Harper and Midwest Kind December Blog 2016

Happy Holidays Everyone,

Well its nice and cold here in Michigan and we were fortunate enough to have a white Christmas.

November saw the band and I head down to Florida for a warm week of shows.  We had some great crowds at Englewoods on Dearborn and the Little Bar in Goodland.  We had the Grand Opening of Mermaid Blues on Marco Island which was a sell out.  Another new venue for us was the Rhythm House in Fort Myers and we finished the tour at the amazing Terra Fermata - a stunning out door venue in Stuart, Florida.  December saw us hold our first China Tour Fundraiser at The Green Door in Lansing, Michigan. Twyla Birdsong and her band put on a great show for us and Twyla even got up and sang a few tunes with my band.  She has a great voice and her band consists of some of Lansing's finest musicians. It was such a pleasure and honor to have them play.  The snow pelted down but we were all warm and snug inside the Green Door.  We continue to Fund raise for our upcoming China Tour through https://www.gofundme.com/2t98u6r8  We have lots of goodies on offer in return for your support.

We had a very cool show at TCs Garage in Napoleon, Michigan.  Good to see TC putting on shows again.  We had a nice turn out at this intimate music room.  We also had an acoustic concert at one of my favorite rooms - Trinity House Theatre in Livonia, Michigan. We finished the year at Bemo's Bar in Bay City.  Another great sounding room with a really cool crowd.  We had a kinda of a bizarre and dramatic end to the night. On the very last song, a man head planted the floor right in front of the stage.  It looked like he had died on the spot. The whole room seemed to collectively gasp in shock! We were very relieved to see his lips moving while he lay on the floor.  He had only feinted after all.

2016 was a busy year, lots of tours, festivals and the release of the "Show Your Love" CD which got to # 3 on Billboard and stayed in the Top Ten for six months. It also hit # 1 in Europe and # 3 in Australia. Such a wonderful result for this new CD, I am so very thankful. 2016 was also a rough year, so much war, mass shootings, devastation and the loss of so many wonderful musicians.  Icons such as David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, George Michael, Prince, Leon Russell are no longer with us.  The world seems a little sadder!  The cool thing is that their music lives on. They stay with us through their songs.  With a new year brings a new beginning and a new hope for a better world.  For Harper and Midwest Kind we will be embarking on a tour of Australia and China in March which is very exciting!!!

Thank you so much for supporting my band and my music and sharing our journey. Happy Holidays, may 2017 be a year of peace, prosperity and joy for us all.  See you out on the road!!!

Thanks and Peace,

Peter D. Harper,
Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs/ Shirts/ downloads
http://cdbaby.com/cd/harperandmidwestkind2
www.youtube.com/harperband                                                                                                         www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind                                                                                                                                                        www.musicpage.com/harper                                                                                                                                                                              www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind October Blog 2017

Hey Everyone,

Happy Fall!!!!.  We have some amazing news.  Harper and Midwest Kind have been invited to tour China for two weeks in March, 2017.  This such an amazing opportunity for my band to play our music to such a unique culture, were are all very excited.  We have put together a  Harper and Midwest Kind China Tour Go Fund Me Campaign to raise funds to cover touring costs such as flights/ train tickets/ Chinese tour manager/ accommodation and equipment hire.   In return for your amazing support, we have loads of cool stuff on offer: the new "Show Your Love" CD, the limited edition "No Wukkin Furries" China Tour Tee Shirt/ Ladies Tank, workshops and concerts.  We certainly intend to give back to our supporters.  Please spread the word, every little bit helps!!

https://www.gofundme.com/2t98u6r8  Please click on the link & also check out our youtube video about the project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb6Sv2T_ZCE

