Today marks the official launch of my new website, which I hope will give you a glimpse of my life and, more importantly, my music.

For the last few years, I’ve been feeling the need for an image “makeover” of some sort. When I’ve mentioned this to friends, they thought I was considering reinventing my music, but my music is an extension of who I am and there is no way I could ever change this. What was needed was a new approach to how I promote my music.

I’ve always loved folk music that is grounded in the western experience, but event promoters just couldn’t seem to get past the cowboy hat; they were blinded by the “Hollywood Cowboy” stereotype and couldn’t grasp the idea of a “western” equivalent to bluegrass music. I hope this website will make it clear that my music encompasses many styles of music and might best be described as “Newgrass”, which is slightly ironic for someone who is best know for clawhammer banjo, an instrument that is pretty much only associated with “old timey” music. Which leads me to the second reason this website exists...

The other great passion of my musical life revolves around my version of “missionary work”: spreading the “word” that clawhammer banjo can fit into any musical genre and is not just limited to “old-time” music. My clawhammer banjo teaching page has gone a long way toward achieving this goal, but this new site will give me a chance to take it even further with articles, reviews, videos, sound files, and instruction.

Those who know me well, know that I’m somewhat opinionated and not shy about sharing those opinions. With this in mind, I’ve included a section entitled “A Folksinger’s Opinion”. I’ve put some limits on my editorializing by restricting myself to subjects I can tie into folk music (note: my personal FaceBook page is exempt from this rule!). As folk music has traditionally tackled such subjects as politics, religion, philosophy, and social injustice, these “limits” might not mean all that much...

All this being said, welcome to my world... Mike Iverson

Two stressful gigs in one week!

First the Thursday show with Brenn Hill, and then yesterday morning I received a call from a wedding in need of a solo mandolinist. Apparently the bride’s only request was the theme from the movie “Corelli’s Mandolin” to use as her processional music. I was tempted to pass on this gig but knew they wouldn’t be able to find another mandolinist at the last minute and I didn’t want to let down the bride.

I downloaded the song and proceeded to transcribe the piece. I soon realized I might be in over my head; a meter that kept shifting between 6/4 and 4/4, difficult fingerings, and a melody that bordered on the atonal. I arrived at St. Joseph’s this morning, set up my Fishman solo amp (which is an awesome small PA system), and slipped into a back room to practice. It didn’t help my confidence that the prelude music was being nailed by a great string quartet, a fabulous organist was following me, and the person who booked me (the brother of the bride) plays for the Utah Symphony!

Fortunately the Lord took pity on the bride and helped me get through the song without any noticeable mistakes. Her brother made my day when he told me the bride broke into tears when she heard my mandolin!. I told him that a miracle had just taken place and was considering converting to Catholicism!

I know this type of gig helps me grow as a musician, but it gives me a few new grey hairs each time I take one on...

Tags: Gigs, Solo

What a night! Good crowd, good food, and (hopefully) good music. Brenn’s fans came out in mass for this show at Bella’s Mexican Grill and set the stage for an intimate evening where we received as much as we gave. It was great seeing so many familiar faces in the audience.

I was actually pretty nervous about this show as Brenn was having some vocal issues and his doctor recommended lowering the pitch of his songs. To accomplish this, Brenn dropped the tuning of his guitar down a whole step. That left me scrambling to relearn the songs. The bluegrass banjo and guitar songs were easy; just a move of the capo. The mandolin required learning the songs in new keys and I had to take some of the clawhammer tunes into completely new tunings! Considering all the changes, we managed to get the job done. Of course it helps to have great material to work with and Brenn’s songs are among the best I’ve ever heard.

I’m looking forward to our next show...

Mike

Tags: Brenn, Gigs