Revolution at Hendershots around 7:30, but definitely come out and see some great classical musicians before then starting at 5:00. Lastly, I will be performing with the Aurora Theatre on April 29th for the musical "Hairspray". Good times and great music! Come on out!
Shows and Concerts in April!
I'm getting ready for a busy April! It's going to be fun. The month will start off with a performance with my amazing wife, Natalie Smith, as the Musicsmiths at Oxford College of Emory on April 4th at 7:30. Next, I will be playing bass for "My Name is Alice" with the Clayton State University Theater Company April 7-8 and April 13-15. I will be performing a solo concert for the Georgia State University Guitar Society on April 10th at 12:00 at the GSU Students Center East Speakers Auditorium. Then, I will be performing at Hendershot's Coffee with a solo set and as a duo with Luca Lombardi on April 12th from 8-10pm. If you are around for any of these dates, please come out and listen to some music and say hello!
Good Times in March!
What a month it has been! It's has been busy but so much fun to play with so many great and talented musicians over the past month. Man of La Mancha with Capitol City Opera was a blast! It was great to meet and play with such awesome folks and make some great music. And we got to be on stage and act a little bit.
I was also asked to sub for some shows at Aurora Theater, performing "Bridges of Madison County". So much fun! The music was great and the musicians were awesome! It was an honor to be asked to play. Many thanks to Steve Florczykowski for recommending me and to Ann-Carol for having me!
Rocking it with Steve!
Good times with Ann-Carol!
Lastly, I got to play at Reynolds Plantation as part of the Linger Longer Living Concert Series. I played at the Rock House, which was intimate and fun. The audience was great and it was wonderful being able to celebrate one of the audience member's birthday with a song. Many thanks to Marie Garrison for asking me to perform. I can't wait to do it again!
Upcoming concerts!
Lots of good things coming up this month! I have some new dates added to the calendar with more dates to come! I am looking forward to performing at Reynolds Plantation on March 20th as part of the Linger Longer Concert Series. After that, I will begin rehearsals for "Man of La Mancha" with Capitol City Opera Company. The performances will be March 24th-26th at 8:00pm at the Conant Center at Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, GA. Lastly, I am excited to announce my upcoming residency at Hendershot's Coffee. I will be performing the 2nd Wednesday of the month for the next few months. I will be performing 2 sets; a solo set followed by an ensemble set with some great friends and musicians. Expect some new tunes and good times!
Young Harris College Performance 2/6/2017
What an amazing week! I had a blast getting to hang out with my friends in the Georgia Guitar Quartet and getting to play Rodrigo's "Concierto Andaluz" with the Anderson Symphony! Also, we just found out the GGQ will be featured on NPR's "Performance Today" this Tuesday. They will be playing Phil Snyder's arrangement of Felix Mendelssohn's "Song Without Words, Op. 30, No. 1."
Tomorrow, I am excited to be playing a solo concert at Young Harris College! The performance begins at 7:00pm at the Susan B. Harris Chapel on the YHC campus. If you are in town, please come out! I will have a wide variety of music and some new tunes to present tomorrow evening. I hope to see you there!
