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NEW SONG

DIGITAL SINGLE

The Lights Are On In Michigan

listen to a sample here

download for just a buck at CDbaby  apple iTunes, Amazon, etc. also.

for radio only -- download wav file at Airplay Direct

read the lyrics here

I started writing this song in the Fall of 2009.  I tried the first draft out on some audiences in Michigan at concerts in some of my favorite venues -- The Ten Pound Fiddle in East Lansing, The Ark in Ann Arbor -- even on the radio live with Matt Watroba at WDET in Detroit.  Every time I sang it I changed a line here or there, or re-arranged the order of the lyrics.  Into 2010, I kept up the process, honing the song with the help and feedback of these great Michigan audiences.

You see, Michigan, the Great Lake state, has had its back to the wall for the past four or five years.  The jobs are leaving, the roads are crumbling, the politicians are pandering, and the people are all wondering.  In terms of unemployment, we're 50th out of 50 for states losing jobs.  I figured it was about time I put my guitar and my pen to good use. In the spirit of Woody Guthrie, who wrote back in the 1930's:
“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that.”

I figured it was time to buck up and pull together, so this song was born. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the bumper sticker mentioned in the song:

The last one out of Michigan -- turn the lights off!

So this song is an answer to that.  Yes, the lights are on!