ALL THE LATEST - MAY 2020 — Michael McMillan Music

Well it’s been the strangest start to any year and even those with 2020 vision could not have seen this one coming!

I don’t want to dwell on Covid 19. Suffice to say that it has been awful for so many people and with so many lives lost, I pray that it goes soon and the world returns back to normal, whatever that might look like now.

Having returned from playing at “Nashville Hit Songwriters Unplugged” event at The Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas with double Grammy nominee Michael Peterson and hit songwriter Danny Myrick, to say I was on a high would be an understatement. I was also blessed to stay with Michael and his lovely wife Jill and to write with Michael. There were offers of playing at festivals, gigs and other events and then… boom… everything didn’t just stop, it went in to reverse, musically anyway.

I was initially really disappointed and very downhearted, but I very quickly realised that what I do in the big picture of things means very little and compared to people’s lives and wellbeing, is of no importance at all.

NEW ALBUM

So… when I found out that I had the coronavirus (no big deal, I was ill, I got better and thank God I fully recovered) I was forced to take time away and this gave me the opportunity to start writing again. You always think that your last album will be your last as nothing new is coming to you. The “Missing Person” album did so well and was so well received, with 5 Top Ten singles in The British/Irish Hotdisc Top Ten and one song ‘Coming Home’ sitting on the number one spot for six consecutive weeks.

But over the course of 3-4 long weeks I have written the new album, this time with 15 songs which I am very excited about and I’m sure you will love. The flavour is back to the old me, the real me, writing ‘real’ stories about ‘real’ people and ‘real’ life again. Its very much Americana and has moved away from that ‘Country Label’ I seemed to acquire after the release of my “Cross Country” album. Don’t get me wrong I still really love a lot of country music (I just like music!), but I think that it has lost it’s way a bit, and has no heart and soul in what it is saying through song.

That said, one of my songs “We Don’t Listen” has been nominated for single of the year by UK Country Music Radio and I am honoured to be nominated.

Last year when I was in Nashville I met two great guys, top Nashville record producer Dave Demay and hit songwriter Tony Olson. I have been invited to stay at Tony’s home in Idaho and to play three shows when I’m there, so I can’t wait to be able to arrange this. I have also been asked to play at The Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival in October this year and at The International Songwriters Festival in Las Vegas in March 2021 which is being organised and hosted by Michael Peterson.

I’ll keep you all updated how all of these things are progressing, but in the meantime, keep safe, keep healthy, look after each other and God bless you.

Michael