Chi McClean

My mobile setup half inside, half outside at Landmark Vineyards.

I have been performing off and on at Landmark Vineyards for around a year and half and it’s always a really fun time. The folks there have become good friends and have been so tremendously supportive of my music and my career that it feels more like a good hang out/catch up session than a performance.

From 1:00pm until about 5:00pm, I played a super extended, solo acoustic set for the wine tasting crew this past Saturday. While we were anticipating a warm sunny day, mother nature did not entirely cooperate, so after a false start outside in the winery courtyard, we made the call to bring it inside and found a way to split the sound system, just in case it warmed up again outside (see picture above). It turned out great, there was a wonderful, revolving crowd coming in and out throughout the afternoon, and it was just a great, mellow, Saturday afternoon all around.

At the end of my set, I hung around for bit to chat it up with some guests, the staff, and catch up on what’s been happening up in the Kenwood, CA area. Sounded like business as usual (always looking up in those parts, it seems) and after a few laughs, memories, and well wishes, I packed it up, and continued on down the road.

Huge thanks are in order to my friends Nick, Brendan, Don, Lexi, and the rest of the crew for hosting me at Landmark Vineyards all this time. I always have such a terrific time up there and I can’t wait to get back there later this summer. In the mean time, be sure to swing by their property the next time you’re in Sonoma/Kenwood, CA and say “hi” for me while you taste some of the best wine around.

After riding on a pretty big high from the album release event at Café du Nord in San Francisco, CA the night before, I drove up to Sacramento, CA to perform at a cool, little listening room called Naked Lounge. I had played in Sacramento before at a couple different rock clubs, but this was a different vibe: quiet, full-on-listening room experience, terrific sound, dark, and a great staff running the joint. Upon arrival, the sound engineer (A.J.) and I caught up for a bit, chatted it up on music, the local scene, etc. and had plenty of time to run a great sound check. To be honest, though, the acoustics in this room were so good that, if people were quiet, you could play acoustic and still have a terrific show. Seriously. In fact, for the last song of my set (“Build Me Up”), I unplugged, moved the mic over, and walked to the front of the stage and performed purely acoustic. Kind of fun!

The West Nile Ramblers shredding the stage after my set.

I performed for about an hour or so, then packed it up and chatted it up with some friends and fans while The Souterrain took the stage and did it up… These guys were outstanding. I was totally impressed. After them, The West Nile Ramblers (pictured above) blew everyone away with some amazing energy, songs, musicianship, stage presence, and vibe. I was so inspired after listening to these guys. Definitely check them out if you have time. I know they’re on Facebook, Twitter, etc. so get on it and track ‘em down. These dudes (and that fiddle player, in particular) are going places. Let them take you with ‘em on that musical ride. And, check out that guitar player’s amp setup if you see them! He plays through an old phonograph speaker system! So retro, so slick, so cool… VINTAGE.

Big thanks to A.J., Jeremy, and the rest of the gang at Naked Lounge for hosting an amazing night of music. I had a ton of fun, really enjoyed playing their stage, and meeting some good music folks along the way. A few days later, it sounds as though the venue dug it, too. Here’s the sound engineer’s review of the night that was forwarded to me from their talent buyer: “Chi McClean 3/9/2012: Singer/songwriter, southern rock style. One of the most musically gifted acoustic acts seen here. Loved him.”

Wow! Thanks, guys!

Performing with the band at Café du Nord in San Francisco, CA last night. Photo: Deb Follingstad

What a night! Huge thanks to my friends, fans and family that came out to the official CD release event and performance for my new recording, “A Thing Or Three“, last night at San Francisco, California’s Café du Nord. Even though it was a solo acoustic release, I figured I’d bring in the reinforcements for this show, considering it was to be my last performance in San Francisco for a little while. Why not tear it up a little…

