Friends, Music Fans, Countrymen….. or something like that. Greetings from SoGo HQ- we hope that this message finds you all doing well. Lots to tell you about so let me jump right in. First things first- just a FEW tourdates for April, here they are:
Fri Apr 1, Macon GA @ the Crazy Bull (9:30pm)
Sat Apr 2, Savannah GA @ Saddlebags (10pm)
Sun Apr 3, Atlanta GA @ Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Fest (3pm)
Thu Apr 7-Augusta GA @ Tbonz (9pm,Connor solo,)
Fri Apr 8- Charleston/IOP SC @ Windjammer (9:30pm, with Love & Theft)
Sat Apr 9- Hartwell GA @ Swamp Bar (9pm-midnight)
Sun Apr 10- Augusta GA @ Tbonz (9pm,Connor & Spirko, Masters wrap party)
Sat Apr 16- University of the South (9:30pm)
Now to the other stuff- As you may or may not know, we’ve been doing the Southern Gothic full time now since 2006, averaging upwards of 150 shows a year (some years well over 200). We’ve had some great moments- a #1 video for 4 weeks, a #1 album on Billboard, some HUGE shows (34K in Chicago in 2012 comes to mind!), and so many amazing nights across this beautiful country. There have been hard times too, and most especially 2015. We had a year long “Crisis Averted” tour, with multiple van break downs, the loss of our long time manager (he didn’t die, just retired, don’t worry!) as well a the lack of a full-time 5th member after saying goodbye to Elena Martin.
Our good friend Fiddlin’ Faye Petree did an amazing job filling in with us for the last year, and was kind enough to put aside a solo career, and several other bands that she played in and gave us her entire year in ’15. After dedicating so much time to us last year she has a lot of commitments to keep in 2016, a lot of work left on hold that needs finishing.
So with that in mind, Shawn, Spirko, Rashad and myself have decided it’s time for the Southern Gothic to go into Hibernation mode and allow ourselves all some room to work on the plethora of other projects, musical and otherwise, that we’ve not taken on over the last many years because SoGo was a full-time job. The 4 of us will still be doing shows as The Southern Gothic from time to time, and as often as possible we’ll have a friend at the 5th mic, whether it be Miss Faye, our good friend Cassandra who’s filled in for us, or another friend (with Spirko and I living in Nashville, our number of fiddler friends has DRAMATICALLY increased!).
You’ll also see lots of other projects from all of us, so please stay tuned to TheSouthernGothicMusic.com for lots of info on those! One such project will be the solo album from me (Connor) coming in late July. The Southern Gothic has recorded SO many demos over the last few years. Most of these are songs I wrote (many with Spirko) for the Southern Gothic like “Georgia Moonshine”, “Play with Fire”, “Wanna Drink” and “Brand New Me”. Well, I’ve decided to go back and finish these demos and release them as a solo album, though very ably backed up by the Southern Gothic on all the recordings. I’ll be touring with some friends (it’ll simply be billed as ‘Connor’) playing all these new tunes as well as some of your favorite SoGo/CCSG tunes. I’m hoping to start work immediately on the 2nd installment of that with one of my favorite Nashville producers for release in early 2017 as well & I’ll be trying out the even newer tunes on these dates as well. With any luck, the Southern Gothic will be manning the instruments on that album as well.
All of us want to thank each and every one of you for all your support over the years, and we hope you’ll stick with us in the next phase of our careers! The Southern Gothic is not over, just entering a new stage in our evolution. In the meantime, we hope to see LOTS of you in Georgia, Carolina & Tennessee over the next 2 & ½ weeks!
All our best!
Connor, Shawn, Spirko & Rashad
