Michael Gutierrez-May
12/1/2025: Well, no Grammy nomination. It was a long shot but hey, why not and again thanks to Linda Marks for the nomination. I performed yesterday at Oliver Ames Memorial Hall in Easton with Linda, Tom Maynard and Chris Steele and we had a good time with our ISSA Singer-Songwriter Showcase. I am headed to New Orleans for the first time in my life at the end of the week. Then I will be traveling home to VA for Christmas. I am still working on my Movable Algebra script/treatment with Rod Moscoso. I am having an MRI to look at my pancreas on Tuesday evening of next week. And I will be starting cardiac rehab at the end of December. Slowing down, indeed but I still plan to be active with my music and my writing throughout the next year. There were a lot of losses this past year including the shocking loss of Bob Franke who had recently relocated to Guatemala for retirement. I took a songwriting class with Bob about 15 or so years ago at Porter Square in Cambridge and it was a good experience, both to learn from Bob and to network with the other songwriters who were part of the class, including Kirsten Maxwell and Carolyn Waters. During 2026, two of my goals will be to go to NERFA and also to go to a songwriting workshop, possibly with Gretchen Peters in Nashville. Lots of room for creative progress in the coming year.
9/26/2025: Thank you, Linda Marks. My album Light Still Shines The Same has been submitted for consideration for Best Alternative Album for the 2026 Grammies! The submission itself is a dream come true. Getting an actual nomination would be remarkable, out of left field to be sure but as I have read, there is everything to be gained by putting your work up for consideration. A couple other things have happened: my song Destiny was part of the August/September Folk Now compilation published by Hudson Harding Music. I performed as part of the Jamaica Plain Porchfest in September,2025 and in December, I will be part of an ISSA Songwriter Showcase titled The Wisdom Of Lived Years in Arlington, MA. Some developments are happening with my screenplay projects but more news on this later in the year. My recent health issues will be slowing me down and retirement in some form is also on the horizon. I'm doing a monthly newsletter now so please, stay tuned!
6/15/2025: I have two performances scheduled for July, 2025. The first is a Songwriter In The Round appearance at the Revival Cafe and Kitchen in Watertwon, MA as part of a songwriter series sponsored by Erin Bonnie in the morning on Sunday, July 13th at 10am. The second is another appearance at the Fenway Community Health Center as part of an ISSA Boston/ Northeast Songwriter Showcase featuring Linda Marks, Chris Steele, Craig Sonnenfeld and myself on Thursday, July 31st from 6:30-8:30pm. It was fun last time and it'll be great to be there once again. In other news, I got a nice press release/album review from Eric Alper for Light Still Shines The Same which you can read under the News heading here as well as a mention in his daily press column, a feature in the Canadian Beats magazine, a feature in Cashbox Canada and a write up in Find Your Sounds over the past couple weeks. I was also featured as part of a WCUW-FM benefit in Worcester on Sunday, May 18th along with John Solapetro and Invasive Species and my mentor and most recent album producer Stephen B. Martin and part of a ISSA Songwriter Showcase at the Hotel Vernon Shiproom along with Tom Maynard, Bernie Drury from New Jersey and Peter L'Esperance on Sunday, June 1st.
3/3/2025: The cold winter of 2024-25 is going away. My album Light Still Shines The Same is off to a great start with favorable reviews from Independent Artist Buzz at independentartistbuzz.com and Vocal Media at https://tinyurl.com/j52skxec . The singles Destiny, She Was My Angel and Light Still Shines The Same have also received nice reviews which can be found on the Press/Reviews page of this website. My first show of 2025 is next Thursday 3/13 as part of the RISA Songwriter Showcase at the Artists Exchange in Cranston, RI. More news to come as the year progresses.
