How can it be June already? The spring is flying by especially as the school year winds down and gigging season starts up in earnest.
May was a fantastic month full of all sorts of great happenings, events, classes and shows. I wrapped up my seventh year teaching at the University of Northern Colorado, started a new session at Swallow Hill Music Association, taught some workshops at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Lakewood, got my garden planted, and much more. I spent the few months prior organizing the Colorado Roots Music Summit for the Southwest Regional Folk Alliance which happened on May 19th. We had four panels on topics relating to the music industry, some community gathering, and an open-mic featuring great Colorado artists.
The Martin Gilmore Trio returned to the fantastic La Veta Mercantile for a show on May 25th. It was a wonderful weekend of catching up with friends in the community. It’s fun to return to venues and see familiar faces. I enjoy making friends all around and catching up with their lives. Thanks to La Veta for always showing up to see us.
May 30th (tonight), my Progressions class performs at our alumni gathering at Swallow Hill Music Association in Denver at 7pm, along with many former students who have gone through the program. I offer Progressions: Bluegrass Guitar every spring and Fall, and it is an in-depth guitar course for folks who want to play bluegrass music. Students meet twice each week, once online and once in-person. It is a lot of work and a big commitment, but I have seen serious improvement over the course of the class. If you are interested in a bluegrass guitar intensive, send me a message and we can get you on board for the fall semester.
May 31st (Tomorrow), my Swallow Hill Bluegrass Band class, who are calling their group The Hootin’ Annies” are playing at the Lady Justice Brewery in Englewood, Colorado at 7pm. They will play a set and then I will play some songs alongside other Swallow Hill Faculty folks. They worked hard and prepared a great set of music and I’m looking forward to hearing them. Stop in if you are available!
The Martin Gilmore Trio will be at the Gold Hill Inn on June 2nd, at 5:30pm. Stop in for some wonderful mountain ambiance, good food and music at one of my favorite venues in the world. It’s always great to get back up the mountain and see the good folks at the Gold Hill Inn. We are excited to be back!
June 4th-10th I will be playing with Jackson Emmer for a tour of Colorado. Jackson is an amazing songwriter and a heck of a nice guy. We will be playing some house concerts around the state. I love these gigs because it’s fun to hang out with Jackson and I get to play lots of lead and sing harmonies. It doesn’t get much better than that. If you haven’t heard his music check out Jackson Emmer at his website!
June 12th I will be playing a couple of songs and telling some stories at the Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop LitFest. I’m just a small portion of the event, but it looks like a wonderful event for anyone who is interested in writing. There are dozens of great workshops, seminars and events during the week, and I’m very glad to be part of it. Check it out at lighthousewriters.org
June 15th I will be playing at Oskar Blues in Lyons, Colorado with the Colorado Connection a tribute to the Bluegrass Album Band. I’m excited to get to play a little bit of mandolin on these bluegrass classics and sing the baritone parts. I love bluegrass music and it’s always great to get to play in a full-on bluegrass band. Come hang out with us if you are in Lyons that day!
I’m excited and nervous for the Troubadour contest at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. There are so many great songwriters in the contest, and I’m very honored to be amongst the ten who were selected to compete at the festival. I know a couple of the other writers and have heard some of their songs, and you definitely don’t want to miss any of these folks. Follow me on social media to keep up with the festival happenings. I’ll post updates throughout and let you all know how it’s going. If you have any favorite songs that you think I should play, let me know! The hardest part is choosing what songs I should play. Ha!
The week after Telluride (June 25-July 1) I’m back on tour with Jackson Emmer for some shows in Montana. I love the Big Sky State, and I’m excited to be back in that region. Once again, check out Jackson Emmer’s Website for details.
July is almost equally as busy, but I’ll save most of that for the next newsletter. I do want to say that the Martin Gilmore Trio will be playing a couple of shows around the Denver area in the middle of the month. We will be in Evergreen, Colorado on June 13th for the Evergreen Acoustic Series at Douglas Hall on the grounds of the Church of the Transfiguration.
We will also be playing a backyard concert in Denver on June 14th, which will be a great place to hear the trio. Small shows like these are some of the best places to hear live music, and they are some of my favorite shows to play because I get to meet people face-to-face and be part of the community. There are only a few spots left, so if you are interested in coming please let me know and I will get you the link. Just send me a message at this address!
I will have some time this summer for guitar lessons if you are interested. We could meet in person or online. My schedule often makes it difficult to meet regularly, but if you have questions or just want some direction let me know. I have not had much time for lessons over the last couple of years and get a lot of inquiries. Let me know if I can help and I’ll do my best to make it work!
The garden is growing, the chickens are laying eggs, my son is playing music and enjoying his summer, my wife is going back to school for a doctorate, and I am loaded up with gigs. Not much to complain about here. Life is good.
Thanks for being part of it!
Martin
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