In case you haven’t heard, I’m moving to Nashville, TN for a spell, and this was the big send-off. To celebrate, my friends Cedricke Dennis (guitar), Dan “D-Lucca” Parenti (bass), Rich Armstrong (trumpet, percussion, background vocals), and Tommie Bradford (drums) joined me on stage for a power hour of some of my favorite tunes from the new release. I hadn’t played with a band in some time (at full volume, at least), and it was a hoot… yes, my ears are hating me right now from standing right in front of Tommie’s crash cymbals, but the energy on stage was palpable and I don’t think any of us up there wanted it to end. I couldn’t have asked for a tighter group of musicians to help send me off and I wish I could pack ‘em all up in my Tacoma and drive ‘em to Tennessee with me! Alas… I’ll have to wait until the next time I return to San Francisco to get together, I’m afraid.

Café du Nord, San Francisco, CA.

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to my friends at Café du Nord for helping to put together the show and making sure everything ran smoothly from start to finish. It’s always a real pleasure to perform on stage at this iconic venue, and last night was such a joy. Also, I have to give some serious props to my friend, sometimes co-writer, and wonderful singer, songwriter, and musician, Erica Sunshine Lee. She and her band hit the stage after my set and brought the house down with her down-home country style. Big ups to the boys of Windy Hill who closed out the night with their traditional, foot-stompin’ bluegrass. It was a delight to hear them and a great way to wrap up the evening.

In case you missed the show, here's the set.

Tonight, it’s time to continue this run of performances to Nashville, TN with a stop at Naked Lounge (Downtown). It’s a terrific acoustic venue in downtown Sacramento, CA and I’m really looking forward to playing a solo acoustic set. The cover is just $5.00 and it’s open to all ages, so come on out and let’s celebrate another week gone by and have one last hurrah before I continue on down the road. Doors open at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8:30pm, so come on down, Sacramento!

"A Thing Or Three", my latest release, will be "officially" released at Café du Nord in San Francisco, CA on Thursday, March 8th, 2012. Tickets on sale now!

I am so, so pleased to announce the official CD release for my new album, “A Thing Or Three”, and my farewell performance at Café du Nord in San Francisco, CA on Thursday, March 8th, 2012. Café du Nord is one of my favorite venues just about anywhere, and I can’t think of a better place to officially release all ten tracks from my new record with a cast of really talented musicians backing me up on stage. Terrific sound, a really neat, speak-easy vibe, great food, and an awesome, saloon-style bar. You just can’t miss with this place!

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW HERE for just $12.00 in advance. If there are any left on the night of the show, they will be available while supplies last for $15.00 at the box office, so secure your spot at the show, click on over, and buy ‘em now, won’t ya? This will be my last performance for a while in San Francisco as I’ll be moving to Nashville, TN for a spell, so if you’ve been meaning to come on out but just haven’t been able to piece it together, consider this fair warning as your last chance to catch the action before it’s gone…

Also on the bill for the night will be country singer-songwriter Erica Sunshine Lee who will be releasing her fourth studio album, “I’m Still Me”, with her full band. I’ve heard a preview of her new album, and I’ve had the good fortune of hearing her band perform live several times and I can truly tell you that they are going to blow the doors off this joint.

Following Erica Sunshine Lee are some new friends, Windy Hill Bluegrass, who play some of the best sounding bluegrass I’ve heard in a long while. Native Bay Area folks, these guys have won all sorts of awards from traditional music organizations, conferences, tradeshows, and more. They are truly a foot-stompin’, hand-clappin’ good time and will be closing out the night, so bring yer dancin’ shoes, people.

It’s been a terrific run here in San Francisco, CA for many a year, but it’s time I move on and try something new for a bit. I’ll hope to see you all for one last night of tomfoolery and music this coming Thursday, March 8th, 2012 before I hit the road and tour my way south, then east to Music City USA. Thank you for the support, encouragement, couches, floors, showers, food, good times, smiles, and help along the way, guys. I’ll miss you all and will hope to see you at the big show at Café du Nord and, then, in Nashville any time ya want to visit!

Michael Romanowski doing a rough mix on some live material we recorded last night at Coast Recorders.

