I just finished up my first week of dates on my solo acoustic tour. For one thing there are a lot less people on stage. There is also a lot more room in the dressing rooms. I didn’t find myself talking to myself but I did make little tour videos of myself.

The solo dates this summer have me opening for Joan Armatrading who reminds me a bit of Tracy Chapman. The shows have been in some really big and beautiful rooms and have generally been sold out. Its always fun to play for a packed house. I’ve been playing 30 min sets which is a perfect amount of time for a solo set. It’s been a ton of fun getting back to the way that I originally wrote these songs. Just me and an acoustic guitar. The only subtle difference is that 1000 people are quietly waiting on your every word. I can’t say that I’ve been nervous at all, (you know……little ol’ me with just a guitar and a mic in the spotlight). It’s almost been the opposite. I’ve been excited for the challenge of entertaining a thousand people all by myself for a half an hour. It’s honest. It’s intimate. It’s quiet. It’s dynamic. It’s true to the essence of the songs and I’ve really been digging it. I’ve also been able to dig into the catalog of songs and dust off some tunes that the full band and I haven’t done in a while which is refreshing.
“Bottle of Love” and “Natalie” and “Don’t Do Me That Way” and “Yesterday’s News” have all made appearances into the set lists and the response has been great.

When it’s just you on stage you obviously have complete control as to what the songs are going to do. I’ve been able to steer the tempos to different zones. I’ve been able to completely stop songs in the middle of the tunes for effect. I”ve been able to sing as quietly as possible. I’ve been able to use (or not use) the microphone to really emphasize specific parts of the tunes. It’s an amazing feeling to sing to a full theater with no microphone at all. You can feel it filling the room and hitting the back walls. You can feel a real connection with the audience. There is nothing between you and them. It is a conversation.

I’ve also been playing a beautiful new acoustic guitar on this tour. Gibson Guitars has given me a Dove which is big and gorgeous. It has a dove inlay on the pick guard and wings on the bridge. It sounds huge and its really a pleasure to play such a beautiful instrument when it’s all by your lonesome.

I head back out on the road next week for some more acoustic dates. I’ll be in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco, Madison WI and St Paul, MN. I hope to see some of you out there for these intimate dates. Can’t wait.

Thanks for listening.

Talk soon, Jamie

7/10/10

 Well….we did it.  We made our first music video.  It was a long time coming.  There was a ton of planning both creatively and logistically to put it together but we made it happen and I’m really glad we did it.  We put in some long days but it was an amazing amount of fun.  I was a little skeptical going into the whole thing.  I’m not an actor.  I’m a guitarist and singer/songwriter.  But after I expressed that concern to our director he calmed me down.  “We know you’re not an actor. My job is to direct you. Just act natural.”  And off we went….

 The video is for the song “Peace and Glory”.  Track 3 off of the new album.  It’s a barn burner of a tune and it just screamed music video with the lyrical themes of carpe diem and the rock and roll guitar licks and all the fireworks from the band.  We filmed the video outside of New York City over Fourth of July weekend. Josh Eisenberg from Fridge Films directed the shoot along with a large crew.  Grips, gaffers, camera men, sound, lights, PAs, DAs……..you know………the usual Hollywood stuff.  I’ll write about the video in more detail soon but here’s a brief overview. The video takes place in an office.  Brian, Ben and myself are disgruntled workers who just can’t take it anymore.  “Step right up…..now’s your time…..take your chances……”  Also in the video is the boss who cracks the whip and a young secretary who has had enough of the office and wants to join the boys in the band for some fun.  Needless to say, chaos ensues.  The office gets trashed.  The boss gets put in the corner.  A romance develops. JMB turns the place upside down with a raging performance scene.  Guitars, fax machines, water coolers get destroyed and rock and roll seizes the day. There is definitely a nod to the movie “Office Space” here but as our director Josh says, “imagine Office Space meets Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher”.  Good Call. 

 It was definitely a lot of fun for us to make the video.  It reminded me a bit of the recording process of being in a studio all day.  There is a producer/director.  You work on some parts and then review them before moving onto the next piece.  It was really fun to work on something related to the music that is so creative and fun yet so completely different than the music itself.  We are looking forward to doing a follow up video and we are open to suggestions on themes or which songs you’d like to see a video for. 

 The video is currently being edited in post production and we hope to have its debut screening at our show at Blue Note in New York City on Friday July 30^.  More details and some sneak peaks will be coming very soon so stay tuned. 

