Martin Gilmore Music - June 2025
- Martin Gilmore
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
June is here! School’s out (well, mostly) and the summer is starting to unroll. I’ve been wonderfully busy with so many amazing things, but that has left me slacking on other stuff around the house. No matter, I’ll catch up at some point.
May was an amazing month of shows, travel, and friendship. Most excitingly, I was one of the six winners of the Kerrville Folk Festival’s (KFF) New Folk Songwriting Contest. It’s a prestigious contest, and I am very honored to have been part of the finalists, and even more honored to have won. I do not envy the judges. All of the writers were so amazing, it would have been incredibly difficult to judge. More than that, I made so many wonderful and talented new friends. i cannot describe the sense of camaraderie in the New Folk Camp. I have made so many friends playing these contests, and that’s what I set out to do. I’m going to post more about my Kerrville festival experience on my blog (Coming soon!) and I’ll be posting some stuff about my thoughts on, and takeaways from, the three contests I have won over the last year. It has been a whirlwind, but I am very grateful to live this musical life and tremendously honored to have shared these stages with all these fantastic people. I’m headed back to perform on May 31st for the winner’s concert which will be livestreamed on KFF's YouTube.
Looking back on the last twelve months, it’s hard to believe all that has happened. I won both Telluride Troubadour and the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival Songwriter’s Showcase in summer 2024, and am now one of the winners of the acclaimed Kerrville New Folk Competition. I think I might be the only person to have won all three contests in a row. That is completely surreal to me. I started doing these events to meet other songwriters and make some new friends (which I definitely have), and winning has really been icing on the cake. I know there are other folks who have won all three contests, but not in the same year (or 12-month span). But most importantly to me has been making all these new great friends and learning more about the singer songwriter world.
I enjoyed catching up with my friends John and Julie Pennell in New Mexico for some gigs. It’s always great to see them and play music. I had a great day making buttons and talking to people about the City of Englewood Cultural Arts Commission (of which I am the chair). I produced the Colorado Roots Music Summit for the Southwest Regional Folk Alliance [SWRFA] (of which I am also a board member) which was small but mighty. I learned so much from the panelists and enjoyed seeing friends and meeting new folks. Come join us at the SWRFA Conference in Austin in September!
Oh yeah! I am playing at Outpost in Larimer Square on May 30th (That's Tonight!)
June is about as full of music as it can be.
June 1st, I will be teaching a bluegrass guitar workshop at Swallow Hill Music Association from 1pm-4pm. We will be covering rhythm techniques, developing solos, and improvising in a bluegrass style. It’s sort of an introductory course for each of those subjects to lay some foundations and give folks something to focus on during festival season to improve their playing.
June 19th, I will be playing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival at 10:30am on the Elks Park Stage, opening for the songwriting contest!
After that, I will be on tour with Jackson Emmer playing all over Colorado as well as in Utah and California. Here is a list of those dates. If you don’t know Jackson, he’s one of the best and I love hanging out with him and making music. Check him out at www.jacksonemmer.com.
6/21-22 - Telluride, CO - Telluride Bluegrass Festival - Sunday morning set at Elks Stage, free.
6/24 - Durango, CO - Backyard Concert, tickets/info here.
6/25 - Alamosa, CO - Society Hall, tix coming soon.
6/26 - La Veta, CO - La Veta Mercantile, tix here.
6/27 - Estes Park, CO - House Concert. Email John for details: pcminier@gmail.com
6/28 - Lakewood, CO - Nina’s House Concert. Email ninalouz.art@gmail.com for details.
6/29 - Glenwood Springs, CO - Four Mile Barn. Email Jim for details: hawk@rof.net
7/1 - Denver, CO - Swallow Hill - Intro to Co-Writing WORKSHOP, 6-8pm, tix here.
7/4 - Huntsville, UT - Music & Arts Festival, free.
7/5 - Eden, UT - House Concert.
7/6 - Heber City, UT - Songwriting Workshop, tix here.
7/6 - Heber City, UT - Heber City Limits. Tix here.
7/9 - North Tustin, CA - House Concert, email Laura for details: leeslaura@gmail.com
7/10 - Santa Cruz, CA - ALBUM RELEASE PARTY - Meder St Barn - Tickets/Info here.
7/11 - Palo Alto, CA - House Concert - tix tba.
7/12 - Piedmont, CA - House Concert - Email Dana for details: danawfox@gmail.com
7/13 - Caspar, CA - Good Bones - tix here.
Registration for my Progressions: Bluegrass Guitar class and Progressions: Songwriting class is open now. There are limited seats in each class. We only accept five folks for the songwriting class so we can make sure to have enough time for everyone to share a song each work-shopping session, and we try to keep the bluegrass guitar cohort limited to eight people so the jam sessions don’t get too long. I’m anticipating that these will sell out pretty quickly, so if you are interested don’t wait. These are sixteen week classes that meet twice per week (Tuesday online and Thursday in-person). They are a big commitment, but I have seen folks really improve a lot over the course of these classes, and they are always very fulfilling. Join us in September for the fall semester!
I cannot express enough how wonderful Kerrville was, and how honored I am to be part of the “class of 2025” as we were called. Music is all about community and making connections and that’s what the New Folk camp was all about. I am so thankful to live this musical life and grateful to all of my fans who make it possible. Check out my blog for more about the Kerrville experience, and sign up for my Patreon to read my thoughts and takeaways about the contests.
Happy June!
Martin
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