Harper and Midwest Kind March Blog 2018

 Howdy all,

Happy March. Finally Spring has arrived. Our show at the Winter Bluesfest - at The Franke Center for the Arts in Marshall Michigan was sold out. Local guitarist Jake Kershaw opened the show and really rocked the crowd.  The Franke Center is an amazing listening room, please try to check it out if you are ever in the area, its worth it. A massive winter storm hit Michigan in early February so we decided to leave a day early for our tour South.  Really glad we did because we would have been snowed in. As it turned out, we had great weather and roads all the way to Florida and Alabama and back.

Our tour to Florida and Alabama was great.  Fantastic weather and full to capacity at most shows.  We performed at several new venues - Arts Garage in Delray Beach and the Barrel Room in Fort Myers - both excellent music venues.  Plus some of our old favorites - the legendary Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee,  Capitol Oyster Bar in Montgomery Alabama where Bass player James Norris celebrated his birthday with a dozen sumptuous oysters!! Guanabanas in Jupiter for Valentines Day - and of course,  I had to sing "Feels Like Sunday Morning" for all the valentines. An absolutely packed Englewoods on Dearborn, finishing off with the incredible Little Bar in Goodland.  We ended the month with a very cool show at yet another new venue - The Third Base in Springfield, Illinois.

Big news -  a tour to Texas  in May with dates in Dallas and Austin, Texas. please spread the word cause we haven't toured Texas in years!!!! Also in August we will be touring to Reno Nevada and Northern California.  We have to send out a big thank you to Randy Christian for getting us the show at Antones in Austin and Leslie Marble for helping us out with the Poor House Bistro in San Jose.  See you out on the road this spring!

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
#harperandmidwestkindwintertour
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Harper and Midwest Kind January Blog 2018

Howdy everyone,

We are nearly into February and the touring has started again thick and fast.  For our Toronto Fans the scheduled show for next Friday has run into a scheduling conflict.  We hope to rebook this date at a later time, very sorry for any inconvenience caused.   Our fundraiser in December at The Dale Fisher Gallery in Grass Lake Michigan for the non profit group:  Friends of Grass Lake Township raised over $5000 which was way beyond expectations and an amazing event to be apart of.

January saw us facing a two week arctic blast but we managed to perform to some great crowds who braved the icey cold weather to come out to see us at our favorite Michigan clubs - "Tip Top Deluxe" and "Trinity House Theatre"and a very new venue - "20 Front Street" in Lake Orion. We made our debut at "World Cafe Live" in Philadelphia and "Kettleworks" in Columbia PA.  "Kettleworks" was a complete sellout - we hope to return later in the year.   At "World Cafe Live" we hung out with our dear friends: Lori and Steve owners of "Camp Jam in the Pines".  We hope to make a return visit to Camp Jam in September.   Just this past weekend we performed in Connecticut at a great new venue "Woodbury Brewing Company"  and returned to an old favorite - "Black Eyed Sallys".

January was also a very frustrating month  - with our heating furnace breaking down during the big freeze and a sewage explosion for the second time in our basement and Bobbi poured a cup of tea over her new Mac Lap Top for the second time as well. When it rains it pours, as they say LOL!!!!.  I am just very thankful for my wonderful friends who came to our rescue and you all know who you are.  Im still working on a new CD and our guitarist Mike Howe has just completed his solo CD.  The festivals are starting to roll in.  We plan to tour to the West Coast next summer, more dates to be announced very soon.  We Hope to see you out on the road this winter and spring!

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
#harperandmidwestkindwintertour
HarperWebsite                                                                                                                         Didgeridoo/HarmonicaWorkshops                                                                                         HarperandMidwestKindYoutube                                                                                                          HarperandMidwestKindFacebook                                                                                                                                                      HarperMusicPage                                                                                                                                                                             HarperandMidwestKindReverbnation

Harper and Midwest Kind December Blog 2017

Hey Everyone,

Happy Holidays!!  My band "Midwest Kind" and I have been taking a month long break but will be getting back into it in January, 2018.   We finished the year with an amazing show at Byrons in Pomeroy, Iowa - a hidden gem amongst the corn fields and a soul satisfying final show at Dale Fisher Gallery in my home town of Grass Lake in Michigan.

During December, Ive been working on writing some new tunes for a new CD which I hope to record with my band next year and release either late 2018 or early 2019.  We have some exciting tours planned for 2018, a tour to Europe for the Groesch Blues Festival in Germany, a tour to the West Coast in late July and another European tour later in the Fall in the works. 2017 was an amazing year, we toured Australia for three weeks, which turned out to be the best tour I have ever done there.  So much love and respect, it was an incredible experience.  The two week tour to China was the trip of a life time, so unexpected yet so fulfilling!  I even managed to teach some Chinese Children how to play the didgeridoo.

