Traditional American Folk Music, Blues, Country, OldTimy, Rock, Experimental Music of Mike Oldfield, my mother, my cousin Lola, Lightening Hopkins, Doc Watson, John Fahey, buddy Emmons, Mississippi Fred McDowel, Reverend Gary Davis
Michael Perlowin started playing the guitar at the age of 13, after hearing the Kingston Trio’s recording of “Tom Dooley.” Originally intending to be a folk singer, Michael soon discovered that his talents as a guitarist far outweighed his abilities as a singer. It was not long before others made that same discovery, and, by age 16, Michael was working as an accompanist in the Los Angeles folk music circuit of the early ’60s. The decade wore on and Michael, like many folk musicians, went electric, playing lead guitar in local rock bands.
In 1969, Michael got married and settled down to working in a music store, teaching music and selling instruments. His dreams of becoming a rock star had faded, but in 1975, his life took an unexpected turn. By virtue of being in the right place at the right time, Michael was offered the lead guitar slot on a working Country and Western band. Michael knew absolutely nothing about country music when he was offered the job, but being experienced in the art of backing up vocalists in other genres, he quickly adapted his skills as an accompanist to the new genre.
When the band broke up, as bands do, Michael started freelancing around L.A. as a lead guitarist on the suburban C&W scene. It wasn’t long before he became captivated by the pedal steel guitar. In 1979, Michael began studying this complicated instrument, leading to a pleasant obsession that continues to this day. Within 6 months of beginning to play, Michael was working as a steel guitarist.
The Urban Cowboy craze of the early ’80s proved to be very fertile ground for steel guitarists. There were more jobs than players, and Michael worked hard for the next couple of years. But the craze also marked the death of the local C&W scene where Michael had honed his skills on the steel. As the auto plants closed up shop, the blue collar workers who had frequented the C&W bars moved away. Clubs were shuttered, and gigs became harder to find. Simultaneously, Michael had tired of playing the same songs night after night, and was searching for something different.
That “something different” turned out to be classical music. After hearing a recording of Debussy’s “The Maid With The Flaxen Hair” by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith, Michael realized his passion to transcribe and play classical music on the pedal steel guitar.
Michael built a home studio, learned how to record music, and dove into years of exploring and perfecting a wide range of classical songs on the steel. His first album, Firebird Suite, is a collection of works by Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok, Shostakovich, Gershwin, Satie and Copland. His second album is an interpretation of the score of West Side Story, which he recorded in its entirety. The third, Spanish Steel, features music from or about Spain, including Manuel de Falla’s “El Amor Brujo” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol,” as well as some less well-known pieces.
Michael’s dream is to introduce this beautiful and expressive instrument to the world of classical music, where it is still relatively unknown. It is his goal to become the very first pedal steel guitar concert artist. To that end, he enjoyed making a recent guest appearance with his steel guitar, accompanying two concert artists during their solo performances in the Los Angeles area.
In addition to his recordings, Michael is also the author of a music theory instruction book published by Mel Bay Publications entitled “Music Theory In The Real World: A Practical Guide For Today’s Musicians.”
For more information see also http://www.sonicbids.com/
Today I like to inform you, that you can read and watch interviews with your favorit country stars in Enlgish, German and French at http://www.CountryHome.de/Interviews .
Warm regards
Christian
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
CountryHome Forum have more than 5,800 members. Each news you submit to CountryHome Forum will released to my weekly Newsletter with more than 60,000 readers.
Please submit your artist news and events to CountryHome Forum to help your artists to get well known better in Europe. If you do not have the time to submit your artist news and events by yourself, please send it me to: Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de and I will submit them by myself to CountryHome Forum.
I know that many artists from North America don't have their music videos uploaded to German video websites. The most popular websites are MyVideo.de and ClipFish.de. That means your European audience does not have the chance to find them.
I understand that most of you don't speak German and are not able to upload videos because of the language barrier. If you would like me to upload your videos to the German video websites, please let me know.
Thanks
Christian
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de
Hi Mike, Hope things are going well for you in these difficult economic times. As you can see I've made a new Tango inspired CD (you can listen to segments on my Myspace page). Would you like a copy? Cheers, Ruth
Please don't forget to publish your country music news and events to CountryHome Forum. Each news and event published to CountryHome Forum will go to my weekly newsletter with more than 30,000 readers.
Warm regards
Christian
CountryHome Magazine Editor Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany
HI, There are more videos of our music at YouTube. com, I have provided this easy link to access over 18 more video’s to watch and enjoy.. http://www. youtube. com/user/pacrat87 Tell us what you think. Thanks and enjoy your day!
Thanks for the email Mike some interesting stuff there. Im looking foreward to disecting it.I check my messages here most if you ever want be in touch any how thanks again. Ben
Greetings from "Kaylee Country" to you "Mike".Thank-you for your friendship, and the wonderful steel music that you play.We love "Our Steelers". God Bless Karen Kaylee
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