John McEuen John's Blog

yes, a new year is under way - Posted 01/14/2010

things I hope happens:
play ping pong
play chess
go some new places with Marilyn
figure out where to put the new Grammy if I get it
book great acts at the Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater (check out their website)
do some new songs with NGDB
finish some new chapters of my book
do an album with Martha Redbone
see Nathan finally get an agent
have great conversations with Jonathan.. and nathan.. and andrew,, and aaron., and noel.. and ryan,and richie..and morgan, hanna, jessica, trey, nile, audrey, sydney, marilyn..
play ping pong
play chess
take a day off

I PLAYED WOODSTOCK!!Finally - Posted 12/05/2009

now I get to say that.. as on 12/4 I played at a great venue, on the grounds where the concert was held 40 years ago. This museum and 'interpretive center' and venue is one of the best.. a must see if you like the history of music. It was a fun show for a group there, many of them teachers in the area, many part of the staff..
Now it is on the way to Park City for my last solo show of the year.. and I am at Andrew's place (kid # 3) being promoted by Ryan (kid #5) and Aaron will be coming to the show (kid#2).. quality time with the kids in a cool new music room at Cisero's in Park City

heading to easton - Posted 12/01/2009

should be a fun club date with the great Tony Furtado in Easton.. check out info.. a solo show, but I bet we are going to be doing some playing together.. then on to Bethel the next morning early for the show at the Woodstock place..

canada and the road - Posted 11/14/2009

as always a great crowd in Canada... some of the places are not the best venues, but we really wanted to give the new songs a run up here..and they work! two more, then on to the 11/16 show, which will be the most fun on stage in quite a while - the best new room in Manhattan,,, hey, CBS morning show 11/21, then Levon Helm's midnight ramble up in Woodstock that night.. that will be good too...

heading to canada after a great meal at Andrew's - Posted 11/10/2009

WOW.. can that boy cook! My executive chef son is making it happen at Cicsero's in Park City Utah. He tells me his menu is going over great and is ready for the coming winter onslaught. Go up there early and tell them I sent you and he will give you a free desert with your dinner! That's what he said. I suggest the Alaskan Salman with pesto and several types of potatoes.. even a purple one!
On the way to Canada for 5 NGDB dates.. always fun up there.. difficult, but fun.. THEN
the City Winery bash on NOV 16...

steve at Napa - Posted 11/07/2009

very cool to hear he mentioned me at Napa and you were there! your comments lead me to that title song of the new NGDB album - Speed of Life.. it kind of says it all.. or most of it.. Gary Scruggs wrote it..
thanks for writing..

New York - Posted 11/05/2009

Well, the move is complete.. no longer really an 'L.A.' guy, as my wife Marilyn and I can now call NYC home. Since my mom passed away in March and I got out of the LA house, I figured out that I had spent the last 3 years on the road.. either going to visit her, playing a solo date, a ngdb date, working on the NGDB or Steve's album, getting to nyc a few days, running to LA a few days - and criss crossing all this while still trying to see some of the 6 kids and 7 grandkids. It wasn't working very well.. but! It looks like it is finally focusing and settling in a bit.. and Marilyn can even go to some of the places with me! This makes life a lot easier and of course more fun, and I now only live out of my suitcase when away from NYC instead of all the time. Seems like, in the scenario above, I was always living out of the suitcase...
But
the shows have been fun, some very rewarding trips (even some vacation ones) such as IBMA, recording Steve's album, American Idol, Ellen, and upcoming NGDB things to do as well as a few select solo shows.. Jen Larson is coming over tomorrow to work on songs for the City Winery, and Martha Redbone and I have worked up some killer things.. it is all headed in a good direction just in time for winter...

new ngdb cd and City Winery show nov. 16 - Posted 11/05/2009

It is great the action and response the new ngdb cd Speed of Life is getting! people like it as much as I had hoped. My favorite since the '70's, and reviewers like it too. Check it out on Amazon you will see what I mean.
The show at the cool new NYC venue, City Winery, is coming together and will be one of the most fun of the year for me. I love the ngdb shows, and think we are the best we have been.. but these other shows are the ones that put me to more of a test, both performing and musical. Sitting in will be Cynthia Sayer, Jen Larson, Marth Redbone, some of the band Railroad Earth.. and it will be a special evening because it is David Amram's birthday.. so I am making it a jamming party for him. Since the 'houses' in this 'town' are often small, what better place to have a music party than one with a big stage, great PA and lights, and food you love.
Check all these names out on google or thier webites, and you will know how lucky we will be to see them all together..

