Covering the bases of America here at MPHQ… SXSW was totally amazing. Tim Easton and I performed about 8 times as OUT OF OUR TREE and we had a blast. We saw friends from the Folk Alliance, friends from Ohio, California, Nashville, New York and Canada. I got to stand in the greatness of Emmylou Harris backstage before her set (she has a great aura I must say!) We played shows at Lucy’s Chicken, Maria’s Tacos, The Whip In, a couple of hotel lobbies, Threadgills, and watched shows and were inspired by so many great artitsts, including: Dale Watson, The Divine Fits, Steve Poltz, Matt the Electrician, Milk Carton Kids, Luella + the Sun, The Mastersons, and many other great bands! It was my favorite SXSW so far… and the weather was killer, considering when I landed back in Brooklyn the Monday after it was snowing. But it’s ok… I’m back at work here a few more weeks before heading down to Nashville for a while (forever?!) to make some OUT OF OUR TREE greatest hits ever…. Summer is getting planned. We are definitely going to be at Comfest at the end of June in Cbus, and OUT OF OUR TREE has also been invited to play at Woody Fest in Okemah, OK this year to commemorate Woody Guthrie’s 100th Birthday. Alaska in August is also booked!

backstage before the Flaming Lips set

Poster from Whip In

One of my favorite songwriters of all time is Townes Van Zandt and today is his birthday. Happy Birthday to the late Townes. A true troubadour and purveyor of music.

From Heartworn Highways…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLeGW5Utces

I love this song that he does… http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=AjGOxo0KDMs&feature=endscreen

Speaking of Texas, Tim Easton and I are preparing for South By Southwest as OUT OF OUR TREE We head to Austin next week and this is our schedule:

TUESDAY 3/12: White Water Tavern, Little Rock AK
WEDNESDAY 3/13: Club Dada, Dallas, TX

AUSTIN PERFORMANCES:
THURSDAY: 4pm @Lucy’s 2218 College
OFFICIAL SHOWCASE for TIM EASTON
THURSDAY @MIDNIGHT @CREEKSIDE HILTON GARDEN
FRIDAY
5pm SIN CITY BASH @Maria’s Tacos 2529 S Lamar
SATURDAY
12 NOON @John Lennon Songwriters Bus Outdoor Stage
3-3:45pm @THE WHIP INN 1950 N Interstate 35 Frontage Rd
5pm @Threadgills Outdoors
7pm @HYATT REGENCY 208 Barton Springs
SUNDAY
2pm Greenhouse Concert @1700 Graywood Cove

We had a great time at FOLK ALLIANCE in TORONTO last month and got a lot of inspiration there. We are working on our touring schedule for the rest of this year, as well as making an album we hope to have ready this summer!

Hope to see you along the roads soon! xoxo megan

Here is the updated tour schedule for all things Megan, including shows with new duo “Out of Our Tree”, co-writing project with Tim Easton… hope to see friends at the Folk Alliance in Toronto this year!

2/12/2013: Nashville, TN: The Basement, New Faces night, solo, 8PM

2/15/2013: Nashville, TN: The Basement, Out of Our Tree, 8 PM

2/17/2013: Oxford, OH House Concert, Out of Our Tree, 7PM

2/18/2013: Columbus, OH: Rumba Cafe w/ Out of Our Tree, 9 PM

2/19/2013: Columbus, OH: Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza w/Out of Our Tree, 9 PM

2/20/2013: Cleveland, OH: The Harp, Out of Our Tree, 8 PM

2/20-2/24/2013: Toronto, ON, Canada, FOLK ALLIANCE w/ Out of Our Tree, The Maybelles:

Showcase:
Out Of Our Tree (Nashville, TN USA) Thursday, Wren Room, 9:15pm

1am Wine and Nut Room w/ Charlie Faye

FRIDAY
10:30 Rm 1260 Arrival Records, Poltz Presents
11:30 RM 1271 w/ Jimmy Lafave

SATURDAY
11pm Rm. 1261 Red Beet Records
2am Little Red Hen Room

Sunday 2.24 Dicks Den Columbus, OH OUT OF OUR TREE with Sam Brown and Brett Burleson

3/2/2013: Brooklyn, NY: 68 Jay Street Monthly Residency, 10 PM

March 2013: Out of Our Tree at SXSW, details TBA

Over the past year, Tim Easton and I have reunited and have formed a band called Out of Our Tree We have been co-writing all of our material and are set to debut our music at this year’s Folk Alliance in Toronto. We will also be coming through Ohio on our way to the Folk Alliance. You can see us in February HERE:

Sunday, 2.17 House Concert Oxford, OH
Monday, 2.18 Columbus, OH Rumba Cafe 8pm
Tuesday, 2.19.13 Columbus, OH Natalie’s 8pm

Showcase:
Out Of Our Tree (Nashville, TN USA) Thursday, Wren Room, 9:15pm

1am Wine and Nut Room w/ Charlie Faye

FRIDAY
10:30 Rm 1260 Arrival Records, Poltz Presents
11:30 RM 1271 w/ Jimmy Lafave

SATURDAY
11pm Rm. 1261 Red Beet Records
2am Little Red Hen Room

Sunday 2.24 Dicks Den Columbus, OH

After that we’ll be heading to SXSW in March… more details on that to come!

