Ahoy!

It looks like I actually have some gigs to announce — fingers crossed — the Corn Potato String Band‘s “No Spaghetti Arms” Midwest Tour is starting in less than two weeks, and this will be our first time playing together as a trio in three years!

1/29 – Three Rivers, MI – Riviera Theatre

1/30 – Grand Rapids, MI – Tip Top Deluxe

2/3 – Remus, MI – House Concert – email [email protected] for info

2/8 – Grosse Pointe Park, MI – Old Time Jam at Cabbage Patch Saloon, 8pm

2/9 – Fort Wayne, IN – Hop River Brewing

2/10 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark

2/11 – Columbus, OH – Rambling House

2/12 – Peninsula, OH – GAR Hall

We have received one request so far, which we plan to honor. If you’re planning to come to any of these shows feel free to respond to this email with your favorite Corn Potato song and we’ll do our best to play it for you!

Other News

We’ve had a lot of gig cancellations but through it all I’ve been hard at work on the Ragtime Banjo Revival project. Just this past week we completed two major recording sessions including banjo/piano, banjo/piano/foot percussion, and banjo/brass band.

Just before I started writing this email I submitted my application for the Kresge Fellowship, which is a pretty major award. It’s open to Detroit artists, and musicians like me can apply every other year. This is my fifth time applying, and I know it’s my best application yet. Wish me luck!

I still have a Patreon page, which is definitely worth joining for only three bucks a month. I also have a YouTube channel, which is VERY close to 1000 subscribers. You could be the thousandth subscriber! SUBSCRIBE HERE

As part of the process of applying for the Kresge Fellowship I did post a new video to my YouTube channel. Here it is: Frog Legs Rag, by James Scott (first published by John Stillwell Stark in 1906), from “Mozart of the Banjo: The Joe Morley Project” CD release concert Jan 5, 2020, at Cliff Bells, Detroit, with Cami Celestia, piano, Grace van’t Hof, uke, and Keaton Butler, cello. Video by Jay Lapp.

Book Report

I read Confessions of a Pagan Nun, by Kate Horsley, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It took me about fifty pages before I was really engrossed, but it’s a well told story taking place during the early days of Christianity in Ireland. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or has an interest in Ireland, Irish paganism, druids, early Irish Christianity, nuns, convents, etc.