Welcome to the new site here. It’s made by Mr. Jon Cole of Queen Jane Approx. Design. He did a stellar job of getting this thing up and going. Feel free to browse around and check to see if I’m coming to play at a city near you. The majority of the shows this Fall will be full band, so please come out and get comfortable (when you get there). It’s gonna be a good month.

Md

PAWNSHOP STORIES:

So…creative people change just like everyone else. Your perspective moves, gets stuck, etc. You sing differently. You work in and out of humanity however you do-then you document it. You just to have empathy for that process or else it’s never fun. I hate listening to most of my songs, but I DO like remembering where I was coming from at that time. It’s just important to know what to keep/throw out/ recycle/ etc from the little rascal signposts. Little signposts that remind you….well just remind you. All this to say, when I made my last record, PAWNSHOP, I made it in 2 sweeps. The first one was in Dec of 06 and the other was in Sept of 07. I did Ohio, What Would I do?, She Uses Love, Easier to Read, Ramshack Run, Down Down in the first sweep. Then I did the rest in the sessions in 07. Had a good time, and all was quiet on the western front. In Oct/ Nov I realized how fragmented I felt the recordings were. My general approach to singing/ writing/ etc. had just shifted between sweep 1 & 2. Not in a bad way. Well yeah maybe in a bad way. But-the music was just so dang ambitious and I felt disconnected from it. SO-the question arose-what do I do with all of these different kinds of songs. I’ve got my development down on tape, and it might be more disengaging for folks listening than anything. So, I decided to parody the confusion of the situation with a concept record. Fortunately, working with a wonderful person like Jason Harwell at Rebuilt Records made this naive call look way more together than it was. I wanted to have stories going along with each song that would help tie the album together better so it wouldn’t feel as fragmented (maybe) and illustrations with it. SO I called my friend Jewly Hight (great songwriter, writer, bad ass), and she was in. We talked through it over several months and came up with something we both were proud of. Then Jason Harwell contributed some stellar illustrations to top it off.  We had an accidental concept record from a literal sonic pawnshop that became this more holistic experience with stories for each song…documenting Pawnshop’s journey. Since most people buy my music digitally, it didn’t really translate how I wanted. But I’m proud of the whole concept that saved it for me (even if it’s just me!).  The interactive nature of it. I just wanted to share the experience of this record beyond the 50-60 minutes that you may or may have not heard. I’m also going to put the story up for those who want to get their hands on Jewly’s tasty writing. You may hear a song differently too. See ya.

Click here to read the mini book: http://www.micahdalton.com/pawnshop-story/

Md