Photo Credit: Marcus Ward Curran

from Grooves & Cuts americanahighways.org August 2024 - #3

By John Apice

Michael Menager – Line In the Water

Born in East L.A. & schooled in San Francisco this troubadour was buffed & shined by the works of Shakespeare, John Donne & Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg. Along with that writing thrust he was also immersed in the blues of Mississippi John Hurt, the Reverend Gary Davis & the formidable Dylan, Tom Waits, John Prine & Townes van Zandt though Mike looks a hell of a lot more like Buddy Miller crossed with Van Morrison.

The music is classic Americana on this smooth 10 shots of bourbon on Line In the Water (Dropped May 31/Zenith Records-Australia/36:31). Not as dark as Waits, but close to that “Love & Theft” album trio by Dylan. Mike’s stories are intense (“What Is It Really That I Need?), well-arranged with a late-career Tom Waits-type band showcase with stilted percussion & meandering bass. Quite cool since Mike doesn’t try to emulate Waits, Chuck E. Weiss, or Captain Beefheart in the process. His voice is friendlier & more attuned to the Tom Paxton/David Axelrod school of folksiness while maintaining the necessary broken glass in the bathroom, torn shower curtain & doorless pickup truck attitude. More bandana than a baseball cap.

“Baby, I Can Change,” & “Line In the Water” have a darker Canned Heat, Jim Carroll, Lou Reed, Tom Waits & John Hammond blues vocal concoction & intonation. Mike’s voice is deeper & has lots of character. The set was produced by Heath Cullen in Australia & features Mr. Menager (vocals/acoustic guitar) with the Devil’s Creek Rounders: Rusty Lavonne, Bess Maloney & Slim Fitz.

I believe that anyone who enjoys the atmospheric, moody storytelling of the artists mentioned in this copy — Mike’s set is highly recommended. The showcase is never overbearing or showy. It’s music spare, ruralized & urbanized where required. It’s made with natural ingredients; no embellishments & Mike is a purist with this approach. Each tune has its steely mélange, its density & appeal since little here is economical or juvenile.

Photo above courtesy of Marcus Ward Curran. A 12-pp stitched lyric insert is included. CD & song samples @ Bandcamp & https://www.michaelmenager.com/

LATEST NEWS 

Michael Menager’s brand-new album, Line In The Water, is now out in the  streaming world as well as on CD and Vinyl. It’s the third musical  collaboration between Michael and his gifted friend and producer, Heath  Cullen, following Clean Exit (2014) and Not The Express (2016).

Recorded in Heath’s High Water Studio (on Yuin country near Candelo NSW)  and written during the dark days of a world pandemic, Line In The Water  chronicles Michael’s path through flood, bushfire, personal loss and the  changing waters of our times. Yet while the album’s 10 tracks might  chronicle some hard times, they also point toward that most noble of human  characteristics: our resilience, our ability to survive, change and adapt, to  swim with the raging current and to then discover calm spots along the bank  that offer sanctuary and a chance to rest our hearts and minds.

In releasing and publicising Line In The Water, Michael has had the privilege  of working with Stuart Coupe, a respected Australian music journalist, author  and syndicated radio host. The following account by Stuart appears on the  back cover of the Vinyl edition of Line In The Water, and, though not  technically a review, it lays out the territory of the album with the skill and  precision that only a true musical explorer could bring to the task. 

Thanks again, Mr Coupe!

Album Of The Week

Published 2024-06-24 06:00

"Michael Menager’s 3rd, and new, album, produced by Heath Cullen, have streamed worldwide and featured on the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project’s Regional Chart and on blues, roots and country playlists all over Australia."

- Kenneth Bremer / Blue Desert -

"Michael Menager is a thoughtful observer of human existence and his music magnetically invites you to think for yourself. Big recommendation!"

- Wolfgang Reitzammer / Cool Tourist -

"'Line In The Water' is Michael's Menager's 3rd album, and was recorded in Australia, at High Water Studios in Candelo, New South Wales, and produced by Australian musician Heath Cullen. In the midst of this intimate sounding atmosphere of music, in which the protagonist is accompanied by 3 musicians, The Devis's Creek Rounders, Menager performs his 10 songs, with the exception of 'Home' by Heath Cullen, in a warm and pleasant voice, very warm in expression and quite relaxed, therefore integrating into the same atmosphere of the musical design."

- Wolfgang Giese / Musik An Sich -

"Michael Menager's new album, 'Line In The Water', is a compelling mix of americana, blues, country and folk."

- Fred Pach / Muziekwereld -

"In the trail of great folk troubadours like Bob Dylan, John Prine or Tom Waits, the 77 years young Australian American singer songwriter Michael Menager delivers a wonderful record with his 3rd album 'Line In The Water'. Philosophical and poetic lyrics are marking each and every track on this warmth raying record which comes 8 years after its predecessor 'Not The Express' and 10 years after Michaels’ debut, 'Clean Exit'."

- Valére Sampermans / Rootstime -

"Michael Menager manages to convince effortlessly with his new album 'Line In The Water'."

- Cis van Looy / Written In Music -

"Michael Menager is an experienced singer songwriter born in east Los Angeles, but now living in Australia. His discography is not large, but undoubtedly he is an artist who has something to say. In his own way, he combines elements of americana, folk, country, blues, and offering his own specific narrative, in which he personally feels quite good, and conveys it to the listener in the same positive way."

