Meade Sings

Most Scrooges out there detest Christmas music of any kind. I can understand their point in a way. There is a plethora of very cheesy and uninspired Popular Christmas songs that get played over and over on the mainstream radio stations. They almost never mention Jesus Christ- our Lord, and many of the songs are about snow (a rarity in some places in the world during Christmas- Richmond included), and lots of talk about "Holiday" cheer, etc. But amongst the lame, there are some very good Christmas tunes, Popular and otherwise, although I do prefer the Christian Christmas. Here are some songs I never tire of during Christmas:   The First Noel, Mary's Boy Child, O Holy Night, Two Step 'Round The Christmas Tree, Do You Hear What I Hear? Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,Excuse My Christmas And also anything in German! I never really liked "Frosty The Snowman", "All I Want For Christmas (is you)", and most oth...

Coffee Shop Country EP by Meade Skelton Inspired by Ned Hepburn's "Death and Taxes" blog, where he described my music as "Coffee Shop Country", I came out with this digital EP. The work is in progress, as it will come to full fruition as an album later (possibly cassette tape). For now this is "Coffee Shop Country" - sort of a paint brush of strokes of what come forth from my performances at the many coffee shops I have played over the years. Its Country and its Coffee Shop style. And that's about all I know. But its fun to create it. Its available now at Bandcamp and I have it going for 5$ , or simply 1$ a song. Whichever the general public prefers is fine by me. Last year I had fun doing "Christmas Joy". I also need to find out when that will be coming out on cassette tape, CD, or Vinyl for folks to Enjoy. It probably needs to happen soon. But this is definitely a fun project.

I really enjoyed a beautiful fall weekend in Loudoun County. Friday night I played at Market Street coffee in Purcellville- one of the coziest coffee shops in the region. I love the acoustics. They got some softwood floors which just seem to bring all the sound to life. Its not a big shop, and usually there aren't a whole lot of people. But I have been a regular there for the past 6 years, and its always a pleasure. I have even composed a few tunes in that place- including "Coffee shop Country"-which I dedicate to struggling small time musicians everywhere. The drive around the area was spectacular. I stayed over night so I could get in an early morning show at The Middleburg Community Market in Middleburg- Loudoun County's horse country hot spot. The market was awe inspiring. The fall foliage was just near its peak, and I could see a backdrop of post rail fencing and the bull run mountains. I made a heaping amount of tips- because those Middleburg folks tip like...

I had a wonderful time entertaining for An Occassion For The Arts in Colonial Williamsburg. I had a nice well rounded set doing some of my most requested songs- and some of the much newer songs. I always open with "Fat No More"- a real toe tapper, and then I try mellow it out with "Love Your Neighbor" so people don't think I'm a bigot. Then I try some of my other peppier songs such as "Me and My Horse" and "Sweet Tea". The weather was really lovely, although a tad chilly. Here is some video of the event. I was at the very end of the day, so the audience was dwindling at the point. But I did get some of the brave folks to listen!

A wonderful tune from "Godspell" I sang this in church.

Last night I played Singer-Songwriter showcase at The Camel here in Richmond . It was one of the most enjoyable shows I have been too in a long time. I could sit and listen for hours at all the talented singer-songwriters playing last night. Its just my kind of music. I think some of them have obviously been performing for quite some time. All of them were good, but the one that stood out to me the most was a man that played a song called "Western Civilization Blues". It was so poignant and well played. I enjoyed this because I felt the show wasn't over kill. I just did about 25 minutes of all my best and most popular numbers. I got to sing to tracks as well- and it sounded swell in that superb sound system that they have. But really listening to other songwriters (particularly local) is obviously the kind of show I want to go see - and something I need to do more often. Because I often feel most inspired by these types of performances. There is something wistful about ...