Harper and Midwest Kind January, 2013 Blog

Hey Everyone,

Happy January!   The snow is falling in Michigan and the temperature is ccccccold!   December was a very quiet month for the band which we all enjoyed after such a busy year.   In January we launched into our Acoustic January Tour which really worked out well.  Trinity House, a small theatre in Livonia Michigan saw our manager Bobbi Llewellyn's American vocal debut.   In Australia Bobbi fronted her own band and for time she sang backup for several of my bands.  Then the management thing took over and the singing was pushed to the side.  I wrote two songs for her and so we decided to put them into the set.  Despite lots of nerves, Bobbi did a great job!   We did a short tour through Missouri, Kansas and Illinois, visiting some of our favorite Clubs, BBs, The Trouser Mouse, Uncle Bos and Fat Fish Pub.   The weather was stunning and amazingly warm for January.

We were hit with a rude awakening with some freezing temperatures last week in Michigan.   The concert series at The Southfield Library was a lot of fun.  Followed by an amazing new club in Traverse City called InsideOut Gallery.  Just  a beautiful sounding  listening room.  It was such a pleasure to perform in this room.   Then we finished off the week with The incredible Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey, Michigan.  The weather was treacherous  with gusting winds from lake effect snow.  We had nearly a full house at the show which just goes to show the folks up in Petoskey love their music.   The drive back to the Blissfest band house in Harbor Springs after the show was a trip from hell!!   But we made it thanks to some great road directions from Blissfest organizers Jim and Mike and God's will.   I got together with Motor City Josh in the studio this month to write some songs.   We plan to release a new CD together in a traditional blues vein, which should alot of fun.    We will also be putting together some shows.    I am also planning to finish an acoustic CD of the band this year as well. So theres lots of cool things happening .  Our new drummer Jamie Taunton will be joining the band in February!  We finished the month of January at the Blackhawk Jazz & Blues Concerts series in Richland, Michigan.  A great crowd full of lots of friends from Kalamazoo who came out to support us despite the snow.  We had a special guest Angelo Santelli get up and play some awesome acoustic Dobro. 

For those of you who are interested in our didgeridoo/ Australia presentation- which Bobbi and I have called "Australian-Didge-ucation"  please check out the new workshop page on the Harper website:   www.harper.biz/workshops. There will be quite a few free public shows at various libraries around the country.  Please see the schedule at www.harper.biz  and click on the tour page.   Hope to see you all out on the road,

Thanks and Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs and E Book
www.harper.biz/workshops    Australian Didge-ucation
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.facebook.com/pages/Harper-and-Midwest-Kind/163124467948
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.myspace.com/harperband