7/6/2024: Summer is here. Last year, a number of events were rained out on the weekends and this July 4th weekend is repeating that same pattern. I was supposed to perform for the PRIDE picnic in Uxbridge on June 22nd but that got rained out. I've been working and going to some concerts here and there, notably seeing the Silversun Pickups at the House of Blues in Boston last Saturday night. I'll be seeing Justin Hayward and Christopher Cross at Indian Ranch in Webster,MA, a very special opportunity to see the two of them close to home this Sunday, July 7th. In August, 2024 I will start to record my new album, Light Still Shines The Same at Ultrasound Studios in Hanover, MA. I've been tending to my partner Diane as she recovers from knee replacement surgery these past two months. Her recovery is going well!
3/24/2024: Update! I have received a second positive response to the Chasing Gilels screenplay from Balaji Kumar of Tankmoon Productions in India. His most recent film titled Kolai is a detective story set in India with an all-Indian cast which was completed last year and he is also working on a new project before he can read over my screenplay, Not sure how he would adapt a screenplay written with a European cast set in Russia but I am interested in his ideas and his perspective on my work. Also I am getting ready to start a new album recording to be titled Light Still Shines The Same and once again produced by Stephen B. Martin and recorded at Ultrasound Productions with Joe Clapp as recording engineer. Spring has sprung and it's time to get some new stuff going!
1/15/2024: Happy MLK day 2024! I have some news with regard to new performances and new events. The performances I have posted up on the Calendar area of this website, starting with the performance at the TCNE Conference at the Park Plaza Hotel next week along with Linda Marks next Thursday 1/25 from 8-9:30 pm. Two more performances are also scheduled for the new year. Then in February, fawm.org begins again, which is my annual songwriting workout, 14 songs in 28 days since 2008! I have also signed up for Pete Nelson's Songwriting Workshop at the Parlor Room in Northampton, MA which began yesterday and will continue until April. I am also continuing my ongoing participation in the Quiet Corner Songwriters Meeting organized by Kala Farnham based at Block 134 in Putnam, CT.
11/25/2023: It's been a year! Over this past year, I lost three musician friends to illness, my sister was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer and I caught COVID for about a week after three years of staying COVID-free. Music-wise, I have had a few nice gigs in a year when I was not seeking out very much. RIP to my friends David Rumpler, Eric Gulliksen and Andy Holiner, to whom I am dedicating my new album which I will start recording next year.
11/19/22: Just updated my appearances for December and January for music performances. Other news is that I am working on revising my screenplay Chasing Gisels after getting very encouraging feedback from Teresa Burks Gallagher through Stage 32. She saw pretty much everything I intended with the screenplay and hopefully I can work on the revision over the next two weeks. Thanks again to 3rd Street Coffeehouse for allowing me to open for Keith Rea and thanks to my sister Regina for capturing a perfomance of my song, Where Are The Blue Ridge Mountains? Come check this out on my Michael Gutierrez-May music page on Facebook.
6/7./22: Thanks to my good friend Marion Packer, I have a limited number of Drifting To The Right T-Shirts and Coffee Mugs available for purchase for $10 each or both together for $15. If you also buy a CD album, you can get all three for $25! I think I am a convert to the Merch side of the music biz!
5/28/22: I signed up for some promotion for my lyric video through Artist PR for Imaginary Tomato which was created by Kat Reinhert a couple months ago. They promised 10K views for the video and at latest count, the video has 10,388 views and 42 likes. Before they came on board, the video has just over 100 views so I decided that I needed amplification. The video is here on site in the Videos section. In other news, my producer Stephen Martin has his new album Leftovers out for listening on the streaming services and also available for purchase directly from him. You can go to apple Music to find the album here; https://music.apple.com/us/artist/stephen-martin/1624948891
4/30/22: The album release concert was a success. See more about this in the Drifting To The Right blog area. Thanks to Audrey Daniels, I now also have Drifting To The Right T-Shirts and Coffee Mugs. A couple of nights ago, there was a feature on The Daily Show speaking to Donald Trump's fear of tomatoes and an actual court disposition about this. Here is a link to the feature on Facebook; https://fb.watch/cJd29zB9gC/
3/9/22: Coming up on this Sunday's Twilight Showcase program. It will be broadcast on WATD-FM from 7pm to 9pm and will feature myself, Stephen B, Martin, Karen Sauer and Cynthia Perkins. The program will also be broadcast on You Tube and on Facebook Live on the Twilight Showcase Facebook page. Please come and join us!
