Happy Spring from all of us at Harrison Street Records. It’s good to look back at all we have accomplished in the previous year, but I am excited to look forward to the music that we will be making at Pine Mountain Studio. I spent the beginning of the year involved with The Berklee School of Music in a Boston, as well as lots of time working in my Sausalito studio on new songs. In February, I was in New York with my friend and master songwriter, Bonnie Hayes. The band and I finished our 2017 holiday record “JOY” which will be released on December 1st with all proceeds going to ExtraFood.org. Save the date: December 7th for our 9th annual benefit concert at 142 Throckmorton Theatre where we will gather to start off the holiday with great spirit and get food to people in great need. This year’s concert will be different than all the ones before. We are already excited about it. Ticket information will come out in October. This show sells out every year, so please buy your tickets early at throckmortontheatre.org.

In March I was in Mexico to see the whales start their migration from the Sea of Cortez back up to Alaska for the summer. We spent the end of April and early May at Pine Mountain Studio recording “Looking Back”, in memory of my dear friend Paul Tyler, benefitting the “Noah Tyler College Fund”. Billy Shaddox came out from Colorado to work on this project and I was happy to include my bandmate and friend, Graham Patzner. Stay tuned for news of the release of this special record.  I will be in Africa for the month of June. I look forward to seeing beautiful sunrises and sunsets, bringing supplies to schools in Southern Africa and seeing this part of the world. In July I will be spending time at Pine Mountain Studio working on the next project then onto my annual trip to Paris in September. I’ll be in Hawaii in October to see the whales start their migration back to warmer waters and then to NYC working with my friend Bonnie Hayes on a new record. Our December 7th show is something that my band and I look forward to every year. We will have some special guests this year for this first all acoustic show. It’s a busy year ahead and I look forward to looking back at all the music that we make. Stay tuned for upcoming information about all the exciting things happening at Michelle Schmitt Music.