I had a ton of fun last night hanging out with my buddy Michael Romanowski at Coast Recorders in San Francisco, CA experimenting with some video and audio setups. We took a really quick take on a few tunes from the new solo, acoustic album, “A Thing Or Three“, and then made a quick, rough mix, bounced it, then split for the evening so I could merge the audio and video files together (uh, that was hard… yikes!) and get ‘em online.

Pretty much what I was staring at all day long today: the learning curve is slow for this one in iMovie!

It turns out I only got through two out of four of them as of 6:00pm PST today… yeah, it might be sleep deprivation, it might be me not picking up the iMovie stuff, but whatever it was, I was as slow as molasses. Ah, well! I’ve got a few ideas for next time to speed things up, and a few thoughts on audio and video quality that I’ll have to experiment with, but in the mean time, it’s just fun to play around and get some new material up online.

Whenever I’m back in the San Francisco Bay Area, I always enjoy an opportunity to perform as part of the Bread & Roses concert series. This non-profit, 501(c)3 organization is “dedicated to uplifting the human spirit by providing free, live, quality shows to people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society.” I have performed a number of concerts with this organization and, to be honest, I’m not sure who gets more out of the shows – me or the folks I perform for at these various institutions! It’s truly an amazing experience to share the gift of music with people in these, oftentimes, less-than-ideal situations and see how just a simple concert can change their day, bring a smile to their face or, in more extreme circumstances, get someone moving who typically hasn’t (or can’t) for a variety of reasons on a daily basis. We all have fun, end up singing and dancing together, and pretty much agree that it all ends too soon.

Earlier today, I performed for a group of patients in a rehabilitation center at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, CA. All sorts of folks from all walks of life came to listen and it was a hoot running through my original material, and then taking requests from some of the older folks who were interested in hearing some Motown, country, and classic rock. In particular, there was a terrific response to my interpretation of Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” from some of the women in the room… Good singing, ladies!

If you are a musician, or just a fan of the power of music, please consider donating your time to this wonderful organization. I fully support what they do and encourage everyone to take a few minutes to learn a little more about their mission and how each of you can help. Check out their website at www.breadandroses.org or call them at (415) 945-7120 to learn more, and tell ‘em I sent ya!

Leftovers from the night before, kept cool in the passenger seat all night, sure make for a good breakfast! Mm... Bacon cheeseburger!!

After a wonderful time performing at Crab Landing in Half Moon Bay, CA, I woke up at my buddies’ place (thanks, Tim and Jenn!) in Moss Beach, CA, just in time to get dressed, clean up, pack up my gear, and hit the road up to wine country. It was a beautiful day for a drive, but I had to be there by noon to set up for a 1:00pm start, so there wasn’t too much time to stop and smell the roses, if ya know what I mean. Alas, it was hurry, hurry, hurry up the CA-1, then the 101, then the 37, 121, then 29 up to Napa, CA to set up and rock for a few hours at Falcor Winery.

Some unsuspecting bystanders wondering what all this gear was about. Little did they know... I would be melting faces in mere minutes.

Falcor Winery makes some pretty amazing wines, and plenty of ‘em. This particular event was a wine release celebration for their club members and about 100 or so of them descended upon the facility for some live acoustic music, great food, fun times and, of course, wine tasting. I might have missed the fine print when I booked this gig, because I ended up playing, off and on, for about five (count ‘em: 5) hours. It was a marathon of a gig, for sure, but the crowd was lots of fun, I had my PA system dialed, and the weather was unseasonably warm. Fueled by an amazing steak, potatoes, salad, and more from the winery’s head chef (and, of course, the leftover bacon cheeseburger I had in my car from the night before), I kept rockin’ with the help of a little Throat Coat tea to keep the pipes workin’. Make no mistake, five hours is a LONG gig for a solo act, but I finished with a smile, sold a bunch of copies of my latest release, signed up a ton of new fans to my mailing list, and met some really good folks from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Big, big thanks to my friends at Falcor Winery for inviting me to the event and taking such good care of me… we had fun, didn’t we?!

