2011 was an amazing year of travel...between July and September, I was away with family to Southern and East Africa; off for a month on my own in Scotland with Fiona Kennedy's THE KIST, at the Edinburgh festival; and then spent a month in New York City doing 2 separate 2 week runs of my own theater work at Off-Broadway Theaters. My collaboration with Abdel Salaam's FORCE OF NATURE THEATER, our hybrid dance theater-musical theater piece, TUT, played at the St. Clements Theater, featured as part of the NYMF 2011. The Irish Rep, offered our musical (Michael Aman is my co-book writer) THE PIPER, a 2-week staged reading with 2 performances. In addition to all this, earlier in the Spring, I was in St. Petersburg with a reading at AMERICAN STAGE THEATER of THE WARRIOR... a book co-written and directed by AMERICAN STAGE's AD, Todd Olsen.
It was great fun, but a lot of time away from the family. I am not sure what the future holds for any of my shows, but hopefully I will get to keep doing theater, and maybe...maybe even write another piece.
As the year begins, there are a few songs which have been cut...notably, Tim McGraw cut a song of mine, HARD HABITS, for his upcoming record...the first he's released in several years. This doesn't mean the song will make the record but at least he cut it. There is a cut on a new artist, Kacey Musgrave, THE LOVE YOU GIVE AWAY, which hopefully will make her freshman MCA release!
Marlee Scott on BIG RIDE Records / SONY-Canada has cut 5 of my songs, including her first single, BEAUTIFUL MAYBE, which languished on the US charts around #50...but went to #14 in Canada. Her next single, to be released in a couple weeks, is my co-written TRAIN WRECK...so keep an ear out for that one on US and Canada Country Stations, and look for the video on GAC or CMT (I make a cameo appearance in the video...getting my hand licked...yes, I said 'licked').!
I was also asked to produce 3 of the 5 songs that I wrote on the record, and enjoyed that immensely! Marlee is a wonderful singer, and has a lot of personality, great to fun to work with!
I am hoping that another act that I've been writing and producing a bit on, 'Chris and Johnny' (Chris Roberts and Johnny Bulford) will get a deal this year! They are two of the best singers you'll hear in the genre...and if talent has anything to do with it...they should be recording for a major!
With regards to performing, I'm back on the fund-raising circuit. On Monday I was honored to be asked to sing at the Annual MLK Breakfast at The Hutton Hotel...for 6 or 700 folks. Becca gave the invocation, and the featured speaker was Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., friend and colleague of MLK and part of the SCLS leadership in the 1960s, and leader of the POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN (Becca, had him as a professor at Vanderbilt Divinity, taking a class in Non-Violence!). Dr LaFayette was wonderful, as was Becca...I hobbled up on crutches and sang THE BORDERTOWN (check my little video of the same, directed by Patti Blevins, on YOUTUBE) on guitar, my pal Will Barrow adding accordion!
In February I will get to host (along with friend Dorinda Carter) the annual, GREATEST SHOW EVER, on Valentine's Day at the new club...RUBY on West End here in Nashville! We will once again be raising money for the Holy Cross Hospice of Gaborone Botswana!
In April, the great pop-songwriter-producer Desmond Childs, and I, will be doing a fund-raiser to raise money for the new Thistle Farms Cafe. It will be a night of our theater music. (See
THISTLEFARMS.ORG for news of that great ministry!!)
I will also be a part of this year's TIN PAN ALLEY SONGWRITER FESTIVAL, but do not have my assigned date and/or venue.TBD.
Other than that, I continue to write and hope that the occasional song finds a home! I have my hand in a couple other side projects which I will describe if/when they materialize.
Love to all in 2012!
Marcus
