It turns out you get a whole new set of 365 days.

My first show of the year is going to be a good one. It's a "Nashville Round" show Wednesday at Speakeasy Carrboro.

Nashville Round is another name for a songwriters circle or a guitar pull. Singers sit onstage together and take turns singing songs. In this case original songs. There will be two rounds of four singers, starting at 7:30 p.m. I'll be in the first round.

Joining me will be Rabbi Sandra, Nick Langston and Michael Melia. Nick and Michael are new to me but I've played with Sandra before and I've heard her new record and she's great. She's a real rabbi too.

The second round will feature Eric Sommer, Vito Dito, Matthew Amy and Teeyum Smith. I know all those guys and they're all really good. Eric organized the show, which he calls The Grit Diaries.

It's a free show, though you're encouraged to tip the musicians. Speakeasy is a friendly taproom. Come on out! 
 

2024 The King Teen Wrapped

2024 was the first full year of my solo music career as well as my first full year living in North Carolina.

I hate to admit it but I like those annual "Spotify wrapped" things everyone posts in early December, except for the small detail that we're all doing free publicity for a giant evil corporation that steals money from musicians. So I thought I'd do a Wrapped for my own year.

Bonus: I am not an evil corporation.

I am independent, artisanal, bespoke evil.

I performed 57 separate times in 2024. Forty of those were open mics, to go along with 15 gigs and two performances that were either streamed online or broadcast on the radio.

I played 46 different songs, of which 32 were originals and 14 were covers. That sounds like I played about two-thirds originals, but that's not what happened. I sang those 32 originals a total of 286 times, the 14 covers a total of 24 times. That means I was singing an original song 91.6 percent of the time.

Eighteen of the original songs I sang last year were songs I've made up since moving to North Carolina in August 2023. I played 10 of those 18 songs in public for the first time in 2024.

Here are the five songs I played the most in 2024:

What Makes Life Worth It: 26
Time Traveler's Blues: 24
There Goes the Neighborhood: 22
The Human Touch: 22
Dream Not Found: 19

Here are the two cover songs I played the most in 2024, five times each:

Are You Drinking With Me Jesus (Lou and Peter Berryman / Mojo Nixon)
Faucets Are Dripping (Malvina Reynolds)

Here are the cities I played in most often, which should not be surprising:

Durham: 18
Chapel Hill: 12
Raleigh: 10

I said last newsletter that I'll see you in 2025. Let's make that come true! 

Your friend,

The King Teen

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