2/2/22: I think 2 must be my lucky number. A wonderful review of Drifting To The Right came out today written by Victor Infante for Worcester Magazine. The link to the album review is here: https://tinyurl.com/2d6bu3r7 . There is no one who does a better job championing a local music and arts scene than Victor does in Worcester! He's the best!
I am also starting a campaign going with Cyber PR for the album starting with a artist bio written by Lorne Behrmann. Good things are happening all around as we move toward the Spring and my appearance on WATD-FM's Twilight Showcase in March and our Album Release Event at Ultrasound Studios in April.
12/21/2021: The CDs have arrived for Drifting To The Right. And you can get yours cheap! From 12/24/21 to 1/6/2022 (aka The Twelve Days of Christmas) you can buy one or more CDs for $1.00 apiece. It's a two part deal:
12/3/2021: A couple new gigs coming through, including an appearance on Nick Noble's Folk Revival Holiday Show on December 16th which is on WICN-FM in Worcester, 91.5 on the FM dial. I will be singing Hark The Herald Angels Sing and Dream as well as chatting up Drifting To The Right. Other radio and podcast appearances are being planned for the near future as the new music makes its way into the world. Note: all praise to Colette O'Connor who masterfully handled just about all of the background vocals on Drifting and is coming out with her own new album, Double Down. My producer Stephen Martin also has a new album titled Leftovers and he is also working on a single for the new year which will be recorded at Ultrasound. At some point we will have an album release event for Drifting so stay tuned.
8/24/2021: The recording of Drifting To The Right is done! We are in the mixing and mastering phase of the project. Nine songs, eleven artists. Expert sound engineering by Joe Clapp and creative and remarkable production work from my producer, Stephen Martin. It's a pretty incredible album and I am anxious to share it with the world. I expect there will be some controversy as the album leaves no doubt which side I am on in the current political climate. But there is also humor and beauty to make it all go down a little easier. Look for the upcoming album release concert sometime later this Fall. Outtakes as noted can be found on the music player on this website.
4/19/2021: I have a page on this site specifically devoted to the recording of my new album Drifting To The Right. Just take a walk to the menu bar and it is there!
A couple other interesting developments: my high school friends and fellow music travelers Brad Marshall and Kevin Artz (Marshall Artz) have a new album out called What Matters. Kevin and I go back to the St. Michael's Church folk group in Annandale during high school. I have seen both Brad and Kevin at a couple high school reunions over the years. They are great artists and instrumentalists. This link takes you to their page: https://marshallartz.net/
2/19/2021: The preparations for recording Drifting To The Right have begun. To be recorded at Ultrasound Studios in Hanover, MA working with my producer Stephen Martin, we will start recording in April, 2021. The plan is for 10 songs, starting with my basic tracks and then layering on from there. We will possibly record one song at Studio 50 at WICN-FM in Worcester so that I can include a couple of Central Mass folks on the album. Anyway, the album is on the launching pad and on its way.
12/7/2020: A sincere thank you to the remarkable Victor Infante at Worcester Magazine for this article: https://www.worcestermag.com/.../tonight-show.../3829633001/. It helps right the wrong that was done to me and maybe I never get to redeem myself on the Tonight Show (it was a nice dream), but I called them out on something that was hurtful and stood up for myself as a creative artist. I don't support myself with music or songwriting, but this makes it no less important that if my music is played, both myself and the music are treated with respect. There has been absolutely no response from the Tonight Show to date. I can think of reasons they wouldn't respond (lawsuits). For me, it is enough to stand up for myself and I have gotten incredible support. I am hopeful they will not do to others what was done to me and maybe think twice about the Do Not Play feature of the show.