Just got to Portland OR… I love it here. My sister and her husband and my lil nephew Arto are the attraction especially… but I also have picked up some gigs with Dylan Lee Johnston. We will also be joining Dusty Santamaria and for some shows, and the New Orleans band ‘Hurray For the Riff Raff’ on Saturday night…

1/11 Langano Lounge 9PM, Dylan Lee and Dusty Santamaria
1/12 McMenamin’s Al’s Den, 7PM, with Hurray For the Riff Raff
1/14 Duff’s Garage, 8:30 PM, with Dylan Lee Johnston
1/18 Laurelthirst Tavern 9PM, with Dylan Lee Johnston.

More to come!

Happy New Year! I’m still stuck in 2012 but trying to come out of my cocoon and enter into the New Year. I’ve been feeling inward these last few weeks, and it’s been a good thing, because it helps to find focus and purpose for me… but I realize I am a little behind on keeping people informed as to what’s going on (if anyone is actually reading this, I’m never really sure)

My highlights from 2012 were many. The year started on a high note with the birth of my nephew Arthur Rapidan Bailey in January 2012. I had great opportunities to play in New York City, Ohio, Washington DC, Alaska, Portland OR, and a fantastic fall tour that criss-crossed the north and south with Tim Easton. I started a band with Tim called ‘Out of Our Tree‘ in addition to continuing to play with the Spikedrivers, The Maybelles, and my own solo project in whatever form I can keep it going. I met Dylan Lee Johnston in Alaska and started working on music with him in Portland as well… I am often amazed at how blessed my life is and all the great moments I experience on a daily basis.

I spent the last part of the year 2012 in Nashville, TN, continuing to develop Out of Our Tree with Tim Easton and we hope to get out and about this year and also make a record. We plan to be at Folk Alliance and SXSW this winter to start. We finished the year making demos in anticipation of making a record that we can present sometime this year.

I love the clean slate of the New Year. It is so uncertain at times, yet exciting to me. I hope you find peace and direction in whatever areas you choose to focus on this year. Sending out my love, gratitude and blessings. ~mp

I narrowly escaped Brooklyn this past Sunday night and drove all night to Ohio. My absentee ballot had never come to me from Ohio in NY (I’m still a permanent resident in Ohio), and I was to be in Nashville by Halloween to start my fall tour with Tim Easton so I had some ground to cover. I felt a twinge of guilt as I coasted through the now closed Battery Tunnel, and then the Holland Tunnel and made it to Ohio in about 8 hours of dark, rainy driving, as I knew most of my friends were in for a harrowing experience. But, I felt that voting in Ohio for this year’s election was a huge priority, and I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t voted. Voting in Ohio early was incredibly easy, and even though it was packed, it only took about 15 minutes.

Before I left Brooklyn, I also uploaded “WAYCROSS” to be released and available digitally. You can find it HERE:

Waycross features my Brooklyn band, THE TOP FLIGHTS. Larry Cook (bass), Steve Purcell (drums), Scott Metzger (guitar), Jason Crosby (b3/piano), and Kate Sland (vocals). I wrote all the songs and The Top Flights brought their A-game to Seaside Lounge in Brooklyn, where we recorded live to 2 inch tape. Very very few overdubs.

So I’m in Nashville now, getting ready to embark on an ambitious fall tour with Tim Easton… here’s our dates:

11/01/12 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
11/02/12 Atlanta, GA Eddie’s Attic
11/03/12 Nashville, TN The Basement
11/05/12 Arlington, VA Iota Club
11/06/12 Lineboro, MD House Concert
11/07/12 Philadelphia,PA North Star
11/09/12 Brooklyn, NY Rock Shop
11/10/12 Pittsburgh, PA Club Cafe
11/12/12 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern
11/13/12 Chicago, IL Schuba’s
11/14/12 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway
11/15/12 Little Rock, AR White Water Tavern
11/16/12 Denton, TX Dan’s Silver Leaf
11/17/12 Austin, TX FRANK
11/21/12 Columbus, OH Bluestone

Someone in Alaska told me that from top to bottom, Alaska spans from Duluth, MN to Austin, TX. Talk about vastness! And one more AK fact I heard that stuck with me: if the population to square miles ratio of Alaska was applied to Manhattan, there would be 9 people on the island. Imagine that. I’ve been back in NY for six weeks and I’m still wrapping my head around that notion. From 8 million down to a singular 9! Anyway, after we left Hope, AK, we motored back to Anchorage for some adventuring before heading north to the Denali Park entrance, where we played a lovely show, and then up to Fairbanks. In Fairbanks I met more soulmates than I thought I ever had, and was immediately adopted by the kindness of the Footes and the Judkins… maybe the best doctor/artists/nurse/music leftbrained meets the rightbrained and found perfect balance sort of people you could imagine. We journeyed on into Denali Park for the Kantishna music festival. Tim Easton’s wife, Katie, and I had the good fortune of riding this little plane into the park.