 Thanks for listening.

 Talk soon, Jamie

We just finished up our show at the Cape Cod Melody Tent with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band.  WOW!!  It was a great sold out crowd, crazy venue (more on that in a bit) and amazing vibe and music.  We tried to hit the road early since it was the start of the Fourth of July weekend but we still managed to find the holiday traffic on Cape Cod.  We also found one of the most insane truck drivers of all time.  While stuck in traffic we apparently got a little too close for this truck driver’s taste as everyone crawled along the highway  He proceeded to lay on his mega truck horn for a few minutes .  After flashing a few “pleasantries” he decided to swerve across 2 lanes of traffic and block us in as well as 2 full lanes of traffic on I-95.  This dude was insane!  He proceeds to get out of the truck and starts walking towards us as we are pinned between his truck and the median.  This fool had no shoes on but was interested in starting something.   “You wanna go?”.  Before we figure out exactly what he wanted to talk about we gunned it past him along the median and headed on to Cape Cod.  It was a close call and I’m sure we could have taken him but no need to rough up our working hands on a holiday weekend.

The Cape Cod Melody Tent is the premier venue on Cape Cod.  It holds 2500 people and is set up a bit like a circus tent with everyone underneath.  The crazy part is that the stage is circular and sits in the middle of the entire crowd.  Oh…….and did I mention that the stage rotates 360 degrees?  It is a pretty cool set up for fans to see all the nuances.  It’s also pretty crazy to be playing a set and seeing fans swerving by you.  We played the set as an acoustic trio.  Acoustic guitar, upright bass and a trimmed down drum kit.  We busted out acoustic versions of Diamond Plate, Don’t Do Me That Way, Checkmate, Cupid’s Greatest Thief, Completely and Hold on Tight.  The fans really seemed to dig it.  The acoustic set is much more intimate and really lets the crowd get inside the music, the band dynamics and the vocals.  We met a bunch of fans during the break and a ton of them picked up some CDs new and old.  It is always great to see fans from previous shows return to hear us.  I love catching up with them and hearing what their favorite tunes are,  which summer festivals they are hitting or what they’ve been listening to lately.

Derek and I joked that the venue felt like entering a boxing ring.  I told him he should make his way to the stage with a towel on his head like Iron Mike.  He didn’t pull any boxing moves but damn did he and the band sound amazing.  The new group features him and his wife Susan Tedeschi  along with an allstar group including 2 drummers, 2 vocalists, and the Burbridge brothers.  They dropped Taj Mahals’ Corrina, Joe Cocker’s Space Cowboy and a ton of new material.  The music had a deep and heavy pocket all night along with beautiful vocals, great dynamics and amazing guitar work.  Derek was modest and said the band was really new and they weren’t really all the way there yet but damn….these guys are on fire.  Check them out this summer/fall on select dates. 

Thanks to all the fans that made it out from Boston, Nantucket, the Cape and beyond.  It was a blast playing with Derek and Susan at such a cool venue and we hope everyone had as great a kick off to the Fourth of July as we did. 

 Thanks for listening. 

Talk soon, Jamie

They say that everything is bigger in Texas.  I guess I’ve got to give them that.  You should have seen the 3 lbs cinnamon roll they served us at Lu Lu’s in San Antonio.  Or the size of the burgers they served us up at Sam’s Burger Joint.  Or the size of the Austin Tini’s we drank in Austin.  No matter how you slice it…..we ate (and drank) well in Texas.  And we played some great shows. 

