Michael Francis Hughes: News

Hello friends....not been good at keeping up with the news here. Partly cause there hasn't been anything really exciting and partly because it seems like facebook keeps everyone up to date on the gigs and daily activities. I will say that I've done some work on the bio. If you want to check out the current beginning of the beginning.

It's been an interesting year. Lots of new gigs and old ones. New friends and old ones. Not so many new songs but fixing up some old ones. Thanks to Danny Kelly, Rich Fissenger and Jamie Thompson ( PopFiction ) for all the great music, friendship and support. Thanks to Paul Kelly for sitting in. Thanks to Dr. Ben and his Back Bone Blues Band. Thanks to new old friend Danny deGenarro. We will be doing a gig or two together this year.
Thanks to Bert Groener and Thea DeBoers in The Netherlands for the airplay and the chance to go there and do a live performance and interview on Radio Westerwolde. Airfare, courtesy of my brother Frank. Communication and the Net courtesy of my daughter Stacey and hubby John Milton. General love and constant support..Peggy Hughes. Special thanks to Danny Kroonen Elles in Dordrecht for the amazing hospitality and guided tour of a great town. I hope 2011 will be another great adventure.

Nothing big going on....I just realized that the Post Netherlands story never got posted. I left on March 8th. What a great time. There are very nice people there. Everyone was so kind and helpful. British Airways decided to send my Guitar on a seperate flight...but delivered it to my hotel, much to my surprise. I walked around Amsterdam for a few hours. Took lots of pictures. What a cool place. You can see all the photos on facebook. www.facebook.com/michaelfrancishughes The second day I went to Groningen on a 2 hour train ride north. I stayed in Winschoten. DJ Thea deBoers picked me up at my hotel across from the station. We drove to a cool little restored 400 year old town and met up with DJ Bert Groener and his wife Anita who started the whole Netherlands adventure via Tagged. Then we went to Radio Westerwolde for my hour interview and live radio performance. That was a hoot.
Next day I trained back past Amsterdam to Rotterdam. A very gracious internet friend Wilma invited me to stay. The next day she gave me a 3 hour walking tour of Rotterdam. That night I took the train to Dordrecht. Another internet contact introduced me to writer/musician Danny Kroonen. Danny set up some cafe gigs and he and Elles took me in for 4 nights. More on that next time.....thanks for checking in.

The live performance and interview in the Netherlands on Radio Westerwolde have been moved to the same dates in March. 8th to the 18th. You can listen to the interview on the internet at www.radiowesterwolde.nl at 2PM EST on Wednesday March 10th. If you catch the show, please let me know.
I will be playing at various places with live music and moving around Holland.

Thanks to Paddy and the nice people at IMRADIO for making me a featured artist for the second time. Nice programmimg and great support to independant artists everywhere. No clear channel monopoly here, just interesting honest music.
(see the adult contemporary playlist for me)

Hello good people....
Please tune in to alive performance and interview I will be doing with DJ Thea de Boers on Radiowesterwolde in the Netherlands.
The show will be at 2PM EST on February 10th. Listen on the internet at www.radiowesterwolde.nl I will be there for 10 days playing gigs where I can and meeting the good folks there and at www.Networkradio.nl That have been graciously playing songs off the Live Out Loud CD.

Network radio in the Netherlands ( www.nradio3.nl ) has made me WEEKBOOST (artist of the week) and will be playing the title track of Live Out Loud 35 times the first week of January. I am going over to the Netherlands Feb 8th. I will be doing an hour interview and be playing live on the radio on The Shades of Country show with DJ Thea de Boers on www.radiowesterwolde.nl. Thea is DJ Dusty on Network Radio.
I hope to be playing gigs and getting around the country a bit. It's all very exciting.

Last MINUTE!!! I've been asked to play at the Puck in Doylestown. One of the finest venues in the Philadelphia area.
I'll be opening for PHILLY GUMBO a long time favorite.
Should be a great time. Hope to see you there.

Had a great time in Nashville. Performed 3 nights on 3 differant stages. Great sound by the guys working them. Nice people. It was toasty hot but sunny. Got to hear, meet and pitch to RODEO PONY. 3 girls with a band that will rock the radio soon.

I'll be at the Music Row Songwriter Festival on June 19, 20 and 21. See the Calendar for exact times and stages. Should be a great time. It's my first time back with my Live Out Loud CD in hand.

Hi everybody...please keep an eye on the calendar, dates are added often. Hope to see you once in a while. The CD is creeping along. No word from XPN feel free to bug Helen..Where's Hughes in the Philly local?
IMRadio.com is playing 5 songs often. See the adult contemporary playlist.

CD release party was a blast..thank you Joe at Cheeseburger in Paradise, Langhorne, PA. The southern version at Andy's in Chestertown, MD was fun, too. Thanks Andy. Bigger crowd next time no rain. CD sales have been coming slowly. CDbaby sold one in Germany..what a hoot. WSTW's Mark Rogers/Hometown Heroes Show played Live Out Loud on the radio!! Thanks Mark and everybody who called in. 302-478-1010 is the requestline.

The CD is here. Available for download at Digstation.com.
CD Baby is still in the works, iTunes will follow. I'm happy with it, Thanks to everone who played sang and chipped in to make it happen.
Tune-in to WBCB AM (1490)March 12th at 3:30PM for a short interview on the Coffee with Kahuna show and the first airplay of "Levittown" in Levittown!!

That is the CD title and it is being manufactured now. It won't quite make my birthday but it will be available around February 18th. It will be available at CDBaby.com, iTunes.com and Digstation.com. or call or write to me I'll get one to you, too. I'm excited.

Mixing went great in Nashville. The George Massenberg room (studio C) is amazing. Obie O'Brien has incredible ears and is as a good a friend, too. The last 3 tune we did at Jon Bon Jovi's Studio (Obie's domain and second home) That was a cool experience, too. CD out there SOOOON.

The sessions are almost complete. Planning on Mixing at Blackbird in Nashville the end of this month. Looking for some help with the cost. Pre-CD sales available or small investors wanted. (no one over 5'2") he he
Seriously I need help to finish.

Back in the studio on the 22nd and 25th for overdubs. The CD is going well so far.

The recording process is moving along. Overdubs on Wednesday. Chris Jones on Mandolin and guitar, Jack Rickenbach on Ukulele.
Tom Gregory on piano/keys.
More surprise guests too. Can't wait. Obie will mix the whole thing into a world class record, very exciting.

I went into SINEstudios.com on Aug 11th and started the CD recording. Danny Kelly, Larry Spurrrier and Steve Sheppard and I got 10 songs started. Obie O'Brien got the great drums sounds and helped on production and engineeering. I'm hoping he'll be here for mixing especially. Can't wait to have it complete.

Obie O'Brien invited me to sing on a song to be on the next Soraia CD. Good people , great band. Singer Sue Monsour is amazing. Look for it.

Working on co-write with Obie, too.

The CD is coming to life, some more gigs, too. Check the calendar and come on out.