Listen for Michael's songs "Highway 17" and "Hang It Up" on KPIG

Michael Gaither

Biography for singer/songwriter Michael Gaither

To write songs that have a point, it helps to have lived a little.
Fortunately for Michael Gaither, who continues to assume a
very lifelike posture, there’s a fair amount of living he can
draw from. Like his tune “Jack of All Trades” says, he’s done a bit of
everything: journalist, corporate trainer, even a stint as a joke riter for Jay Leno. All roads meandered around and ventually led back to writing. His debut CD, the 2006 release "Spotted Mule and Other Tales," is an Americana mix of folk, bluegrass, and a little gospel. He favors songs with stories, tales of the day-to-day life: Big cars. Bad drivers. A baby’s first steps. And, well, even mules
(Okay, so maybe you don’t see a mule everyday, but you write where the muse takes you. Sometimes she has four legs and her dad was a donkey.)
Michael’s song “Entertaining an Angel” was one of 20 winning entries in the Indie Artists Alliance songwriting hontest for the “Songwriters and Storytellers” compilation in May. (www.indieartistsalliance.com)
Besides performing his own material, Michael runs a monthly open mic and songwriters night at the Wooden Nickel Bar and Grill in Watsonville where other writers can try out new songs or polish older ones. He has also organized, promoted, and played at small local festivals, including the annual "Vintner's Festival Weekend" at Roudon-Smith Winery in Scotts Valley and "November-fest" at Pacific Crest Apiaries in Watsonville, California. Michael produces and hosts “Songs and Stories” a bi-monthly songwriting podcast which features stories behind his songs and interviews with other songwriters. “Songs and Stories” can be heard on his web site at www.michaelgaither.com, in iTunes (it’s a free subscription) and evenings on Grateful Dread Radio, a Baltimore-based Internet station carried by the Live365 network. (www.gratefuldread.net)

Here’s what some folks have said about Michael's work:
“Michael and his band gave us a priceless night we will never forget.”
- Marky Starks, Canyon Acoustic Society House Concerts
"We have had the great pleasure of having Michael play at our facility for four years now.
Our guests love to sit back, sip wine, and enjoy the music that he and his band put together.
They play music with lyrics that are both fun and entertaining for people of all ages."
- Annette Hunt, Roudon-Smith Winery
“Michael is a writer with a keen eye for detail and a gentle sense of humor.“
- Larry Kelly, Maverick Country (UK)
“I have often thought that the hardest songs to write concern everyday life. Michael Gaither is
a singing storyteller in the style of Tom T. Hall and Roger Miller with a heaping dash of Lyle
Lovett in the mix.”
- Uncleshag, The Longtown Sound Podcast / WLSO FM
“A brilliant debut CD from Michael Gaither. A fine blend of folk, bluegrass, alternative country
and Americana in its purest sense. Aside from the strong songwriting ability and Slaid
Cleaves-style vocals, Michael surrounds himself with very strong and multi-talented
musicians.”
- Jeff Scammon - Wild West Radio/KVMR FM, Nevada City
Album of the Week for May 21 2007: Michael Gaither, “Spotted Mule and Other Tales”
- Eddie O’Strange Town & Country Radio (New Zealand)

Tommy Dunlop

Like his song, "Will I Die Alone", about the poignant fear of putting a revolver to one’s own head; says performing songwriter Tommy Dunlop, “I'm an average guy who's life has taken a natural course of doing and seeing many things. In my travels, I'd always hoped that no matter what path I was on, it would lead me back to writing songs the average person could relate to.”
Warehouseman; truck driver; helicopter pilot, filmmaker; father and husband, all roads, dirt or otherwise have eventually led Tommy back to writing and to music.
Through the Late 70’s and 80’s, Tommy worked in a staff and a faculty capacity with the late Jan Tangen’s On Stage Music, formerly Family Light Music in Marin County, California - (no affiation with the current On Stage Music). There Tommy had the chance to work with such greats as Bobby McFerrin; Brian Auger and Norton Buffalo to name only a few. “I was truly blessed to have had the opportunity to play along side these talented musicians – they shaped my musical world, and for this, I will always be grateful.”
After taking time out to raise a family; in 1999, Tommy played bass for and toured with Americana recording artist Arthur Godfrey, “The new and improved version” as Tommy says. “Arthur was great to play behind - he never made a mistake. It forced me to keep my chops tight.” Then in 2002, Tommy got back into the local scene and took on the monthly open mic and songwriters night at the Wooden Nickel Bar and Grill in Watsonville, California. Tommy passed the torch onto multi-talented Michael Gaither, where Michael organized the monthly event into something better than any of us could envision.

Leaning toward a song with a story; Tommy tells the tales of his experiences growing up on the left coast of this great nation. His soon to be released 2008 debut record, "Overdose of Honesty" shoots from a very low place on the hip. An eclectic mix of folk; country and American songs that seem to lend themselves to the paradoxical: from the ironic consequences of a cheating lover in, “Hell Before China”, to the unrequited love of a high school romance in the title cut, “Overdose of Honesty”, onto how one man can become so overwhelmed with life that his ex-wife lives just one bridge down in, “Homeless in his Own Home Town”, and finally to the tragic tale of one man’s witness to the loss of America’s greatest musical city, New Orleans, in, “Lover Comes A Time.”
Besides performing his own material, Tommy performs many songs from celebrated Americana and folk artists from Woody Guthrie to Townes Van Zandt. Currently Tommy performs in and around Santa Cruz, California and is a menber of the Canyon Acoustic Society – check local listings, or go to www.myspace.com/tommydunlopmusic for more detailed information.
As a footnote: Tommy's screenplay, The john Doe Component, (the fictionalized accounting of how Elvis Presley contracted out his own dissapearance) has made it into the final round of judging of the
Fade In Screenplay Competition

Aaron Baghchee