We teamed up with England’s blues phenom guitarist Matt Schofield for the Texas tour.  He and his band can totally shred up some blues.  He reminded me a bit of Robben Ford with some SRV and Freddie King thrown in for good measure.  We accidentally bumped into Matt and the band on the night before the tour kicked off.  We were all in Austin on a night off and we all separately gravitated towards Antones.  Antones is a kick ass, old school blues club on 6^th street that was made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I’ve played there a bunch with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and it was fun to be back.  The woman at the door recognized me and we slid right in.  Chris Layton from SRV’s band was hosting a blues night and we kicked it with them, Matt and his band and Pinetop Perkins who was just chilling there by the men’s room selling some of his CDs. A legendary bluesman slinging CDs on an off night at someone else’s gig. Only in Austin!  During the day we walked around town in the summer heat.  Waterloo Records, which has got to be the coolest record store in the country behind Louisiana Music Factory was having an in store performance that we watched as they poured free beers off a keg. Keep Austin Weird!  We rocked the Saxon Pub that night which Bob Schneider plays every Monday.  It’s a cool little room and you know you’re in a good spot when Willie Nelson plays there. Sam’s Burger Bar in San Antonio was a beautiful room.  It is clean and pretty new and has great sound.  The show was presented by the San Antonio Blues Society and the people there were great.  We will definitely be back.  Dallas found us at the Levitt Pavilion which is a HUGE free outdoor concert series that is run there in the summer.  Despite the heat and Three Dog Night being the featured band the next night we had a GREAT crowd that we kept rocking late into the night. Great night! I invited Matt and his band to sit in with us on Otis Redding’s “Mr. Pitiful” for the encore.  It was fitting because we played Madison WI earlier in the tour which is where Otis Redding’s plane went down.  The last night of the Texas tour found us in Houston.  We played on the local radio station for “The Blues Hound” who is a great DJ.  3 acoustic songs.  Then it was off to the club.  We weren’t sure that we were in the right neighborhood when we pulled up.  It was very residential and it didn’t seem like the kind of place for a rock and roll bar.  Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar has got to be one of the coolest clubs we’ve played.  It reminds me of the kind of place one of my buddies would open if he wanted music at his tiki bar on the beach.  Big outdoor area and inside is a really vibey room covered in old guitars and psychedelic solar system wallpaper.  It was an “afternoon” show that kicked off around 6pm.  People were pumped up to rock out while the sun was still out on a Sunday and we loved every minute of it. 

 Thank you Texas.  We will be back.  I might not order the 3 lbs cinnamon roll again but I’ll definitely fire up some of Torchy’s Tacos and some Lone Star beers with you again soon. 

Next stop: Cape Cod with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band!

Thanks for listening. 

 Talk soon, Jamie

Welcome to the Blog Section.  The band and I will be updating this with news, stories, ramblings from the road, from the studio, from home, from the stage.  We hope its insightful, funny, interesting, musical and witty.  Maybe it is…..maybe it isn’t.   Either way…..it’s fun and we hope you enjoy it.  Here’s the first of many!  Enjoy the ride.  Jamie

As I write this I’m listening to Albert King and cruising down the highway somewhere in Texas.  We have the day off today and it’s been a good one so far.  I’ve been trying to be good about hitting the gym at the hotels on the road to keep in shape so I ran a few miles this AM, then took a dip in the pool and then it was time for lunch.  I’ve been wanting to grab some Kansas City BBQ for a while and today was the day.  We hit Bryants.  Its been around for 50 something years and needless to say…..it was outstanding.  The guys that work there are no bullshit.  You better know what you want to eat when you walk in the place or you’ll hear it from them.  But…..the ribs, the sweet tea, the BBQ sauce and the baked beans were all totally legit.  Good stuff and we will be back there for more food for sure. We played Kansas City last night with Trombone Shorty at a great outdoor venue called Crossroads.  It’s a big outdoor summer time venue and it reminds me of Stubbs in Austin a bit.  Big stage, big sound, great food and the fans dance it up on wood chips. Its like the coolest possible summer barbecue with the best bands in town. We were in Kansas City last month with Gregg Allman and it was great to be back again so soon.  Before the set we caught up with some friends and fans who saw us at the Kansas City Greg Allman show and it was great to trade memories. Trombone Shorty sounds great.  He has always played his ass off but he was singing a ton last night and he sounds great.  The new tune that he wrote with Lenny Kravitz was a highlight.  As for JMB…….we played mostly stuff off of our new album along with Garden of Thieves from American Heartache to close the set.  Peace and Glory was particularly raging last night.  That is gonna become more regular in the sets this summer.   

   Our next stop is Austin which always a good time.  The last time we were here was on tour with JJ Grey and Mofro.  Austin is hands down the coolest town in Texas.  Sooooo much music and a great vibe.  I’m looking forward to walking around on 6^th street, hanging out at the Stevie Ray Vaughn memorial and looking for a vintage guitar or amp.  It is supposed to be 97 degrees but that’s part of the vibe right? 

Thanks for listening.

Talk soon,  Jamie

Jamie McLean took to the streets dressed as cupid to spread a little love with the new song Cupids Greatest Thief. Now, Jamie McLean Band is giving a free copy of the song to make everyone’s day a little brighter.

Cupids Greatest Thief is off the album Completely, available April 13th, 2010

DOWNLOAD THE SONG FREE HERE