St. Patrick's Day.

Loooong day. Fun though. It started at 7am The Daily Planet Morning Show (WPNH 100.1fm), where I played drinking song with Amy and Annie live on the radio. Annie made me a cup of tea that saved the day.

From there I went to Talullah's Tavern at Ragged Mountain. I played from 2:30 to 5:30. The ski conditions were good, and there was a nice turnout. And then it was off to The Lucky Dog in Plymouth.

I was set up and playing at 7, and by 9 I was starting to fade. But then Finn showed up with his fiddle, and breathed new life into the whole night. He and I played the rest of the night together and it was great. The bar filled in near the end, and they wanted us to keep going at 11, but I had to pack it in.

As usual, it took a while to get home and get to sleep. But I'm well-enough rested for the next stop; I'm hosting the open mic night at Shooter's in Belmont tonight. Tomorrow night I've got a solo show at Shooter's as well. Then... no shows this weekend. Normally that would trouble me. Not this time.

I'm on the radio.

Here's a couple songs from this morning's live performance on The Daily Planet Morning Show.

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Tonight I'm playing with (Who Are The) Brain Police at the Pit Road Lounge in Concord. Come on out and start the weekend with some LOUD NOISES!

I'm in the paper.

Today the Concord Monitor ran an article about me and the new CD of drinking songs. You can read the whole thing right here. Here's an excerpt:

Jim Tyrrell is a born storyteller - which is good, since he spends much of his life telling stories in song. So as he tells the story, he was a local guy performing regularly at bars and clubs throughout New Hampshire, offering a mix of original, often humorous songs, and sometimes-raucous cover tunes.
Then one time he got booked at a pub in Plymouth around St. Patrick's Day, and they asked if he could work an Irish song or two into his repertoire. He said he could.

"Before I knew it, the show was being advertised as 'four hours of Celtic Music' featuring me," Tyrrell said. "It was a brutal surprise - I was suddenly on the hook."

Tyrrell took on the challenge though, learning a couple of traditional Irish tunes and then - because he is equal parts writer and performer - he wrote himself some songs in the style of the traditional tunes.

The result of that almost-mishap is Tyrrell's CD Time For Another Round: Gold Edition, his collection of drinking songs. He'll perform many tunes from the Another Round collection at shows in the coming weeks, including a visit to The Pit Road Lounge in Concord tomorrow night.

Okay, to be fair, the Pit Road gig is with (Who Are The) Brain Police, and there won't be many drinking songs there. If you want to hear the drinking songs, come out to Lago next Monday, or to Ragged Mountain or The Lucky Dog on St. Pat's.

And there's a couple other things in the article that don't exactly tell the story the way I'd have wanted to tell it. (Most notably, I acutally think there's a great wealth of storytelling songwriters in the area, and you can find links to many of them over there on the right.) But that's the press for you. And for the most part, Victoria Shouldis did a very nice job of summing up what I do.

Another double.

A double on a Monday? Sure, why not. It started at Giuseppe's, where I had intended to do a three-hour piano show. In the end, I couldn't resist bringing the guitar in as well. It was a real nice setup for doing some loop-based stuff. I played that new (to me) Cope tune and a few others. Mostly it was piano though. My buddy w.c.pelon celebrated his birthday there, and a lot of the old crew came out for the show. (I used to play there about, oh, 20 years ago.) It was really nice to be back there.

I finished up at 9 and went across the street to Lago. I was worried about Linden's singer/songwriter open mic. Last week he played the whole thing by himself, and if that happens for a few weeks in a row then open mikes tend to shut down. And his is too good for that; they feature original music exclusively (a rule that is bent slightly sometimes, but not by me. heh). Anyway, I figured I should go and show my support, even if I was too late to catch the event itself.

Not only was I not too late, the place was packed with musicians and patrons. They'd been going since about 5:30. It was great to see. I hadn't intended to play, but Linden made me do a short set at the end. And it was really fun, because all the songs I played were originals, and they were all audience requests from different people. That's a first. I guess that means I'm famous, and I can stop now. Phew!

