Shel Silverstein News

Music City Joke offers Leaphart’s strongest batch of songs to date: wry, rugged, and recharged, he’s singing songs that conjure up memories of front porches, honky tonks, heartbreaks, and dive bars.

What was I getting myself into!? Well, now that I’ve had ample time to reflect on this experience, I can tell you exactly what I got myself into.

Nashville-based, South Carolina-born singer-songwriter Mac Leaphart’s upcoming album, Music City Joke, offers his strongest batch of songs to date.

Hurrah for the green shoots in our beleaguered industry. Lots of venues are mounting new shows and bringing back our favourites over the next few weeks and months - albeit with social distancing and safety measures in place. Here are some of the live theatrical goodies on offer.

Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Andrew Borba and Managing Director Sarah Clare Corporandy, today announced the appointment of Stori Ayers as Associate Artistic Director.

The doors have been dusted off and sanitised again and again, ready for the filth and scourge of London to descend into the depths of Hell aka The Vaults, in this covid-safe brand-new show: Dante's In Furlough from the 15th October.

Nashvillea??s Music Row is as complicated as the myths that surround it. And there are plenty, from an adulterous French fur trader to an adventurous antebellum widow, from the early Quonset hut recordings to record labels in glass highrise towers and from a?oeYour Cheatina?? Hearta?? to a?oeStrawberry Wine.a?? Hidden History of Music Row, a new book from Arcadia Publishing & The History Press, sets out to tell the full, unadulterated story of the heart of Music City.

Sometimes we simply outdo ourselves and this is a perfect example. Chris Gantry is a living legend and he's been holding court around Nashville for years. He's one of the last true 'Outlaw Country' artists, and continues to write songs, post content to social media, and is revered by so many other contemporary songwriters. 

On October 2, 2020, Bear Family Records will release the eight-CD LP-sized box set titled Bobby Bare Sings Shel Silverstein Plus.

Taelor Deitcher aka Felix Cartal joins forces with Sophie Simmons, on their latest single, 'Mine' via Physical Presents. The single was premiered via Wonderland Magazine as well as the tastemaker Youtube channel Mr Suicide Sheep. Felix Cartal was named by Billboard as one of 13 Dance Artists who Dominated in 2017 alongside names such as Odesza, Illenium and Marshmello. His singles 'Get What You Give' and 'Love Me' are certified platinum in Canada with 'Love Me' also being nominated for Dance Recording of the Year at the Junos 2020. Felix Cartal has collaborated with Kaskade on 'More' and R3HAB on 'Killing Time' and done official remixes for the likes of Selena Gomez, Zedd, Galantis, Dillon Francis, MØ, Ellie Goulding and Diplo.

Fresh off the announcement of his next album, Great American Saturday Night, Bobby Bare is releasing track eight, “The Day All The Yes Men Said No” exclusively premiered by Taste of Country. Written by the late Shel Silverstein, Bare tells the stories of folks from all walks of life standing up and saying no to societal rules and standards and the ripple effect that follows. Bare offers a little bit of humor in the midst of a serious message with “The Day All The Yes Men Said No.” Listen to the song below and preorder the forthcoming album here.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Songs of Ice and Fire: A Night in Westeros on January 3rd, 2019 at 9:30pm. 

Lantern Theater Company continues the 2019/20 season with a remount of its original adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, commissioned and developed through the Lantern's New Play Program and co-created by Philadelphia-based artists Anthony Lawton, Christopher Colucci, and Thom Weaver.

Hang your stockings, mull your beverage of choice and light up your leg lamp, then go to Toby's in Columbia to see A Christmas Story, The Musical, music and lyrics written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book by Joseph Robinette. It's a sweet series of youthful holiday escapades full of quirky characters, brought to you with a wealth of warm fuzzies, in Toby's usual heartwarming style.

The Washington Stage Guild continues its season of great writers with a vividly theatrical adaptation of one of Charles Dickens's novels, Hard Times. Dickens's tale of love, loss, and circus folk is set against the backdrop of Industrial Revolution England. This clever version, in which four actors play dozens of characters, has not been seen in Washington for over two decades!

The outrageous and flamboyant Jack Bartholet creates the most authentic and genuine cabaret show, Lady With a Song, using devices theatrical, flashy and absolute honesty.

Friends, colleagues, and students of the highly regarded and much loved actor, teacher, writer, and director E. Katherine Kerr will gather on Monday, September 30, 2019, at 6:00 P.M. at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater to celebrate her life.

Salon is a weekly open mic night where artists can try out new material in a judgment-free zone. I recently did some undercover reporting. It wasn't dangerous or glamorous, like Hunter S. Thompson or Nellie Bly, though it was both alluring and scary at times. I infiltrated the cabaret community to see what it's like being a nightclub singer - and I had a really good time, but I don't want to do it again. I don't know how cabaret performers do it. It's exhausting and it's expensive. You spend all your time promoting yourself, you pay musicians, press reps, photographers and dry cleaners, and every day you run the risk of waking up with a cold and no voice, and an obligation to sing. It's nerve-wracking. Still, these artists continue to produce art for a willing audience: they do it for love of the art and of the audience. It begs the question, though, when a cabaret performer doesn't have a show to do, how do they keep their skills up? How do they continue to grow without spending precious earned cash on an expensive master class?

Today (July 20, 2019) marks the 50th anniversary of NASA and Apollo 11 landing on the moon for the very first time, so it felt like the perfect day to share my review of one of my favorite discoveries at this year's Book Expo Convention, A KITE FOR MOON by Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi E.Y. Stemple, with illustrations by Matt Phelan.

Country music veteran Deborah Allen was surprised with a special presentation by T.G. Sheppard, Kelly Lang and WSM's Devon O'Day at Nashville's 3rd & Lindsley Wednesday night during the 6th annual Country For A Cause, benefiting Monroe Carell Jr's Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. A proclamation from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, celebrating Deborah's 40 years in country music, was tearfully and happily received. The honor acknowledges not only her contributions as a singer, but also as a celebrated, successful songwriter having been awarded seven BMI One Million Air-Play Awards for her hit songwriting repertoire and one BMI Two Million Air-Play Award for her smash hit “Baby I Lied.”