Kantishna Air Taxi

and within minutes we could see Denali in the distance. We actually got so close that I began to think of stories about planes crashing into mountains, and I had never really wrapped my head around that possibility before.

View of Denali from the plane

That photo reminds me of cookies and cream. Anyway, when we arrived in Kantishna, which is at the end of the only real road going through Denali Park (mile 92), we arrived at Camp Happy and lived happily ever after in the bliss of a music festival in the middle of nowhere with bears as potential audience members.

The festival was magical and beautiful, and even a little bit wild. Imagine that! We drove out of the park with the Footes and the Judkins and saw not one but seven grizzly bears, a moose drinking at Wonder Lake, and a Caribou crossing the street.

And with that, it was time to head to Portland. At least I didn’t have to return to NY just yet. I stayed in Portland visiting my family there and falling harder than ever for my nephew Arthur.

I also got to spend time making music with my new friend I met in AK who lives in Portland named Dylan Lee Johnston. We made songs and ran with a bunch of great artisan Portlanders, including a friend who seemed to have a lot of old BMW’s on his farm.

Then it was good-bye Portland, hello Brooklyn. No offense to Brooklyn. But everything is so close together. A little shocking.

But there is hope! Tim Easton and I will be hitting the road again in November! This is where we’ll be:

11.01.12 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
11.02.12 Atlanta, GA Eddie’s Attic
11.05.12 Arlington, VA Iota Club
11.07.12 Philadelphia, PA North Star
11.08.12 NYC, DIRTY BIRD DOWNTOWN
11.09.12 Brooklyn, NY Rock Shop
11.10.12 Pittsburgh, PA Club Cafe
11.12.12 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern
11.13.12 Chicago, IL Schuba’s Tavern
11.14.12 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway
11.15.12 Little Rock, AR White Water Tavern
11.16.12 Denton, TX Dan’s Silver Leaf
11.17.12 Austin, TX Frank
11.21.12 Columbus, OH Bluestone
11.23.12 Columbus, OH : The Spikedrivers annual post turkey day drink a thon: DICK’S DEN
11.24 + 11.25. 12 Worthington, OH: Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza: “OUT OF OUR TREE”

and “OUT OF OUR TREE” officially will be launched in Feb 2013 but it’s what’s coming together out of the work Mr. Easton and I have been collaborating on (that’s a sneak preview) We do have a FB page, you can find it here

thanks for reading! peace! mp

This is what I saw when I first got to Alaska and really it just kept expanding. I flew into Anchorage around 2:30AM and collapsed into a Travelodge with Tim, Katie and Ellington Easton. We woke up and drove to Ninilchik, where Salmonstock Festival took place. There I met everyone in Alaska, or at least all my new friends that I would keep running into for the rest of the month. The festival was awesome. Our first gig was at 2AM the first night of the festival. James Dommeck Jr (JUNIOR) from the Whipsaws joined Tim and me at my first real Alaskan party. It’s hard to describe how great Alaska is, I think that if anyone ever invites you, you should go.

We also got to have a BBQ on Flat Top Mountain!

Tim and I played a variety of spots throughout Alaska after the festival, covering ground in the Kenai Peninsula, making it all the way to Homer, AK and back with a side trip to Halibut Cove (you can only get there by boat), thanks to Skipper Rachael and her vessel. We journeyed to Hope, AK which was like ‘Frontier Land’ to me. Mostly cabins and fishing on the water, and an outdoor deck where musicians can play. The sunset in Hope AK was completely luscious, I can only think that I would have eaten it.

I just returned from Pumpkin Hollow in Craryville, NY, where I was studying Therapeutic Touch at a workshop with an amazing group of healers. It is such a special place. I was in a cabin by a waterfall and found so much peace there. I am so fortunate to have this experience. Here is a picture I took the last morning I was there.

You can see the magic of the place!

Next I’m about to embark on an Alaskan tour with Tim Easton!
Here is our itinerary:

August 3-5 : Ninilchik, AK: Salmonstock Festival

August 8: Cooper Landing, AK: Kingfisher Roadhouse

August 9: Anchorage, AK: Tap Root

August 11: Anchorage, AK: Renewable Energy Festival

August 11: Hope, AK: The Seaview

August 12: Homer, AK: Bunnell St Gallery

August 15: Denali, AK: Charles Sheldon Center

August 16: Fairbanks, AK: Blue Loon

August 17: Fairbanks, AK: Davis Hall UAF

August 19: Kantishna AK: Kantishna Music Fest

Yay to a wonderful summer! Peace!