When asked to reflect on Elvis’ passing, John Lennon famously said, “Elvis died in the army.” Shane offers up a new post about the early days of rock and suggests that it wasn’t Elvis who died in the army but it was rock and roll that (nearly) breathed its last.

Click to read the rest of this post on Shane’s blog

For the first installment in a series on “the Perfect Song”, Shane dissects The Beatles “Help!”. This song is frequently referred to as one of John’s earliest examples of autobiographical songwriting. While it is still packaged in the up-tempo, “Buck Owens meets Motown” early Beatles sound, just beneath the surface there are real tears of desperation. I love when a song can work on two levels, and you hear more with each listen…
Click to read the rest of this post on Shane’s blog

After arriving in Nashville on January 8th after an eventful trek across the country Shane launched a new online journal at http://shanetutmarc.blogspot.com as a “place to share my thoughts, personal photos, and hopefully keep you up-to-date on my recent move across the country.”

Check it out!

The day is finally upon us. My last Seattle show as a local.
Luckily we can do it with singing and celebration! I assembled an
all-star cast to make this a very special “going away party”. I am
proud to be sharing the bill with long-time friends and frequent
collaborators, Eric Howk (The Lashes/Palmer AK), Noah Star
(USE/Wonderful), Josh Ottum (Friends for Heroes/Mr Pleasant).

I will be joined by my all-star band featuring Ty Bailie on Keys, Ryan
Richter on Lap Steel, Brendan Bosworth on bass, Brian Bosworth on
drums and the beautiful girls of the vocal group, The Chromettes – Mia
Katherine Boyle, Alicia Dara, and Fiia McGann.

And that’s not all – your $10 at the door also makes you eligible for
free drinks all night!

Give me the chance to sing for you one last time before I return to
Seattle with a southern accent and a belly full of comfort food!

Love,
Shane

Dear Beloved Seattle,
On January 1st I am packing up the car and driving across the country
to move to Nashville, Tennessee. It’s something I’ve been dreaming
and scheming about for years now, and I’ve finally set a date. I was
born and raised here in Seattle (a true Seattleite), and although I
will surely visit family and friends frequently, I am looking forward
to a new home across the country. I am grateful to all the talented
musicians I’ve had the opportunity to work with, during my years with
Dolour, The Traveling Mercies, and my “solo” band. When writing my
latest album (Shouting At A Silent Sky, June 2009) I sort of
envisioned it as a ‘Goodbye to Seattle’ album. Songs like “Never
Turnin’ Back”, “There’s No Star to Lead Me Home”, and “Death & Texas”
captured my growing restlessness.

The South had always been a great mystery to me. The fabled land that
brought country music and blues together and breathed life into rock
and roll. My first experience with Nashville was in June of ’08 when I
flew down there to play some shows supporting “Hey Lazarus!” (my
second album with The Traveling Mercies). I fell in love with this
legendary music city. Although it is one of the greatest music meccas
in the country, it still carries itself like a small town. I met so
many great people, went to so many great clubs, and I saw endless
possibilities as a songwriter. It was on that trip that I started
writing my most recent album, Shouting At A Silent Sky. Now I feel a
strong desire to dig deeper in the heartland, and get to know the
South and its music from a first-hand perspective.

If you would like to congregate one last time while I’m still living
here you can see me and my band play Wednesday, December 16th at the
Electric Tea Garden (the “Artificial Limb” building) in Capitol Hill.
It should be a fun filled night, full of song and celebration.

I hope that Seattle will stick by me during this new period of
exploration, musically if not geographically, and I will be back to
play shows as often as I can.

With Love,
Shane Tutmarc

And here is a new video to accompany this departure…

With the big Neumos/Cave Singers show and the Tractor/solo Dolour
show behind me I’m excited to have some free time to work on new
songs. As ever, each new song is taking me to new places.

While
recording Shouting at a Silent Sky I didn’t write hardly anything. I
wanted to stay in the “Silent Sky” mood as long as I could to see
those songs through to the end. When I finished the album in
February, I opened the floodgates for songs to start pouring – but it
was more like a trickle. I’d write a little something here, a little
something there – waiting for that cornerstone song to show me where
where the music wanted to go. Finally by summer something was
developing, and now I am well on my way to finding that next sound.
Without counting my chickens before they hatch, I just wanted to let
you know that during this (probably brief) downtime I am cooking up
some new jams for y’all. Also, I am constantly looking for new ways
to connect with the fans, be it Facebook, iLike, Twitter,
ReverbNation. We also hope to play some more out of town shows before
the year is out.

Keep checking here for developments on all of the
above.

AND – have a spooky Halloween,

XO Shane

File this under: “never say never”.

I’m playing an acoustic set of Dolour songs tomorrow night at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Opening for longtime friend and collaborator (he played lead guitar on the Years in the Wilderness) Josh Ottum’s CD release show. You can read my blog and suggest songs at
Dolour’s myspace page.

If you wanna meet up before the show, I’ll be spinning records at Hazelwood on Market Street in Ballard (just blocks from the Tractor) from 7-8pm. Come on over, I’ll be playing lots of great R&B and Country, and Rock and Roll. See you tomorrow night!

Xo Shane

Today Amazon is offering not one, but two free downloads from Shouting
at a Silent Sky! Here’s the direct link to get
both “Idle Hands” and “Death & Texas” for free!

And if you live in
Portland come out to one of our shows tonight, and if you’re in
Seattle we’ll see you tomorrow at Neumos! Gotta hit the road now!

-Shane

I have been looking forward to these shows for months now. The Cave
Singers new album has been on constant rotation on my ipod. I hope
everyone can come out to these shows, they should be a lot of fun.
Friday we’re driving down to Portland early, because we have a free
in-store at Music Millennium at 6pm, then we head to Mississippi
Studios to open for the Moondoggies (also one of my local favs) and
the Cave Singers. The next night we are back and Seattle and playing
Neumos with the Feral Children and, again, the Cave Singers! It
should be action-packed. We probably are gonna keep a lower profile
leading into the holidays. Our next goal is to get some west coast
dates booked before the end of the year. Keep checking here for more
on that.

In “never say never” news, I have agreed to play a short set of my old
Dolour material opening up for (longtime Dolour collabortor) Josh
Ottum’s CD release show Thursday, October 22nd at the Tractor Tavern.
To read more about it, suggest songs, and ticket ordering info…
read the blog at the Dolour myspace page.

Other than that, you can keep up with us at Twitter, Facebook, Myspace
and now ReverbNation, all the
ingredients of a well-balanced diet.

See you at the shows!
Shane