New Single "Gullwing", Summer Shows, Other Notables

A car song, specially mixed for the stereo on your 1955 Mercedes 300-SL

Hi friends, here’s to the new spring season. May it bring you perfect loaves of home baked sourdough, sweatless bike rides over the Manhattan Bridge on sunny days, plenty of time to read, write, stretch, meditate, practice guitar, practice Italian, yell out the window, whatever you need to do to keep your head on straight and your kids in school. So getting down to business…

I think of Gullwing as the A-side to Palmetto (remember Palmetto? released last January?). They were recorded on the same evening in October 2023 with John Fatum playing drums and Rob Jost on bass. This one is a car song, a coming of age story, a heartfelt tale of fatherhood and loss, and a bit of a banger (if I allow myself to dip into the parlance and simultaneously toot my own horn). Surely that has a lot to do with Dennis Lichtman, who asked me to contribute a track to his own record “Secret Workshop,” and six ink-stained months later, we had this song, co-written together. I encourage you to listen to both his and my versions and make a sort of mental composite of the best qualities of each. As always, bandcamp is the artist-friendly way to listen and buy music on-line, although I’d certainly understand if you take the spotify, or tidal, or apple music route. They say it helps feed the algorithm. Like a sourdough starter.

Where was I? Ahh… live shows. Not as many as I’d like. I seem to find myself without a band these days, but trying to make the best of it. Certainly enjoying playing and singing with Liz Hanley, and we’ve got a few dates this week in Boston and New York, along with my old Murphy Beds colleague Eamon O’Leary. Liz has a new record coming soon and she was kind enough to enlist the ‘Beds as her backing band. I’ll be trumpeting once it’s available.

Come May, I’m off to Italy, my homeland from anotha’ muhta’, and you surely won’t hear me complaining about it. I’m playing solo shows, teaching a guitar masterclass in Rome, hosting a Grateful Dead workshop, playing Irish music with Athena Tergis, a batch of duo shows with Johnny Irion, and a rake of tribute concerts, with more TBA. Once that’s over and I’m back in the USA there’s the camps- always the camps, thank goodness, for my mind rests easy when there are big week-long chunks of color on the calendar. Miles of Music, Catskill Irish Arts Week, Ashokan Guitar Camp… Maybe this is the summer you brush up on some guitar techniques and eat steam table buffet with 100 of your new closest friends?

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Tour Dates

Tuesday, 4/16 - Brooklyn, NY - House of Love Concerts - The Murphy Beds (Eamon O'Leary and Jefferson Hamer) with The Onlies - https://houseofloveconcerts.tumblr.com/

Shows with Liz Hanley and Eamon O'Leary - celebrating new Liz Hanley record featuring The Murphy Beds as backing band!

Wednesday, 4/17 - Somerville, MA - Brian O'Donovan Legacy series at The Burren - Liz Hanley, Eamon O'Leary, Jefferson Hamer - Buy Tickets

Friday, 4/19 - New York, NY - Lethe Lounge - Liz Hanley, Eamon O'Leary, Jefferson Hamer - RSVP (lethelounge@gmail.com)

Singer Songwriter Stuff

Sunday, 4/28 - Brooklyn, NY - Pete's Candy Store (10:00pm) - Performing a showcase set at Leah Tash's Songwriter Soiree

May Italy tour! More dates TBA, check website for updates.

Friday, 5/10 - Rome, IT - 21:30 (9:30) - La Quinta Corda (owned by daughters of Mariano De Simone) with "Bright Phoebus" (Celtic Folk Songs and Ballads) - https://www.laquintacorda.it

Saturday, 5/11 - Rome, IT - 17:30 (5:30) - Teaching a Guitar Masterclass - https://www.laquintacorda.it

Saturday, 5/11 - Rome, IT - 21:30 (9:30) - La Quinta Corda (owned by daughters of Mariano De Simone) with "On the Porch" (Giovanni Longo and Matteo) - https://www.laquintacorda.it

Sunday, 5/12 - Rome, IT - 17:30 (5:30) - il Fusto Pub - Grateful Dead song learning workshop

N. Italy Dates with Johnny Irion, Andrea Parodi, and more:

17/5 CHIARI (BS) - ADMR RADIO

18/5 COMO - BELLEZZE INTERIORI - tribute to TOM PETTY with Alex Kid Gariazzo

21/5 BRESCIA - DA CIRO

22/5 TANGLED UP IN BLUE - tribute to Dylan with many artists - VENUE TBA

23/5 BOLZANO - PIPPO STAGE

24/5 LEVIZZANO RANGONE (MO) - TEMPO LENTO FESTIVAL tribute to Dylan with Carlo Feltrinelli, Riccardo Bertoncelli, Jesper Lindell

25/5 ANDRATE (TO) - SECRET SHOW

26/5 FIGINO SERENZA (CO - TOWNES VAN ZANDT FESTIVAL

27/5 CERMENATE (CO) - party at AMANDLA

28/5 COMO - GLORIA - SHANE MACGOWAN & SINEAD O'CONNORS NIGHT

29/5 BESNATE (VA) - STORIE DI CORTILE with Andrea Parodi

Back stateside:

June 8-14 - East Meredith, NH - Miles of Music Camp - teaching songs, guitar, who knows what else at this amazing island retreat - https://www.milesofmusiccamp.com/

Sunday, June 23 - Brooklyn, NY (Location TBA) Operation Gig - pop up front porch concert series in Ditmas Park

Some Fleetwood Mac music (doing my best Lindsay Buckingham) with Back 2 Mac:

Friday, June 28 - Shelbyville, IN - Blue River Memorial Park

Sunday, June 30 - Louisville, KY - Mellwood Tavern

Some Grateful Dead music with Dead to the Core (Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, Wendy Sassafras Ramsey, Steve Roy):

Friday, July 12 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim - Dead to the Core, an acoustic celebration of the Grateful Dead

Saturday, July 13 - Exeter, NH - Word Barn - Dead to the Core, an acoustic celebration of the Grateful Dead

Back to back weeks of teaching in the Catskills!

July 14-20 - East Durham, NY - Catskills Irish Arts Week - teaching songs (Child Ballads), guitar, mandolin - https://www.catskillsirishartsweek.com/

July 22-26 - Olivebridge, NY - Ashokan Acoustic Guitar Camp - teaching right-hand techniques, song accompaniment, more! - http://www.ashokancenter.org

August 15 -18 - West coast Irish tour with Athena Tergis (fiddle) and Christy Leahy (accordion) TBA

picture of Jordan Moretti and me, taken by Beret Strong in Boulder, CO, sometime in the mid-1920’s

If you’ve made it this far, bless you. Always happy to hear from friends old and new. See you out there.

Jefferson

http://www.jeffersonhamer.com