ARCHIVES

 

 

 


"Don and his twin brother, Raul,
gloating over a fine catch."
(photo by Lee Phelan)

 


"Here I am, just finished mowing the lawn,
relaxing in my swing."
-=Don=-

 Red Hot in Memphis

By Bill Ellis
December 17, 2004

picture

"This one's pretty self-explanatory," states folky stalwart Don McGregor on Live, ( Whopperjawed Music), the first solo CD by this 50-something musician, who compiled performances of several opening sets at Otherlands for pal Jim Dickinson. With a richly ragged voice and equally unaffected acoustic guitar as a guide, McGregor makes you break out in a bittersweet smile on such originals as "Whiskey Blues" and his choice cover of the Bob Frank gem "She Pawned Her Diamond for Some Gold."

Don McGregor performs with Steve Lockwood at 8 tonight at the P&H Cafe, 1532 Madison.

Red Hot is a review column of local and regional recordings. Send CDs to Bill Ellis, The Commercial Appeal, 495 Union Ave., Memphis, Tenn. 38103.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/red_hot/article/0,1426,MCA_15397_3403707,00.html

 

!!!  CD RELEASE PARTY HUGE SUCCESS  !!!

“I was totally overwhelmed by all the fine friends who came out to Otherlands for my first ever solo CD release party. I was deeply touched. 
I barely got to speak to everyone who came, and, though I tried my best to hug all the women, I’m afraid I missed a couple who were either too quick, or stuck over in a corner where I couldn’t get to them.
Karen Lebovich, my good friend and proprietor of Otherlands, was kind enough to offer her establishment for the setting, and friends Kirsti and Susan did a fine job of supply refreshments to the crowd.

The crowd was something else. I saw so many of my good friends there, conversing and laughing, and having a good time. It felt like it made everything worthwhile. I think all artists, writers, and musicians occasionally feel discouraged by what they perceive as the attitude, or lack of it, in others toward their craft. The sheer outpouring of love, friendship, and support I felt flowing from that audience so filled me certainty and joy, that it will carry me for a long, long time.
Days later, I’ve still got a glow in my heart.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who came for the wonderful gift you brought to me.”

Thank you,
-=the Don=-
(photos by Robin Salant)

 

Don McGregor’s CD Release Party
Saturday Dec. 4th 2004, 7:30 p.m.
Otherlands Coffee Bar

Well, it’s only taken me 54 years of breathing, 40 years of aspiring to play the guitar, 34 years of song writing, and nearly 8 years of being sober, to finally manage to put some of my songs on a piece of plastic. (I, personally think putting the plug in the jug had more to do with it than anything else.)
My very first solo CD, Don McGregor Live, officially makes its debut at a release party at Otherlands Coffee Bar on Saturday, December 4th at 7:30 p.m.. celebrated by gathering of good friends and supporters and entertained by Steve Lockwood and myself.

It’s been a long time coming. The songs I chose to put on it were written over a period spanning over thirty years. They are all songs that mean a lot to me, even the silly ones.

My excellent friend and hero, engineer, producer, writer, instigator, and world class musician, Jim Dickinson, honored me with the chance to perform warm-up sets before not one, but two of his solo performances in the last couple of years. Done under the auspices of M.A.M.A. (Memphis Acoustic Music Association), at Otherlands, with soundman and recordist, Philip Jaynes, I had the pleasure of performing in front of the best audience in Memphis. Those MAMA people take their music very seriously.
Jim later convinced me to do something with the tapes from these shows, so I asked Kevin Cubbins to mix ands master them, solicited photographs for the cover from Robin Salant. One of my very best friends in the whole world, the beautiful and multi-talented, Bunny Goldstein, took time out of her busy schedule to work on the graphics layout. I’m extremely proud of she’s done with it. She then took it to Sabrina Barnette, whose kind, wise, and very generous boss at Synchronics, Jeff Goldstein, allowed her to perform the magic of translating Bunny’s fine vision into the proper graphic software format to hand to the CD duplicators. 
I’m surrounded by wonderfully talented, intelligent, and caring people. My life and the world in general, would be a much poorer place without them.

Ya’ll come, 

-=the Don=-

 

           
           

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