Indie Feed included “We’re Not Here Anymore” in their “Weekly Update” playlist, a four-song set of acoustic tunes.
Listen to the playlist here, and give Indie Feed a Youtube follow:
https://youtu.be/PrdTuU8jcB4
Featured artists in the playlist include:
Jonny Carroll – “February”
Joel Ansett Music – “Turn to Gold”
Neo & Neo – “Californian Sun”
Mike Vial – “We’re Not Here Anymore”
© Photo used in artwork; Nicolò Di Giovanni – Compaccio, Italy – Download picture here: https://goo.gl/AmUwzL
Whoa, the record received quite a press quote:
“The album is a warm, crisp collage of Americana coiled with lots of contemplative lyrics narrated by an artist who sounds like he’s enjoying the radiant sunrise after a proverbial dark night of the soul.” – Jeff Milo, the Current
Jeff Milo, asked such thoughtful questions, and I appreciate his long-form review of my new record for his blog. I offer some thoughts about the accident and Ann Arbor’s fruitful scene.
Read the blog here:
http://deepcutzmusic.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-world-thats-bigger-interview-with.html
Girl on the Mountain, Boy on the Beach
This folk song in DADGAD is my favorite to play from the new record, a contemplation about the refugee crisis.
Free Download: Click here for a free download of the song.
Full album available on: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Goo
“Girl on the Mountain, Boy in the Beach”
A girl climbed the tallest mountain,
And the light from the sun in the sky
She found a juvenile traveler
He was watching the moon die, the moon die
The girl ran down the mountain
The boy lay down in the beach
Passion gave in to power
The sun and the moon never reach
Did you need a little hope this morning?
Did you need a little hope, did you cry?
A father readied a journey
A mother made up her mind
Children fleeing their country
Can you give sight to the blind, the blind?
A girl ran down the mountain
A boy lay down in the beach
Children fleeing their country
The sun and the moon never reach
Did you need a little hope this morning?
Did you need a little hope, did you cry?
This song was a 2016 Grassy Hill Songwriting Competition finalist, performed at CT Folk.
Live video done by Charlie Steen. Audio by Solid Sound Recording Company.
Press Release: A World That’s Bigger
October, 2016
Ann Arbor, MI. — Mike Vial’s wife said she wouldn’t marry him unless he quit his public school teaching job to pursue music.
Five years later, Vial has played 1000+ gigs across the United States and Canada, and he’s releasing a new album.
For his fourth music release, A World That’s Bigger, Vial recorded the entire folk album live with three acoustic guitars in a cabin in northern Michigan. With the help of his friend behind the mixing board, Vial completed his most challenging, personal record.
However, the release of the record lead to another unfortunate incident: Vial was hit by a car the week his record was released. Vial was crossing the road walking to a gig in Ann Arbor. His guitar in a gig bag on his shoulder took the initial impact, saving his body from more harm.
“I was supposed to play the annual John Lennon tribute that night at the Ark,” Vial said. And it gets more eerie: “I was going to play ‘All My Loving,’ a song the hospital heard on the radio when Lennon died.”
Vial’s own album covers three universal themes — life, death and love. The title track “A World That’s Bigger” celebrates the birth of Vial’s first child, but it also embraces family heartaches. “Ginny’s birth was bookended by two miscarriages,” Vial said. “Writing songs like ‘Little Drum’ and ‘Those Shoes’ helped me find closure with the fear and pain.”
And the pain runs deep in other songs like “Burning Bright,” a dedication to Vial’s relative, Michigan Senator David Plawecki. “Girl on the Mountain, Boy on the Beach,”which Vial will perform in September as a Grassy Hill Finalist for this year’s CT Folk Festival, addresses the Syrian refugee crisis.
“I’ve been thinking about how lucky I am to raise my daughter in Ann Arbor, and how so many families are fleeing their homes overseas.”
Vial hopes the music will inspire us to do more for those in need, as well as to revel in the joys of love and family.
* * * *MUSIC STREAMS * * *
Press photos: download here
Album cover: download here
Press Soundcloud stream:
https://soundcloud.com/mikevial/sets/a-world-thats-bigger/s-0xGsA
Spotify: listen here
Bandcamp: mikevial.bandcamp.com
Accident update: my Taylor Guitar lives to play another day!
If you missed the news on Facebook, heads up that I’m recovering OK, but I was hit by a car walking to a gig last week.
I was crossing Huron at First Street, walking to the Ark theater on Thursday to play at the annual John Lennon Tribute show. A driver turning left hit me while I was in the crosswalk. I still don’t know the details about what happened.
What I do know is my guitar will survive!
I was carrying my beloved Taylor 514ce in a gig bag on my shoulder when the accident happened. The gig bag took the initial impact, saving my body from harm.
The doctors who treated me at St. Joe’s were guitar players, and we had a nice chat about our guitars before I got X-rays. Their faces were more pained when they asked what type of guitar I was carrying, then when they came to tell me I had a broken foot. (Better than a hand!)
Today, my father drove my guitar to Weninger Guitar Works. Mark Weninger has been fixing my guitars for 10 years, and today he confirmed my acoustic’s guts and neck look OK!
I’m feeling blessed twice after hearing this good news. I bought this Taylor new from Guitar Center in 2001, and it has been my main guitar for all of my 1000+ gigs, except for one: last year’s John Lennon Tribute at the Ark.
This guitar has been my main axe for recording sessions, too. I used it for seven of the 10 songs on the new record. You can hear it on songs 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.
The guitar won’t be pretty, but she’ll be ready for my record release shows in Michigan: Oct 29 at the Ark and Oct 30 at the Acorn Theater.
Big thanks to my dad who was roadie all weekend. Additional thanks to songwriter Nancy Beaudette for the kind Bandcamp note, and Shawna Caspi for sharing my accident story with Laurie Brown, host of the Signal. I appreciated getting that kind message on Twitter! #signalitesunite!
All of you road warriors be safe!
THIS WEEK:
No gigs for me this week, I’m still recovering and figuring out what I’m going to be able to do. However a few of my friends are playing gigs in town:
- Thursdsay, Oct 13: Sedgewick – at Cafe Verde 7 PM
- Oct 14 & 15: Frances Luke Accord open for Darlingside at the Ark!
Sunday, I’ll be back to promoting my new record, with a live interview and performance on the Back Porch on WVPE 88.1 FM between 7-11 PM.