- Branimir Lokner / Time Machine Music -

MICHAEL’S FACEBOOK PAGE

John Broughton has devoted 35 years of time and energy to Casey Radio 97.7 FM - a talented interviewer with a keen listening ear. I'm honoured to be included in his "Best Of" for 2023 and send him warm wishes for his ongoing contribution to independent musicians near and far!

I'm really looking forward to a chat with Frank Davidson on 3WAY-FM tomorrow morning - about my new record, and about the variety of shades in the rainbow of Blue

Belated thanks to Rhythms magazine for including so many of my peeps on the current sampler. Hi to Ernest Aines, The Beatnik Preachers, Ange Boxall, Michael Menager, David Garnham & The Reasons To Live, Clint Wilson, Les Thomas, Ray Beadle, Hannah Gillespie, Tom Harrison, Angus Gill & Seasons Of Change, and Mikhail Laxton.

I'm really pleased to be associated with Miss Chatelaine on JOY and with this brilliant podcast!


Streaming out to you soon: here's a pre-save link to the title track of my upcoming album: https://gyro.to/LineInTheWater

And while you're waiting, if you haven't already . . . do have a listen to the two singles that have entered the worldwide stream ahead of this one: https://gyro.to/AutumnFloodOnDevilsCreek and https://gyro.to/HighWaterAhead Thanks for tuning in!

I'm honoured to be part of a great Grass Roots show this coming Monday (July 3rd) at 9PM AEST on ABC Australia! Instructions for listening: from anywhere in the world, online https://ab.co/2rDk6Yk or via the ABC Listen APP

Well, well ... it looks like I'm running with the "M-Crowd" this morning ... a fine rotation to be in, by the sound of it!

Now floating in the stream: my debut album from 2014, produced by my neighbour Heath Cullen on our home ground at Tantawanglo, New South Wales, Australia. Just follow this link: https://gyro.to/CleanExit (cover art by Mike Martin)

It's great to be included in a "try it on and see if it fits" radio show - great concept, Nadia Drayton! Here in Tantawangalo, everybody needs a country wardrobe!

A great cast of characters in which to be included: thank you Cobargo Folk Festival 2023!

HeadLand Writers Festival 2022 Presents
ON SONGWRITING: A CONVERSATION WITH HEATH CULLEN, CHERYL DAVISON, TAMLYN MAGEE & MICHAEL MENAGER

To my international friends, especially: Zena Armstrong and Peter Logue are friends of mine and organizers of our premier local music event, the Cobargo Folk Festival. And hard struck as they are right now, they have managed to write this instructive article about how things feel down here on the ground amidst the catastrophic conditions that we're experiencing.

Press Release, March 31st, 2016.

People get ready: there’s a train a-comin'. Michael Menager’s sophomore release, Not The Express arrives this May 9th, and it’s been a long time coming - how many Artists can you think of that began their recording career in their late 60s? Menager’s 2014 debut, Clean Exit, arrived just after the Californian raised / Candelo, New South Wales based singer-writer’s 67th birthday, and was quietly self released to a handful of friends and family. That very same week, he lost his life partner Judith to a long and valiant battle with cancer.

Menager decided, in the months that followed, to throw all of his cards to the wind and return for the first time in 30 years to Los Angeles, the town where he was born and raised, to write and record the songs that would become his second album Not The Express.

Recorded in just two days with acclaimed Australian songwriter / producer Heath Cullen at the wheel, and an unbeatable team on board: the great Jim Keltner (Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Lucinda Williams, Traveling Wilburys et al) on drums & percussion, Aaron Embry (Elliot Smith, Willie Nelson, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros) on keys, Cullen on guitars and banjo, and Matt Nightingale on upright bass, the album was engineered by Ben Tolliday and mastered by multi-Grammy award winner Gavin Lurssen.

Not The Express has a warm, timeless, sepia quality to its analogue-steeped sounds. The production is spare and spacious. The songs are love songs, life songs: they are mischievous and playful, but also heartbreaking, honest, poignant. Menager has lived many lives (scholar, labourer, truck driver, teacher), he has lived them in many places (California, Oregon, Georgia, Algeria, Mexico, France, Australia), and he sings with the wisdom and authority of one who is so well traveled. His song craft is watertight - reminiscent of an early John Prine, Guy Clarke, or Randy Newman, and his guitar style appears to have been handed down by the late Reverend Gary Davis. “This machine just lopes along, it’s always doing its best / It’s a good old train, but it’s not the express", he sings earnestly. But wait - this is no apology - it's a celebration.

On Not The Express, Michael Menager is inviting us to meet him at the station, lay a nickel on the track, and press an ear to the rail... to poke a little fun at our own mortality, and all the while shine a brilliant light on all of the silent beauty that lies around us. He's asking us to lean into the billowing smoke and acknowledge that the dark tunnel up ahead is an important part of our journey. He's asking us to squint into the sun and smile.

See you down there at the station.

Download official press release here

For Michael's full length bio, please click here.

REVIEWS:

"Menager sings of roads travelled and life lived, and he's warm and funny and wise, his songs delivered with youthful vigour that belies a man of his vintage." 3/4 STARS, Sydney Morning Herald

‘With more than a whiff of Dylan and Ramblin Jack Elliott, Menager’s songs are rich with characters, wry observations and wit… The more you delve into Not the Express, the more you will be delighted.' - Martin Jones, Rhythms Magazine


Michael's website address
www.michaelmenager.com

Michael’s Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/michael-menager