Chuck Mead

Merry Xmakwanahanuramachristakahdanzamas!

Click on the heading to download my Holiday song. . . or launch the music player to stream it.

Two Shows Postponed

Sorry folks, the two shows with Miss Loretta Lynn in Mt Pleasant, MI and Munhall, PA have been postponed due to illness. Look to us for the rescheduling of the these shows.

Oprah Retires – Chuck moves to Broadway

OK so the Oprah part was just to get your attention. But Chuck really is going to Broadway in 2010. The musical in which he has been involved with as musical director for a few years, “Million Dollar Quartet” is moving to Broadway and will open in April at the Nederlander Theater. Everybody is truly excited and there are high hopes for the little Rockabilly play. It will continue on in Chicago though so if you’re near the Second City, drop by the Apollo Theater and check it out. Get some tickets first, however, because it’s a very popular show.

In other news, Chuck and his Grassy Knoll Boys will be making a short run in December doing two shows with Miss Loretta Lynn (one in Michigan and one in Pennsylvania) and a three night stand in the friendly environs of the Oneida Casino with honky tonk pals Heybale.

Now those are shows!

Look in the Tour Dates section for details.

Don’t forget that CM and all The Grassy Knoll Boys will be at the legendary Ryman Auditorium with the fantastic Old Crow Medicine Show on New Year’s Eve. There will be a lot of guitar pickin’, steel moanin’, fiddle sawin’, foot stompin’, banjo flailin’, ballad yodelin’ and blues singin’. Many things are sure to get broken so get there early.

I know you have a choice in Honky Tonk music so thank you for choosing Chuck Mead. Drop by the web site anytime and we’ll see you down the road.

Lower Broadway Last Night

Hey Friends-

I want to thank everyone who came from all over (Oklahoma, Michigan etc.) to the Lower Broadway Honky Tonk Session last night. We had a wonderful time and I truly appreciate everybody’s participation in the proceedings. If I didn’t get to your request, I’ll try to make it up to next time. I will back down on Broad in the near future so keep an eye peeled for the notices!

CM

Blog: Ask me what I did last Thursday. . .

Go on – ask.

 

OK I’ll tell you. I got to do a guest appearance on the radio show out of Colorado hosted by Nick and Helen Forrester called ETown.

 

It’s a fantastic syndicated music/interview show. Look up some of the archive shows.  Anyway, I was not only looking forward to seeing Nick & Helen again, but to seeing the other guest on the show – Miss Loretta Lynn. Now BR549 had played with her a few times in the past on big package festival shows, and we’ve been knowing Peggy & Patsy (Loretta’s twins) for a long time because they used to play at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge back when we were playing at Robert’s in the old days so I knew it would be great. Boy was it a stone groove.

 

Miss Loretta was in fine form – singing great, she was real and funny in her interview with Nick, big sparkly dress – everything you could ask for.

 

Only Mark & I flew up to do this show so on this gig, the Etones with Nick playing rockin’ Tele backed us up. Man what a bunch of great players. Very fun pickin’ with those guys.

 

Then Loretta came back out and brought the house down with “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” For a finale, we all stood and sang “I Saw The Light” me sharing the microphone with Loretta Lynn . . . one of those moments you start waving your musician’s union card around and drunkenly shouting, “This is why I came to Nashville – to play with REAL country stars.”

 

Well that was later on at the bar and I was in Ft. Collins but you know what I meant….

 

Thanks Nick, Thanks Helen, Thanks Patsy.

 

Thanks Miss Loretta.

 

(Chuck and Loretta’s Etown appearance will be broadcast the week of July 22. Click here to find a station that airs or streams the show. It will also be available soon through the Etown archives and as a free podcast.)

PopMatters Review of Journeyman’s Wager

Chuck Mead
Journeyman’s Wager

(Grassy Knoll)

US release date: 12 May 2009

By Juli Thanki

It’s been over three years since the honkytonk revivalist group BR549 released their last album, and with each band member engaged in various other projects, fans wondered if they’d ever hear from frontman Chuck Mead again. After spending a hiatus as the musical director for the stage show Million Dollar Quartet (based, of course, on the famous Sun Records impromptu jam between Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley), hillbilly heartthrob Mead is back with his first solo venture, Journeyman’s Wager.  To read on click here