In September we headlined the Art Eats Beats Festival in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA which was pretty cool.  We played a new and very cool venue called BeMo's Bar in Bay City and finished the weekend at The Wine & Harvest Festival in Paw Paw.  Then we headed to Vegetable Buddies in Indiana, our favorite Pop's Place in Illinois, the amazing Alamo in Springfield and then The Rathskeller in Indianapolis.  Our good friends Justin Brown and Mark Menefee got up and jammed at The Rathskeller.  Then the next stop was Hattiesburg, Mississippi for the Thirsty Hippo.   We had an amazing set at Bogalusa Blues & Heritage Festival in Louisianna.  It was unbelievably HOT, but so was the music. It was crazy to realize that the festival grounds had been under 5 feet of water only six weeks before.  So many amazing bands at this festival, the standard of musicianship was outstanding. We also got to hang out with Trent Ayers and Cedric Burnside .  The Capitol Oyster Bar was up next in Montgomery, Alabama. And you know we ate a ton of oysters!!!   We finished the month with a three day visit to The Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach, Florida.  Bass player James got to see his whole family. Our old guitar buddy Tyler Mac stopped by and got up and jammed.  It was a very cool visit.  Then it was The Celic Ray in Punta Gorda, hanging with Mackie and Ann Marie! Then over to the east side of the state to visit Katie, Everett, Scott and Dawn at the "Camp Ground" in Jupiter, Florida.  Cool shows at Guanabanas and Terra Fermata.  Good times were had by all!!!!

We have an amazing Fall/ Winter Tour.   Hope to see you out on the road this Fall and Winter!!



Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs/ Shirts/ downloads
 http://cdbaby.com/cd/harperandmidwestkind2   CD Baby      
www.harper.biz/workshops.html    Australian Didge-ucation
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind September Blog 2016

Happy Fall Everyone,

This long and hot summer has flown by, as it always does.  The hottest summer on record for Michigan and we really felt it!!!  Happy to say that the new CD "Show Your Love" continues to break all previous records hitting # 3 with 23 weeks in the Top Ten of Billboard.  Woohooo! 

We started off the month of August with an amazing weekend in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada for the Kitchener Blues Festival.  The main stage show was off the hook with giant jumbo trons at the back of the stage, a big raucous crowd and a great sound.  Backstage hospitality was excellent as were the Festival staff.  We felt very welcome and soaked in the great blues and roots music coming off the multiple down town stages.  On the Saturday I did a harmonica presentation/ concert at the Boat House in Kitchener, which was packed to the rafters then followed by at late night club show at the Lancaster Smoke House. We plan to have a return visit to the Boat House on Friday February 3, 2017, which is good news!.  

Then it was back to the US for a bunch of concerts in Sioux Falls and Iowa.  The show at Mckennan Park Band Shell, Sioux Falls was nice, then it was a return visit to the Strawbale Winery.  Unfortunately we had some huge problems with the sound system with one of the speakers blowing out, a couple of songs into the set.  We soldiered through and thankfully the crowd was very forgiving.  Our show at the Court House was rained out, but we ended up playing inside in the actual court room, which was very cool.  The Storm Lake, Wood, Wine and Blues Festival was kinda of different, but a lot of fun,  we played music while the woodmen chainsawed their wooden masterpieces.   We ended our tour at the Legendary Byrons in Pomeroy, Iowa.

We have an amazing Fall/ Winter Tour coming up plus a 3 week tour to Australia in March with a possible 2 week tour to China there after!  If any of you want the band to play at a festival in your home town please let the festival folks know and we will do our best to make it happen.   Hope to see you out on the road this Fall!!

Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs/ Shirts/ downloads
 http://cdbaby.com/cd/harperandmidwestkind2   CD Baby      
www.harper.biz/workshops.html    Australian Didge-ucation
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind June Blog 2016

Howdy everyone,

Sending positive healing vibes and prayers to our brothers and sisters in Orlando, Florida.   

We have just come back from an amazing weekend in Orangeville, Ontario Canada where we were fortunate enough to headline the Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival.  What an amazing event, located down town with multiple stages, workshops, food vendors , arts/crafts and a car show.  The weather was stunning, the vibes were friendly and the crowd numbers were full to the max.  This was guitarist Mike Howe's first show with us, returning after a 14 month hiatus. 

