Timothy Monger

I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year.  2011 has been a gigantic year for my music and I'm grateful to all of you who have made it a success.  I was able to release a new album, launch this website, start a blog, play a ton of shows and of course make a bunch of new friends in the process. 

Many thanks to all of my hard working bandmates this year: John Fossum, Matt Collar, Scott DeRoche, Christian Anderson, Tony Drake, Arie Werbrouck, Chad Pratt, Matt Jones, Patrick Herek and Jamie Monger.

Thank you to my friends and fans who supported my music this year and in years past.  I hope you'll stick around to see what's in store for 2012.  Much of my creative focus will be shifting back to my work with Great Lakes Myth Society and we hope to have our third record finished in the coming year.  I will continue to perform both solo and with State Park and will be recording more solo material soon.

Cheers!
TM

Many thanks to those of you who came out to see us play at The Ark last weekend.  It was easily one of my favorite shows of 2011 and one of my favorite TMSP shows ever.  Here's a photo from last Saturday courtesy of Cammila Albertson.

This Friday, October 21st, I'll be playing some songs on Martin Bandyke's morning radio show between 8 and 9am.  We'll be broadcasting live from Zingerman's Next Door on Detroit St. in Ann Arbor.  Tune in to 107.1FM or drop by for a coffee and see me play live.

October has been a busy month of gigs and rehearsals and we have one more big show before things start to slow down in November and December.  We've been asked to open for my old friends Frontier Ruckus in their hometown of Lansing, MI on Saturday, October 29th.  This show at The Loft will be a tour homecoming / Halloween blowout for the boys and according to bandleader Matt Millia, costumes are "firmly encouraged".  That sounds like a veiled threat to me.  Unless a brilliant costume idea comes to me in the next ten days, I'll probably have to trot out "slightly drunk Boy Scout" again for year #3. 

I hope you're enjoying this lovely month.  October is the best time of year.

Cheers!
TM

Lots of activity coming up in the next several weeks.  I'll be taking a trio version of TMSP out to New York and Philadelphia on the first weekend of October.  The first show is at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn on Friday, October 7 followed by a trip down to the Green Line Cafe in Philly on Saturday October 8.  So much music to play, friends to see... can't wait.

As soon as we get home, we'll be doing a big show on October 15 in Ann Arbor at The Ark with the expanded TMSP line-up.  I'm splitting the evening with my friend Misty Lyn.  Check out this excellent poster that our friend Jenny Harley designed:

Later in the month, we'll have the pleasure of opening for our friends Frontier Ruckus at their tour homecoming show in Lansing.  That show is on Saturday, October 29 at The Loft.

I can't wait enjoy a strong seasonal beer with you somewhere.

Cheers!
TM

There's something bittersweet and appealingly lonesome about traveling up North in early September. It's officially the off-season and you can feel the tourism winding down just as the harvest is hitting its peak.  The leaves are starting to change, but the Fall color tours won't start for a few more weeks. 

We spent this past weekend at Delight of Life Farm in Sutton's Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula eating amazing food and visiting with friends.  We made what will likely be our last visit of the year to the beach at Port Onieda.  Our trip back home today was only made easier knowing that it won't be our last Northern trip of the season.

On Saturday, September 17 I'm making my first appearance at the Earthworks Harvest Gathering.  I only  learned about this festival a few years ago, but it's become quite the September tradition for a ton of great Michigan folk and roots acts.  The performance schedule over the three day weekend is long and varied and full of friends and hopefully some new favorite acts.  If you find yourself near Lake City, Michigan (Northeast of Cadillac) next weekend, I think it will be worth your while. 

Lots of new shows coming up in October with a revamped Timothy Monger State Park as well as solo shows in NYC and Philadelphia.  I'll post more info as the dates approach.

Cheers!
TM

I went away for ten days to the U.P. and when I came out of the woods the stock market had crashed and British kids were tearing up the U.K. streets.  Really?  Come on, people.

While everyone was out looting and arguing, I was deep in the woods of Big Bay, Michigan helping my wonderful friends Nora and Jared get hitched.  While I was out with a hatchet looking for pine bows for the ceremony, I came across this old decaying piano on the porch of Michael Waite's old cabin.

This gentler, organic apocalypse is more my style.

While I was away from the internet, some people had very nice things to say about my new album.  Check out these reviews of The New Britton Sound:

All Music Guide - "Monger finds something epic within his miniature tales of friends and foes, guitar cases, mining accidents, and happy drunks, layering in unexpected instrumentation, gently opening the songs up with sparkling guitars and keyboards, occasionally letting the tunes soar toward their conclusion on the wings of a trumpet. **** Four Stars"

Mostly Midwest - "The album has the expansive feeling of the Midwestern wilderness filling its lungs..."

Toledo City Paper - "Monger wanders the soundscape with thoughtful lyrics and beautifully unique arrangements."

Speaking of Toledo, I'll be there on Saturday night (8/13) playing a show at one of my favorite venues The Ottawa Tavern with Jack & the Bear.  And next Tuesday (8/16), I'll be hauling my favorite vinyl out to Ferndale for my first ever DJ set as a guest DJ/performer on Dave Lawson's Tuesdays in the Forest series at The Loving Touch. 

Cheers!
TM