We would like to thank all the people who came out to our shows, who supported our fundraiser for our China tour.  You fill us with love and self worth and we certainly couldn't do what we do with out you.

Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Hanukkah (just past) with a Merry Christmas and Kwanzaa coming up. May we all find peace, prosperity, tolerance and enlightenment on Earth!!

Thanks and Peace,

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
#harperandmidwestkindwintertour
HarperWebsite                                                                                                                         Didgeridoo/HarmonicaWorkshops                                                                                         HarperandMidwestKindYoutube                                                                                                          HarperandMidwestKindFacebook                                                                                                                                                      HarperMusicPage                                                                                                                                                                             HarperandMidwestKindReverbnation

Harper and Midwest Kind Oct Blog 2017

Hey Everyone,

Happy Fall! Glad to report that I am feeling a lot better after getting a mega flu last week causing me to lose my voice and forcing me to cancel our shows to Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina.  We will reschedule these shows.  Very sorry we couldn't make it.  Thank you all so much for all the well wishes and positive vibes!

These last few weeks in between coughing, I have started working on a new CD which I hope to release sometime in 2018.  Its always hard to get the creative juices flowing with so much touring and being away from home. Its quite daunting to try to do better than "Show Your Love'. But Ive made a start, which is a good thing.  I am happy to announce that we will be touring Europe in May, 2018 having been booked at the prestigious Grolsch Blues Festival in Germany. Many more dates to follow.

We have some of our favorite shows coming up - Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester and Syracuse in New York,  the Lizzie Rose Music Room in New Jersey and Timeout Pub in Maine for an incredible Halloween Party.  Some newbies such as Sweet Nolas in Virginia and the Candlelight Theatre in Delaware, which will be fun to be acquainted with.

We hope to see you out on the road this Fall in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Virgina, Delaware, Maine, Georgia and Florida with more to follow in the Winter !!! 

Thanks and Peace,

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
#harperandmidwestkindfalltour
HarperWebsite                                                                                                                         Didgeridoo/HarmonicaWorkshops                                                                                         HarperandMidwestKindYoutube                                                                                                          HarperandMidwestKindFacebook                                                                                                                                                      HarperMusicPage                                                                                                                                                                             HarperandMidwestKindReverbnation

Harper and Midwest Kind September Blog 2017

Hey everyone,

Happy Fall.  Sending positive healing vibes to all those who were caught up in the devastating path of Hurricane Urma and the terrible earth quakes in Mexico.  Happy to report that all our friends and touring venues are OK! But so many more didn't fare so well.

Labor Day weekend saw some crazy driving.  We were very lucky not to be rained out at the fabulous Sioux Falls Block Party.  But due to an early load in at the Peoria Heritage Blues Festival in Illinois we had to drive through the night.  We made it to town at about 7.30am, caught a few hours of snooze, then we were off to the festival.  And what an amazing festival it was.  Great staging and sound, beyond incredible hospitality.  I got to hang out with new friend and guitarist Mathew Curry.  Really nice guy!  Then I caught up with good buddies Walter Trout, Sammy Avila and Michael Leasure. So good to see Walter looking so healthy.  The band put on a fabulous show.   We saw fellow Aussie John Butler Trio perform.  It was so cool to hear so many Aussie accents back stage at an American Festival.  We finished the weekend at one of our favorite clubs - Pop's Place - where its always a lot of fun!!! Thank you Tom Miller for the amazing Brisket!  Just this weekend we had some great shows and glorious warm Fall weather at Niagara Falls Blues Festival, New York and Camp Jam in the Pines in New Jersey.  On the way to New Jersey, a car pulled out on us suddenly on the Highway, didn't use his turn signal and seemed  completely oblivious to the fact we were in the left hand lane. If I hadn't steered the Chevy hard onto the left shoulder, we would have been wiped out. That defensive driving course I took many years ago in Australia has served us well so many times!  Camp Jam in Pines proved to be very hard to find with two different GPS's taking us to some weird little church in the woods.  But we made it and what a superb time we had.  Stunning weather, cool hippy crowd, nice big stage on a lake, surrounded by woods, bon fires and lazer lights!!!

We have a very special House Concert - Fri Sept 29th - CaD 'Zan House Concerts - Cambridge, Illinois - RSVP: john.r.taylor@gmail.com Limited to 30 seats if indoors!  So Please contact John for your ticket. This will be an intimate house concert - one of the best ways to enjoy music and for me personally - the best type of concert to perform at!!!

We hope to see you out on the road this Fall in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Virgina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, Georgia and Florida with more to follow in the Winter !!!