The new CD "Show Your Love" hit # 5 on Billboard Blues Charts for the second week and top ten for the past 10 weeks.   Also # 10 on The Roots Music Report and # 1 Hot Hit Tracks 100, in the Netherlands woohoo!  And to top it off, # 3 on The Australian Blues Charts, so cool to be appreciated by the folks from home!   In May we headed down south for some very nice shows. The first show was The Natchez Festival of Music, held at the Performing Arts Center.  This theatre was featured in the James Brown Film.  A beautiful building for sure.  After the show,  the sponsors for the event kindly held a reception for us in their home which was a renovated Train Station.  The next show was Martins in Jackson, Mississippi,  this was a bit of a quite one, but a really nice room  and cool folks.  Then we headed North to BBs Jazz Blues and Soups, St Louis.  Yes we are back at BBs!!!   Some of you may remember we had to cancel last time through.  Word is that the old management is back in place and all is well.  We had an amazing show at Blues at The Bohm in Albion Michigan.  This is a cool theatre gig where we got to play a set and then the blues jammers got up to jam for a few sets then we finished off the night.  We had a great turnout - 217 peeps for a Monday night aint too shabby.   The Bohm theatre is a stunning music venue, check it out if you are ever in Albion, Michigan

We have a busy summer schedule coming up, loads of festivals, concert series, some club dates and workshops.  Please check out the tour guide below.  Hope to see you out on the road this summer!!
Thanks and Peace,

Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs/ Shirts/ downloads
 http://cdbaby.com/cd/harperandmidwestkind2   CD Baby      
www.harper.biz/workshops.html    Australian Didge-ucation
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind March 2016 Blog

Hey Everyone,

Happy Easter! Just back from a tour down South and getting ready to head out again this week.Very happy to say that the new CD "Show Your Love" is now available for pre release on the newly revamped Harper and Midwest Kind website: www.harper.biz Downloads are also available on CD baby, iTunes, Rhapsody and more: http://cdbaby.com/cd/harperandmidwestkind2

So happy with this CD. It was created by the love of our fans. I feel it is the best music Ive ever written.I hope you all enjoy the new tunes. Official Release date is March 31st!

 February saw us in the snows of winter. After our amazing sold out show at Violets in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, we headed back to Michigan. About 30 minutes from the US Border, we made a stop at a Gas Station, then we headed to the Tunnel at Windsor. I had to change some Canadian Cash into US Dollars at the Currency Exchange. When I got back in the van, we all noticed that our drummer Mario Copeland was no where to be seen. Then the horrible realization hit us- we had left Mario behind at that gas station! I then had to talk the Canadian Border guard into letting me turn the van around so we could back track to that gas station from earlier that day. Mario didn't have a phone on him and we had his passport, so there was no way to contact him. Incredibly we found the Gas Station and we were so happy to see Mario's smiling face as we rolled into the car park. Funnily enough this is the second time this has happened to us, but we will make sure it doesn't happen again!

As we headed south to Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, a huge snow storm hit Michigan, we were happy to leave when we did. We had three weeks of amazing weather and great shows at the Blue Note Grill, NC, Darwins in GA, the Legendary BBC in Tallahassee, FL, The Green Parrot in Key West, Guanabanas in Jupiter, our fav Irish Pub - The Celtic Ray, Punta Gorda, The Little Bar in Goodland, Key Largo's Bayside Grille and Terra Fermata in Stuart. On some off days we hung with some friends in Jupiter - Katie and Everett and Dawn and Scott. We had bon fires every night and I even cooked a massive salmon pie for us all! Our friends Ann Marie and Mackie gave us a delicious feast before the Celtic Ray show!! We had some mighty fine dining in Florida for sure! . We all managed to put on a few extra pounds. It was a big haul North to Michigan, but when we arrived we were greeted by Spring! Hope to see you at our CD release Parties and upcoming tours!

Thanks and Peace, Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs/ Shirts/ downloads
 http://www.harper.biz/workshops.html   Australian Didge-ucation/ harmonica workshops

www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)

www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

www.musicpage.com/harper

www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind