WHAT A WEEK! First of all, tremendous thanks to everyone who came out and supported us last week at any of our shows. It was ridiculously busy but well worth it. Between Monday and Saturday, I played 7 shows with 4 bands.

On Monday night, I joined Coffee Project on stage at 1982 for the song that I recorded with them for their upcoming album release. We played with our good friends, Greenland is Melting, and rising songwriter sensation, Frank Turner. Check him out…

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Michael Claytor and His Friends trekked across the north half of Florida with Paleface, Lauris Vidal, Andy Zipf and Damion Suomi. These three nights, I enjoyed some of the best shows I’ve ever been a part of musically! Paleface is the most original, unique folk-core band I’ve EVER seen. After three nights in a row watching them, I wished I were on tour with them for a month. I’ve been humming his songs ever since. We’ll see ‘em again at Harvest of Hope Fest, thank God! Maybe this will give you some idea of what they’re like:

Friday night, Umoja Orchestra and The Babylonians held a benefit concert for Haiti relief at our trumpet player, Zach Tetreault’s house. It’s a good thing he has a huge backyard… Supposedly, about 550 people donated to get into the show and Gators United for Haiti raised thousands of dollars.

With Austin Lucas and the Choir, we played a free bluegrass festival in the middle of nowhere outside of Ocala. We drove for two or three miles down a dirt road to get to this place and once we arrived, we discovered that the festival was a benefit to pave the road we drove in on! Needless to say, we saw some great music and met some really friendly people.

That night, we played our first headline club show as “Austin Lucas and the Choir” with Greenland is Melting and The Enablers (back in action!). What a great farewell-for-now to Gainesville as we prepare for our first tour together.

Thanks for a great week, everyone! We’ll see you back at Flaco’s this Wednesday!

<3 Michael and the Friends

Austin Lucas

Earlier this year, I began playing music with Austin Lucas and Jason Hedges (of Company Man, and many other bands) and together we formed “Austin Lucas and the Choir.” We’ve played a couple of times at Flaco’s and at a few other smallish places. This Saturday, though, we’re debuting our sound at the Atlantic– our first not-smallish show. We will have the pleasure of sharing the stage with our friends in Greenland is Melting and The Enablers.

That show will also serve as an informal kick-off to our first tour together beginning March 3rd in Atlanta. While we are still in the process of booking some shows, the confirmed dates are as follows:

• 2/20: Gainesville, FL @ The Atlantic
• 3/3: Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
• 3/4: Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
• 3/5: Richmond, VA — House Show
• 3/6: Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
• 3/8: Mt. Pleasant, SC @ The Village Tavern
• 3/10: Valdosta, GA– House Show
• 3/11: Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
• 3/12-3/14: St. Augustine @ Harvest of Hope Fest
• 3/16: Houston, TX– House Show
• 3/17-3/21: Austin, TX @ TBA
• 3/24: Little Rock, AR @ White Water Tavern

We’re getting pretty excited for this, so come out and see us wherever you can! I’ll post the remaining dates as soon as I get them.

Thanks for reading, and come see the band that brought the Friends and I together, Umoja Orchestra, this Friday (2/19) at 1215 NW 5th Avenue for a Haiti relief benefit show with Micah Shalom and the Babylonians! HOUSE PARTY!!!!

LOVE,