DILLARDS!!! - Posted 10/31/2009

Well, it was a dreamlike night for me.. I was onstage at the Ryman for the 2009 IBMA show Oct. 1, and waiting to induct my mentors in to the Hall of Fame, a long awaited and well-deserved honor. It was my honor to be the one to do it, for I would not be in the music business and entertainment world where I am currently if it were not for their inspiration and great music. As I paced thinking about what to say, making notes that I was to toss, I realized I was ready, and waited.

I was going to be facing the north wall of the Ryman, and the windows I looked in back in 1965 (pre NGDB) right when Lester Flatt said "Earl and I would like to bring out Mama Maybelle Carter to do the Wildwood Flarr (flower)", and knew someday I would meet those incredible people. This too was part of the path the Dillards had set me on back in 1964 or so.
From the first time Douglas stepped onstage with Rodney and 'the boys' (Paradox club in Tustin, CA) and kicked of an impickable Hickory Hollow, I was taken in to a new course in life - the banjo and original music and a blueprint of how to do it all came from this perfect combination of Flatt & Scruggs and The Smothers Brothers that the Dillards displayed.
Thanks, boys.. men.. mentors.. Mitch for how to tell a joke and timing, etc.. Dean for how to be on stage when not in the spotlight, then how to take it when it was your turn. Doug for how to play the banjo perfectly and laugh at the same joke over and over. Rodney, for your friendship over the years, hours of conversations, guidance, and great singing and perfect Rhythm guitar to then go to for further inspiration.
Your impact will be forever... at least my forever.. and wilthout the Dillards there would not have been a Circle album, of that I am sure.
And a week later I was opening for Steve Martin on his Ryman debut of the music from The Crow, the album I produced on him that was now leaving audiences clapping and happy.. they had an effect on that too!

recent questions - Posted 10/31/2009

the Whippoorwill is available on a reissue of my first Album, now available on a CD reissue..

concert information should be on my website, if you click on the date of the show

Thanks for Crow comments! people are loving it and it has won a couple of awards already! check IBMA nominations and awards from last month

golden bear this weekend - Posted 09/23/2009

haven't said that in about 35 years! my brother used to go there to set up a movie projector and show old films.. that's how we started getting in to show business.. he later went on to produce The Jerk..
I got to take the place of the banjo player in The Greenbrier Boys one night (Bob Yellin), and felt for the first time the power and pleasure of being in a group people wanted to see. Jeff Hanna was in the house that night and told me later he 'thought a lot of me' doing that. A year later I used the NGDB as it had started to back me up at the Topanga Banjo Contest. Since I won and played the early version of Dismal Swamp, I figured I might keep playing 'with them behind me'... David Lindley was one of the judges. that was the summer the Dirt Band really got under way.. and soon we were at the Golden Bear. George Nikkas, the manager/owner after Del Kaufman (who started it) used to come out during our rehearsing and put down a couple of fresh pizzas, saying "You boys need to eat! maybe then I can have a little quiet!" He was a great guy, and we could not have been treated better.

whatta day... week.. month - Posted 09/18/2009

City winery show was lots of fun.. the RailRoad Earth guys, Cynthia Sayer, John Mark Fletcher, jen Larson and the great DAvid Amram all came by with hot notes ..
Opening the Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City on the 10th was a blast.. sat with Earl for the ceremony than hung out with him and Gary (his oldest son) for a couple hours that night... time with Earl is like being in a time machine, as he takes you back with stories of days gone before.. ahh.. the Speed of Life.. and that album hits Tuesday 9/22!
Thanks for writing such a cool song, Gary..
Now to the IBMA to see if Steve's album gets any further recognition!! then on to Dirt Band shows and the Ryman with Steve on Oct. 11.

Mickey's funeral service... - Posted 07/18/2009

Our friend Mickey's funeral service:

You never know who’s going to call…

It was one of the strangest calls I have ever had; also, one of the most welcome, though sad. Finding out I had made someone’s life more fun, and brought him good feelings and moments of inspiration, was rewarding. I learned that this man, who had influenced myself and my children for 35 years, was someone who ‘always wanted to meet me’, according to his wonderful wife, Russi.

Wayne played the banjo (and many other instruments). She wanted me to play his banjo at his memorial and burial service, and possibly do a few songs from the Circle album. I gladly accepted this honor during that first phone call, and marveled, as she spoke with grace of how much Wayne would love this, at how much she started sounding more and more like Minnie Mouse.