If you're a New Hampshire songwriter you owe it to yourself to check out the open mike at Lago. You can do it right now by listening to the weekly podcast (last night's show will be up by Friday).

No shows for the next few days, so I'm catching up on a few things (like sleep).

The weekend (with links galore).

I played with No Limitz at The Country Cow on Friday, and we got to do a sweet thing. We invited Chris Downing and his girlfriend Amanda to come up and dance. Then we played Amanda by Boston, and he proposed to her. Congrats, you two! Later, they each got up and did songs with the band, which they may or may not remember, given the lateness of the hour. Heh.

Saturday was my last show at The William Tell. They're closing down at the end of the month (until December, anyway). That's a shame; it's a good venue for what I do, and they had planned to book me for most Saturdays through the summer. Got to pound the pavement again. But that's always true, I guess. Man, I need an agent.

On Sunday morning I had a nice phone interview with a reporter from the Concord Monitor about my drinking songs. They're going to run a story in the paper this week (Thursday, maybe). Then it was off to Ragged Mountain to play a solo show at Tallulah's Tavern. It was a smaller crowd than usual, so I tried out a few new songs. It's good to take some chances on stage. And for the most part, they all worked out. I don't think anybody noticed the ones that didn't. I came away from that show with a nice arrangement of a Citizen Cope song (Night Becomes Day), and I'll probably be doing that one often.

From Ragged Mountain, I headed over to Giuseppe's in Meredith, where they were having a massive show to benefit their scholarship fund. I didn't play, but I got to see Joel Cage and Justin Jaymes and the Crunchy Western Boys. There's some good talent in these parts, folks. Don Watson was there as well, and although I didn't get to see him perform, I was able to discuss with him the details of a benefit coming up in April. I'll post it on the schedule once my time slot is confirmed.

It was about 7:30pm at this point, and not being ready to go home, I drove to Campton to The Sunset Grill for their Sunday night open mike. Jackie Lee hosts that one, and it's like hanging out in the living room listening to your friends play tunes. Except there's a big row of beer taps in there too. Knowing it was my last stop, I allowed myself a couple rounds and hung out. I played a little guitar, some bass, and a couple piano songs. I wish my schedule allowed me to book a regular show there, it's a great room. One of the first I ever played.

Tonight I'm back at Giuseppe's, playing a solo show from 6-9pm. I think it's gonna be all piano; they have a digital baby grand there that sounds veeeeeeery nice. I can't remember the last time I did an all-piano night. If there's time afterward, I may head across the street to Lago to catch the tail end of their singer/songwriter night.

This morning's radio show.

I visited The Daily Planet Morning Show (WPNH 100.1fm) again this morning. Here's a clip from the show. I played three songs, but got recordings of only two.

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I'll be there again next Friday morning, and on St. Patrick's Day too. Cheers!

A busier weekend than expected.

I played Saturday night at The William Tell. It had been a slow day there, but the bar picked up nicely as the show went on. I'll be there again next week, but the sad news from them is that they're closing from April to December, and just doing special events and functions. I'd been planning to do a good many Saturdays there over the summer, so I'm scrambling to fill some holes in the schedule now.

On Sunday I took a ride over to Sandwich to see Audrey Drake play at Mocha Rizing. She and her friend Harmony Marckey put on a fantastic show. Audrey played a bunch of songs from her new CD, and did a couple gorgeous covers. Her take on Sade's 'The Sweetest Taboo' was better than the original.

While I was there, I got a call asking if I could host the open mike at The Sunset Grill that night. So it was in the car and off to Campton. Like the show the night before, it started off slow and ended up turning into a rowdy good time. I don't get to play the Grill nearly as often as I'd like to. It's one of the first rooms I ever played, and it's one of the coziest bars I get to visit.

And now, it's back to the grind. I'm working on booking another drinking songs show or two between now and St. Partick's Day. I'm putting together a little 'tour' of sorts at the end of the month that will be taking me down the east coast. And I'm peddling copies of Time For Another Round: Gold Edition, which can be ordered by clicking the snazzy link over there on the right. Cheers!