Happy February!
We have had a cold few days, and it doesn’t look like winter is going to let up all that soon. Despite that I have a busy month of playing, with gigs around the Denver area and elsewhere. I also have some exciting class opportunities at Swallow Hill Music Association at the end of the month. But before we get to that, a little shameless self-promotion, ha!
I launched a Patreon page in January where my fans can contribute $5 monthly to support my music. A small monthly donation allows access to lots of special behind the scenes content, and other benefits. The Patreon model is a great way to support independent artists, and also provides a great opportunity for artists to connect with their fans. A small contribution goes a long way for an independent artist like myself.
For a $10 per month donation you can start to access some of my educational content, including jam along tracks, lyrics and charts for songs, and at even higher tiers, video lessons and tabbed solos. This is content I have used for years in my teaching and has been beneficial to dozens (if not hundreds) of students, and Patreon offers me an opportunity to provide it to a broader audience. If you haven’t already, please consider becoming a member of my Patreon, I am looking forward to building that community.
I’m excited to get back to playing some shows this month. The Martin Gilmore Trio will be playing at Luther Strings in Denver, Colorado on February 4th at 7:00pm. The suggested donation is $15 and you can reserve your tickets at LutherStrings.com for $5. It’s an intimate venue so don’t wait to get your tickets. Chris Luther will play a couple of tunes with us. Oh yeah, and it’s BYOB.
In other exciting news, my bluegrass band Long Road Home will be playing at the Midwinter Bluegrass Festival which runs from February 17-19 at the Delta Hotel in Northglenn, Colorado at 120th and I-25. Long Road Home is celebrating 18 years as a band. For those of you who have not seen Long Road Home before, we are a traditional bluegrass quintet (mandolin, bass, fiddle, banjo, guitar). The band features Ian Haegele on bass, Justin Hoffenberg on fiddle, 2016 national mandolin champion Jordan Ramsey on mandolin, and Pete Wernick on banjo. We play on Sunday at midwinter, but it’s worth attending the whole weekend.
The Martin Gilmore Trio will be returning to the La Veta Mercantile on February 25th as well. This has become a regular venue for us and we are always glad to return to the beautiful town of La Veta to play these shows. If you have never been to La Veta, Colorado you should definitely visit. It’s a quaint little town at the base of the Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado. Hey, why not come visit while the Martin Gilmore Trio is playing? Ha!
I have some classes starting this month at Swallow Hill Music. Primarily, there is still time to sign up for my Progressions: Songwriting Course and my Progressions: Bluegrass Guitar course. These are exciting in-depth courses designed to hone your skills, build a community of supportive players, and create deadlines for improvement. Honestly, I think a lot of my fastest progress as a player and creative artist has happened when I was trying to meet a deadline. Sometimes it’s hard to make the time to work on your songwriting or guitar skills. These classes meet twice each week so they are a good way to invest in your musical skills and creativity. Classes start on February 13th, so there’s not much time. You can read more about the classes and sign up here: Progressions: Bluegrass Guitar - Progressions: Songwriting.
In addition to those classes I will be offering an Intermediate Bluegrass Ensemble class that is always a lot of fun. If you want a place to apply your skills and make music with other people, these classes are a lot of fun. They are usually full, so don’t wait to sign up. All bluegrass instruments are welcome, and it’s open to all skill levels. Come pick some tunes with us!
Lastly, I have been posting videos to my YouTube channel, so if you have not yet subscribed there, check it out. There will be a lot more content going up over there throughout the year, so don’t miss out!
Stay warm this February. Spring will be here soon enough. Thanks for listening and supporting my music. I hope to see you this month!
Martin
Did you know I have a travel blog? It has a lot of stories from my time in Egypt. I have some trips planned this year so I am rebooting it. You can check out posts from the past and keep up with trips this spring, summer, and fall.
I also post photos from my travels on a Flickr page. You can see photos from Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Kenya, and elsewhere.