Thanks and Peace,

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
HarperWebsite                                                                                                                         Didgeridoo/HarmonicaWorkshops                                                                                         HarperandMidwestKindYoutube                                                                                                          HarperandMidwestKindFacebook                                                                                                                                                      HarperMusicPage                                                                                                                                                                             HarperandMidwestKindReverbnation

Harper and Midwest Kind August Blog

 Hey Everyone,

Sending positive vibes to our brothers and sisters in Texas who are facing devastating floods - the worst in 500 years,  caused by Hurricane Harvey.  So good to see neighbor helping neighbor and stranger helping stranger!

Summer has rolled by way too fast!!  We've had an amazing festival season with some great shows at the Manistee National Forest Festival, Michigan, The Greenwood Blues Cruise in South Carolina and The Merchant Street Festival in Illinois in July.  It was great to catch up with old friends at The Rogue River Concert Series in Michigan. The Cosmic Awakening Show in Detroit with good friend Michelle Wailing was very interesting and unique for me.  In August, we had a crazy drive from the London Jazz & Rib festival in Ohio to Delaware for the Riverfront Festival with only 5 hours sleep but we made it to the gig in time and the show was very well received.  So nice to catch up with amazing guitarist Laura Chavez who used to perform with the fabulous Candye Kane. We had some stunning weather for our shows in South Dakota - Music at the Meridian and Sounds of Sprit Lake in Minnesota.  Such beautiful places to perform. The Flatted Fifth and the Legendary Byrons in Iowa were a lot of fun with some great crowds and smiling faces which always makes us feel good.    Our private event at Blues at the Burgundy, New York was way too much fun - the folks, the food and vibes were all good and we even had a fabulous Hula dancer - Jacquelyn spinning her hoop to our tunes.  We will be returning to the Dinosaur BBQs - Oct 25- Rochester and Oct 26 - Syracuse, New York in the Fall!  So please spread the word!   In September, we have the Sioux Falls Block Party, Peoria Heritage Blues Festival. IL, Pops Place, IL, Wine and Harvest Fest, MI, Niagara Falls Blues Festival and Camp Jam in the Pines, NJ.  We have a very special House Concert - Fri Sept 29th - CaD 'Zan House Concerts - Cambridge, Illinois - RSVP: john.r.taylor@gmail.com Limited to 30 seats if indoors!  So Please contact John for your ticket. This will be an intimate house concert - one of the best ways to enjoy music!

Some of you may notice a new face in the band - Dee Washington on Drums.  We wish Mario the very best for his move to Toronto Canada. Thank you for your support and we hope to see you out on the road this Summer and Fall in  South Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Virgina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, Georgia and Florida with more to follow in the Winter !!!

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
HarperWebsite                                                                                                                         Didgeridoo/HarmonicaWorkshops                                                                                         HarperandMidwestKindYoutube                                                                                                          HarperandMidwestKindFacebook                                                                                                                                                      HarperMusicPage                                                                                                                                                                             HarperandMidwestKindReverbnation

Harper and Midwest Kind June Blog 2017

Hey Everyone,

Summer is upon us and we have a great touring schedule "chokkas" full of festivals and concert series coming up.   April saw us touring Florida, Mississippi and Niagara Falls, Canada.  We got to hang with our good friends Mackie and Ann Marie in Punta Gorda Florida and Dawn, Scott and Katie and Everett in beautiful Jupiter, Florida.  Got to see some baby owls and their folks plus loads of cool shows.  Then it was on to North Carolina and West Virginia, Iowa and Illinois. We even managed to do a great show at Kitchener, Canada at the Boat Shed which was a lot of fun.  As I looked out from the stage it seemed like the whole bar was dancing. Such a great show!!!.  Unfortunately on the way back to Detroit, we were all strip searched and delayed for 2 hours at the US border.  Not a nice experience at all!!! 

In June this month, we caught up with former but fabulous band mates - Chris Smith on Bass and Matt Besey on guitar at Michigan's very first Shrinefest.  The Matt Besey Band sounded great.  It was really nice to catch up with these guys! Some more Michigan gigs followed with Metro Park on Lake St Clair and the Lowell Show Boat Concert which took place on one of the most beautiful evenings so far this summer.  The next day was the amazing Alpena Blues Festival.  We had a little rain but it held off for the evening shows.  Then it was down to Indianapolis for the stunning Rathskeller where good friends Justin Brown and Mark got up and jammed. 

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you out on the road this Summer in Michigan, South Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Delaware, South Dakota, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey and Missouri with more to follow in the fall !!!

Thanks and Peace,

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
HarperWebsite                                                                                                                             Didgeridoo/HarmonicaWorkshops                                                                                         HarperandMidwestKindYoutube                                                                                                          HarperandMidwestKindFacebook                                                                                                                                                      HarperMusicPage                                                                                                                                                                             HarperandMidwestKindReverbnation