My host from the night before, Tim Clark, showcasing his new found love for the bandura. This baby has 55 strings! What the?!

I nearly forgot… the night before, after my gig in Half Moon Bay, my host, Tim Clark (pictured above), whipped out his bandura for a little house concert performance. This thing is incredible. It has 55 strings, is played/plucked with two hands (the left plays the bass notes, the right plays the treble notes, sort of like a piano), and it weighs a ton. It sounds really cool and calls to mind some old Eastern European scene from a creepy movie (for me, anyway). Tim played his interpretation of “With Or Without You” written by U2… pretty neat to hear it on this crazy instrument! I gave it whirl and, to be honest, I totally flopped… Tim is an engineer and I’m pretty sure you need some high level aptitude for mathematics to comprehend how to approach this thing. Me? I was told there would be no math… Go, Tim!

Back in hiding in the San Francisco Bay Area, trying to lay low and out of sight for a while to catch up on some sleep and get ready to hit the road again in early March!

So, that’s pretty much it… the end of the road for this little run of fifteen (15) shows along the California coast. It was a ton of fun, a bit of a scramble at times, filled with lots of adventure (and misadventure), a couple lessons along the way, and more than a few laughs. Long story short: I can’t wait to do it all again in March! Until then, I’m laying low and getting ready for my OFFICIAL CD RELEASE EVENT at CAFÉ du NORD in San Francisco, CA on Thursday, March 8th, 2012. I’ll be officially releasing my solo, live-in-studio, acoustic CD, “A Thing Or Three” with some really special guest musicians on stage with me that night. Plus, for each of you all that makes it out, I’ll have a unique, parting gift as a take-away that you won’t want to miss! Oh, yeah… did I mention, I’m moving to Nashville, TN?! Yep… so this is the LAST TIME you San Francisco Bay Area folks will be able to see me perform for a little while. It’s gonna be a big night. Be sure to scratch off that date on your calendars NOW and let’s have some fun. Tickets will be available for advance purchase SOON, and they will sell out, so stay tuned right here and on my SHOWS PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE for details on how, when, and where you can get yours so you don’t miss out. Also joining the bill, and releasing her fourth studio album, will be country singer/songwriter Erica Sunshine Lee. If you haven’t heard of her yet, you will… she is terrific and will make a country music fan out of you with just one listen. Trust me.

Thanks, California, for your support these past two weeks I’ve been on the road! You are beautiful… come around and see me again soon! xo

Somewhere on Route 101 North high-tailing it to Half Moon Bay, CA from Santa Barbara, CA.

After waking up refreshed in my buddy Mark’s mountain retreat somewhere in the hills above Santa Barbara, CA, I packed up my rig again and set off down the road towards my next gig in Half Moon Bay, CA at a neat little spot that’s developed a cool music schedule: Crab Landing. I had JUST enough time to grab a bite to eat and make a few rest stops along the way so, after about six hours of driving, I rolled into the parking lot outside Crab Landing, unloaded my gear again, set up, sound checked, and settled into three + hours of acoustic music for a really fun group of folks.

A quick shot after setting up my gear, just before the performance.

I had so much fun that I forgot to take a break. By the time I wrapped up, I looked at my phone and realized that I had just performed for about 3.5 hours straight. What?! In any case, I suppose time does fly when you’re having fun… Big thanks to my friends at Crab Landing for hosting me for a terrific evening and for providing a killer meal afterwards! Check this thing out! (See below.)

The pay off after the gig... Mm... Steak...

I’ll be back at this cool little spot sometime later in February, so stay tuned, Half Moon Bay, and spread the word! Until then, have fun, be safe, and take good care. Thanks for your support and see ya again soon!

After a terrific evening evening down in San Diego, CA performing at House of Blues, I had a busy day ahead of me: one meeting in El Cajon, CA in the morning, another in Los Angeles, CA around lunch time, and then a pick-up gig in Santa Barbara, CA at 7:00pm to help me work my way back up north towards San Francisco, CA. So, with one meeting down, I found my favorite Mexican restaurant in El Cajon (Emma’s) and settled into one of their famous (to me, anyway) California burritos. This thing was chock full of carne asada, guacamole, salsa, melted cheese, and French fries! It was a pretty serious way to kick off the morning! (See below.)

