This Thanksgiving I'm Thankful

Like many of you, I have been isolating to protect my health and those around me. And thankful that I have my health. I have spent the better part of these past few months in my garden prepping for Spring. I think it's a lovely metaphor of how to survive these COVID times. Love to all of you who have to go out into the world and work. I'm thankful for the health-care and 1st responders who are truly putting their lives at risk for us all, and deserve love and gratitude.

And for those who have lost loved ones, and frankly this list is sadly growing, I am sending a huge hug of sympathy for your loss.

I am sending you all wishes for a Happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

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Thoughts on "I'm All Burn"

It has been my privilege in the past several years to attend a number of Cathy Grier's gigs, both solo and with her small band of merry men, The Troublemakers, which is usually just an incredibly talented rhythm section backup. She's a maker of great "blues & grooves", as she puts it. It's a sound I've come to know and love, so I awaited her album, "I'm All Burn", with some trepidation, as I'd heard that it was to be a very produced album, which I feared might rob the music of some of its intensity and immediacy. I needn't have worried.

The blues are still blue. The grooves still, well, groovy. Backed by an assortment of some of the finest instrumentalists and vocalists anywhere, the exceptional writing, guitar work and singing of Grier have simply gained another dimension. Perhaps it's a little like comparing painting and sculpture depicting the same subject -- it's not as though either is missing something, it's just another way of looking. And in this case, the subject matter is well worth hearing in as many ways as possible. Blues with a relevant social message. Hmmm . . . who knew you could do that?

One of the last lines of the set says, "see your sister rise to glory", and while I know that Cathy Grier's ascendency began a long time ago, I'm so glad that I get to see this sister continue to rise to her well-deserved glory.

From dark and smoky to bright and brassy with touches of sassy and saucy along the way, this album simply makes me happy. And why else would I listen to music?

~ Ralph Murre

I am so happy to announce that my new album I’m All Burn with the Troublemakers is on it’s way to being printed! It has been a lovely road of production, with a 4 month pause due to COVID-19 shut down. The amazing designer is Rae Senarighi. Here’s a tease of the design of the CD label. Knowing that many of you do not even have a CD player, I will be making the tracks available on a digital download card. Honestly my income comes from live performances, so releasing an album without also having live gigs is a risk. Yet this album needs to get out from my head and into the world!

There were so many amazing musicians who joined me on the album.

If you’d like to pre-order a copy, or multiple copies for your friends : ) you can click on the donate button on my home page and let me know. I am asking a “whatever you can afford” price. No amount is too big lol

Like many full time musicians who count on live performances as a major source of income, COVID-19 has certainly put on the brakes of my career. Good news is that I am healthy. I'm unable to book any future gigs, and my album release is on hold. A life without live performances is something I haven't known since 1978. I am hopeful possibilities will emerge. but for now I have to let reality of our time be my guide.

I have made the sad and difficult decision to cancel all my dates booked at bar/restaurants for this season. I can not safely, and confidently perform while being concerned of how others are or aren't taking seriously COVID. No matter how many precautions are taken, the reality exists that gatherings will likely increase the spread. And that concern is too much for me to consider publicly entertaining in establishments that also serve, even if outside. The risk for me is too great. If you have ever seen me perform, you know that contact with my audience is part of what makes me the performer that I am. I wander with my guitar, and chat on breaks with the audience, I can’t imagine a performance where I can’t engage with the public in this way. My music has always been to bring myself and others joy. This is the kind of entertainer I have been for 43 years, and I can not see how I could adapt under the circumstances.

I apologize to my fans who will come to Door County this summer

I have been dancing in my living room to my unfinished album every day since March 16th. The album is a project that I have been working on since September. I had hoped to have it released this March. Sadly with all the closures due to COVID-19, the project is on hold in the studio in Milwaukee awaiting the chance to finalize it by mixing and mastering so I can send it to the manufacturer, and have the final digital copy available to download.

I decided a fun way to share my record without worrying about a rough mix getting out into the world was to film me dancing to it in my living room. Why not just release it with the rough mixes that I already have? Well there are little things that I need to do, certain instruments or vocals aren’t at the correct volume, and little digital touch ups still need to be done. With digital recordings, the rough mix is basically the same digital fingerprint as a final mix- it doesn’t discern between a guitar being louder, a voice being stronger, or a solo being shorter. It is imperative that whenever I get the album out there, that it is the final and correct mix, approved by me the artist, writer and producer.