We’ll play Cocoa Beach, Deland, Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa and Tallahassee on our way to new, farther horizons. For all of the specific dates, click here. To RSVP on Facebook, click here.

Be sure to check out the other guys, too:

Ricky Kendall

Devon Stuart

Lauris Vidal

I’m particularly excited about these Florida dates. They will certainly qualify as a fitting send off with some great friends. I’ll see you all on the road!

<3 Michael

P.S. I’ll also be playing a New Years Eve party at the Warehouse in Gainesville! Free champagne and music by Heavy Petty, Devon Stuart and Mike Dorsey!

First of all, let me extend my sincerest congratulations to my brother, David Claytor, and my future sister-in-law, Morgan Slavens, for deciding to tie the knot!! We here at michaelclaytorandhisfriends.com are all very proud of you and looking forward to the union of two large, cultish families.

In that same vein, every year my family has sent out a Christmas card. It always amounts to a recent photo of us, 5 fake smiles (and 1 real smile from my mother), and at least 2 siblings in desperate need of a hair/beard cut. This year, though, we’ve decided to better use our talents and create a family Christmas EP!

We’ve recorded three tracks, including a medley of 3 Christmas favorites. The flagship track, “Winter Wonderland,” features vocal solos by Jackson and Gracie Quello (10 and 8 years old, respectively), and mandolin work by Andrew Claytor. “Here Comes Santa Claus” boasts an original, irreverent verse composed by David Claytor, and the “Medley O’ Favorites” finds Merrill Frailey showing off her rhythm guitar skills!

Of course, the NEWLY ENGAGED design super-couple at Hatchet Design is responsible for the show-stealing cover artwork. It’s way better than any Christmas card photo we’ve ever taken!

Happy Holidays!

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

This coming Tuesday, the Friends and I will embark on a miniature tour with our dear friend, Lauris Vidal and soon-to-be friends, Paleface, Damien Suomi and Andy Zipf. That’s a lot of new friends. We’ll be playing Tuesday, 2/16 at the Engine Room in Tallahassee, Wednesday, 2/17 at Will’s Pub in Orlando and Thursday, 2/18 at Durty Nelly’s in Gainesville.

If you’ve never heard of Paleface, read this:

Paleface

“Fun-lovin and high energy Indie-Folk duo featuring Paleface himself and darling drummer Monica “Mo” Samalot on a US tour in support of their Ramseur Records debut, The Show Is On The Road, which features guest performances by labelmates The Avett Brothers -”songs you’d be glad to hum for the rest of the day” PASTE. Schooled personally by friend Daniel Johnston, Paleface was discovered at an NYC open mic by the legendary Danny Fields (The Stooges, The Ramones, MC5), 1990. He’s released over a dozen records including two major label releases (Polydor Records, Sire Records). He’s toured with the likes of The Breeders and Billy Bragg, and he’s been a mjor influence on artists such as Kimya Dawson of The Moldy Peaches and Beck…”A great songwriter, a generous friend and a big influence on my early stuff” says Beck of Paleface in Annie Leibovitz’s book ‘American Music’.”

–Blurb from the Engine Room’s website

Wow… I didn’t know that until i just googled him. Come check us out, and tell your friends if they live in any of those cities.

Also, for all of you Gainesvillians, come check us out tonight at Spin Cycle for a Haiti relief benefit show at 8:00 and later at Common Grounds with The Takers and outlaw country singer Willie Heath Neal!

<3 Me ‘n’ the Friends

I Must Walk

I hope you all enjoy it. Spread the word!

P.S. Friend Evan came up with the title to this post.

First of all, thanks to everyone who joined us last night for the 2 year Flaco’s Wednesdays anniversary spectacular. What a zany night. We all earned it; happy anniversary to all who have joined us for the past two years. We LITERALLY couldn’t have done it LITERALLY every single week without you.

In other news, we got another shout out in the Gainesville Sun (<–click the link to see it) about our show this Friday at Common Grounds with Wait Wait and The Footlights (<–click the link for details). Thanks for the XXL photo on the website, Sun!

Also, Michael Claytor and His Friend, Samantha Moss, will be taking their show on the road to Tampa with Coffee Project this Thursday. If you know anyone in Tampa, tell them to come check us out at the New World Brewery Thursday, 1/21. Yeah!

Michael and Sam at the Exchange

Check back for some February tour dates with Paleface and Lauris Vidal and maybe some coverage of our 2 year anniversary spectacular courtesy of Joel Mora and the Gainesville Sun!

Come back soon,

michael c.

If you’d like to pick up a copy, visit digstation or come and see us at Flaco’s Wednesdays.

Solidarity forever and ever.