John's New Music Blog

Merry Ellen Kirk has just released the single, "Field of Dreams" from her upcoming album The Firefly Gardens. We've featured Merry Ellen in the pages of John's New Music Blog a few times (here and here) and Merry Ellen's voice is somewhere between Tori Amos and Sarah McLaughlin with a little Amie Miriello thrown in for good measure. For someone who's only 21 years old, her singing and songwriting show her to be wise beyond her years. Take a listen to Field of Dreams and if you like it, send her a couple of bucks to help finish the album.








The video is for Merry Ellen's song, "Blinding Me," from her Invisible War CD, is about how eyes can actually be a hindrance in seeing what's really important. It's a beautiful song that gives you a good representation of her voice and her songwriting ability.  





The Firefly Garden is still in the works so please help Merry Ellen make the album a reality by investing in her project (I did, you should too). The Invisible War is available from Merry Ellen's Bandcamp page.

Merry Ellen will also be playing the Elephant Talk 2011 Indie Music Fest in Atlantic City on Saturday, August 6th (click here for the schedule).

Today's Fresh New Music is from Nashville's The Shakespeares, a collaboration of Merry Ellen Kirk (a Fresh New Music alumnae) and Aaron Krause that's produced some of the most charming indie folk-pop that I've heard in a long time. The Shakespeares released their first EP on February 1 and I've been enjoying it very much. Merry Ellen has a bit of Sarah McLaughlin in her voice and Aaron reminds me Glen Hansard from The Frames and The Swell Season (you know him better as "Guy" from the film Once).


I can't give you a single track that stands out from the others because they're all excellent. Each is a just a little bit different and all five complement each other. If I had to pick two that I would call favorites, I'd pick Tonight and The Catchers of Time (this one will be big at weddings and anniversary parties).

Here's a streaming version of the EP from their Bandcamp site.


The Shakespeares will be appearing on Vanderbilt University's WRVU-FM on February 9 at 8pm Central. If you're in the Nashville area, they will be playing The Listening Room on February 12 as the opening act for GreeneLight (Click here for details).

The EP is available for download from iTunes and directly from the band via Bandcamp (buy it from the band, they get a bigger cut and it's cheaper) and the CD will be shipping on March 1. These are two very talented individuals who've released a gem of an EP and I'm looking forward to hearing more from them in the future.