The voice of Mickey Mouse, Wayne Allwine (married to Russi, who does the voice of Minnie), was also the heart and soul of the mouse,… and some have said over the years the mouse made the man. It was known that he knew the right things that Mickey would or should not say, and his judgment was always deferred to in those cases. His audio engineer, director, and people at the service said Wayne always knew, and would stand up for, when “Mickey wouldn’t say that”. Mickey would not say ‘hey, dudes’, etc., even if it were in the script of what the job that day was.. Well, Mickey wouldn’t be heard saying it if Wayne did not think it was right.

It was a happy group of co-workers and family gathered around the peaceful grounds of Forest Lawn that Sunday.. Even though it was a funeral, the words and stories about this man brought smiles, with tears both happy and sad, to the group of about 25 people. They were all honoring a man who had been an inspiration in life and how to live it, one who saw the humor where others may not have, one who treated all people as friends. A life like his I was thinking is how I want to live.

It became clear why we always felt comfortable when kids were listening to what he had to say in his work: all knew it was fine to leave them with Mickey and whatever he was doing or going to say. Parents would not have to keep an ear open for something they would later regret letting their kids hear. With no color, ethnic, political, nor age boundaries, Wayne spoke to all of us. He was everyone’s friend, and showed us that a gentle life and happiness was for all.

And now I head to L.A. with NGDB for a few dates end of July where, on the way to the dates, I will play at a memorial service for Wayne at the Disney Studio in Burbank.

The Crow and the road - Posted 07/18/2009

Looks like Steve's album is getting to people! I knew it could, and glad to see folks spreading the word.. check it out at amazon.. the reviews are.. well, amazing. Steve is extremely happy about people loving the music.
The NGDB is back out there, and it is a busy summer. . . The audiences seem to really like the new songs on the upcoming album, Speed of Life. Since bands don't make hits* and people do, we will find out if this is music people accept into their lives soon. So far, so good.
*people record a lot of music.. but if they really knew what made hits, they would make more. It is when that magic of an audience - be it live, t.v., or radio - hear something they like, tell people about it, go buy one, request it from radio, it gets reviews that are good.. well, then it all can come together to make that music reach more people. We have been lucky a few times to have that happen. Hope it is in the cards for the new album, due Sept. 22 on Sugarhill Records.

Seeing Andrew and his new chef digs - Posted 06/14/2009

About Andrew at Cisero’s in Park City.. and a story about this chef son of mine. It is well founded pride that I have for Andrew’s cooking abilities. His excellence was first evident many years ago when I hired him to cater a show I was producing for the JanSport company in Salt Lake City where I hired Koko Taylor and Leon Russell – and they told me ‘this is the best backstage catering we have ever had!” Thinking them polite, and agreeing at the same time, my pride in his efforts was even more validated when I witnessed Leon’s band showing up at the next day’s public show I had also booked, all arriving an hour early for sound check.
This early arrival is so rare in this business that I had to ask why. They told me “the food was so good yesterday we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss any of it today.. when’s dinner?” You should have seen their faces sag with disappointment when I told them Andrew was not cooking for this show, that we had normal backstage plates, etc., as they then proceeded to talk about the previous show’s dinner, reliving it again as they had ‘regular’ food.
Well, now Andrew has the perfect stage for those talents he has developed over the years as a great chef, at the beautiful restaurant close to the top of Main Street in Park City, Utah: Cisero’s. Go check out what he is cooking up, and you won’t be disappointed. I ate there a couple of nights ago, and reaffirmed the earlier opinions as well founded.. and now look forward to the next time! This guy knows how to cook, and does it with the same passion as a great musician plays their instrument… the love of his work is evident in the end product: your dinner.

heading to utah - Posted 06/11/2009

after a great day of getting some things done I am headed to Utah.. first time there going to play since my mom passed away in March. A good show, but one I was hoping she would see.. maybe she will. Getting there the day before to go see Andrew's new restaurant in Park City! that should be fun.. Joey Reynolds show next mon. night after I get back.

the Ellen show reruns .. HA! - Posted 06/10/2009

boy, was Matt surprised at the effect of being on t.v. when he got to NYC this past week.. and now he is meeting us for dinner in the Apple tonight.. now soon he heads back to LA .. and when Ellen reruns I hope he gets the same buzz.. Steve? he gets enough buzz.

the night before the Opry - Posted 06/10/2009

it will be a great fun night.. after dinner with steve, earl and gary scruggs, tim o'brien, my wife marilyn and others at Bela Fleck's great house we headed for the the next afternoon Opry.. hope you tune it in.. and the Wall Street Journal was a great way to wake up that day.. nice article

New features to my Website - Posted 04/17/2009

My blog is a new feature. Check back often for updates.

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