A classic California burrito at Emma's in El Cajon, CA. Mm...

When I finally made it to Santa Barbara around 6:00pm, I still was full… hilarious. So, I checked in with my friend Dana who runs this cool wine bar and tapas joint in town and we chatted it up for while. Whenever I have a free evening on my schedule and I happen to be in town, I’m always sure to swing by Dana’s place. It’s got such a cool vibe, a great wine list, delicious small plates, and is just the perfect spot for an impromptu performance on the run. So, I set up my gear and proceeded to rock. A couple good friends made their way down, more than a few locals came on by, and we all had a blast. About mid way through my performance, a good buddy and a terrific songwriter, Mark Okrusko, showed up for a surprise visit. I gladly surrendered my Taylor 814ce for a few songs and got a chance to listen to some of Mark’s newest material. Awesome! This dude can really play…

Mark Okrusko, hopefully, adding a little mojo to my Taylor 814ce. This guy shreds...

After a few hours, I wrapped it up, packed up my gear, and joined Mark for some sushi downtown at this neat little spot that, sadly, I can never remember the name of, no matter how hard I try. Either way, it was terrific. Salmon, tuna, yellow tail, shrimp… amazing! Even better when Mark was treating… Later on, I made the trek up the mountain behind Santa Barbara to crash out in a guest room at Mark and his girlfriend’s pad. He built this entire thing by hand, all by himself, and it’s quite a piece of work. I’d show it to you, but I wouldn’t want to give away the location as Mark enjoys his peace and quiet way up on the hill.

Santa Barbara, CA and the Pacific Ocean in the background from the hills behind town.

Driving down into town the next morning for some breakfast, I snapped a quick shot of the view from his home. (Above.) Incredible! Another great time in one of my favorite little surf towns along California… Hoping to come back and visit/perform again soon. Until then, take it easy, Santa Barbara, and stay loose.

Hanging with some new fans from Guam along with Josh Damigo after the show last night in San Diego, CA.

Last night, I scrambled down to San Diego, CA through rush hour traffic from Los Angeles, CA to play an acoustic set at House of Blues as part of my buddy Josh Damigo’s residency. Between the traffic, navigating the downtown one way streets, and a parking situation worse than San Francisco, CA, I made it with just enough time to hit the head, tune up, grab some water, and take the stage. Perfect.

I played for about an hour and ran through my favorite original tunes along with (since I was at a “blues” club, after all) a cover of “The Wind Cries Mary” and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”. It was hotter than you know what up there on stage, but I had an absolute blast. The sound was killer through the monitors, and the front of house system was really well tuned. Cool lighting, neat artwork and vintage stuff on the walls, and just a fun crowd. After I wrapped up, I sold 12 or 13 copies of my new recording, “A Thing Or Three“, signed ALL 12 of them (that was flattering), then just had some fun chatting it up with my new friends and fans from San Diego, CA; Fort Wayne, IN; Guam; Tampa, FL; Atlanta, GA; and more. I got some really moving compliments after my set and just was all smiles for the rest of the night. Thanks, everybody!

Josh Damigo playing a killer set at House of Blues in San Diego, CA to close out the night.

At the end of the night, Josh Damigo wrapped things up with a really nice selection of his own tunes and one or two Bob Dylan covers. As usual, he sounded great and the crowd loved him. If you’re in the San Diego area, be sure to swing by House of Blues for the next two Wednesdays this February (2/8 and 2/15) and catch him on this intimate acoustic stage while you still can. He’s blowing up, and it’s just a matter of time before these acoustic sets will be a thing of the past.

Big thanks to House of Blues for hosting this terrific night, an even bigger thanks to the fans and friends (old and new) that came out to support the show, and way to go, Josh! It was an awesome evening and a great way to conclude my time in Southern California this go around. See ya’ll again real soon!