Leigh in Hartford, Connecticut, 1988
News Archives
Leigh Gregory has been the singer/songwriter and guitarist in the San Francisco band Mellow Drunk for most of the present decade.
In addition to being in Mellow Drunk Leigh also records acoustic music and has completed three solo CDs: "Rest Your Weary Head" (2003), "Rainy Season Never Ends" (2007) and "1973" (2009).
Summer 2009 Updates
Leigh's latest solo CD "1973" is now available for sale on this site. "1973" was released in August 2009 on Green Fuse/Vollwert-Records Berlin.
A new review of "Rest Your Weary Head" and an interview with Leigh are available on the reviews and interviews page. Check out new fan videos of live performances by Leigh Gregory & Memory's Mystic Band on YouTube.
Winter 2009 Updates
The CD "Rainy Season Never Ends" has been re-issued by Green Fuse/Vollwert-Records
Berlin. It can be ordered directly from this site (see the CD Sales page), or, if
you're in California you can pick it up at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles or San
Francisco. For those of you in the United Kingdom Heyday Mail Order is the place to
order the CD and if you're on the European Continent order directly from
Vollwert-Records Berlin.
Here are the links:
http://www.vollwert-records.de/
http://www.heyday-mo.com/
Spring 2008 Updates
Already Spring??? No, but it ‘tis. Unbelievable!!! Here’s the latest, greatest news:
NYC Shows:
I’m happy to announce that I’ll be doing three shows in NYC first week/weekend of April. I’ll have most of the folks along that have been playing with me recently, namely Stephen Cavoretto on Hammond Organ, Sean DeGaetano on drums, and Ville Vilpponen on bass. Might be a special guest along as well, so love to see some of you whom I haven’t seen in years at some of the shows (they’re posted on the site).
Recording News:
Still working away at the recording projects, though currently everything has been delayed and will probably not be finished until the end of 2008. I’ll be working throughout the year on finishing up the 1973 Project and the follow-up solo acoustic recording to Rainy Season Never Ends, as well as a recording a full CD by Memory’s Mystic Band.
Leigh Gregory on Yorkhill Compilation CD:
The track Rest Your Weary Head will be featured on the new Yorkhill Compilation which will benefit the Yorkhill Children’s Foundation in Glasgow. The Doing it for the Kids folks have put together three compilation CDs to benefit the Children’s Foundation and Rest Your Weary Head can be found on Volume I: Hope which should be released this spring. Check it out, it’s for a very good cause, at www.myspace.com/yorkhillproject
Fall 2007
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness/Close bosom-friend
of the maturing sun -
Johno Keats
Oh, my, is it already fall? Everything & Nothing (to quote a rather nice Mellow Drunk song) going on at my end. Let's see.
Continuing shows at the Plough & the Stars Pub
I can usually be found playing at San Francisco's Plough & the Stars every third Wednesday of the month. If you haven't stopped by the pub it's always free and a great place to see acoustic music in an intimate setting (sort of a Largo in San Francisco). I've been working pretty consistently over the past year with Darcy Vaughn on viola, Stephen Cavoretto on keys, trumpet and backing vocals, and have recently added old friend Sean DeGaetano on percussion.
Recording News
I'm currently working on three different recording projects and hope to have them finished up by the beginning of 2008.
1973 Project
Have been working on a concept album (yep!!!) based around the year 1973
as seen through the eyes of a teenager. I'd sketched this out several years ago and over the past few months have been working on getting the songs picked and tracked. Right now idea is to have twelve songs representing the twelve months of the year. We've been playing lots of the songs acoustically at gigs so you might already be familiar with some of them.
Leigh and Friends at an acoustic performance on the Tip of My Tongue
TV show.
Leigh Gregory & Friends Project:
I started doing a recording with the acoustic line-up last spring and got about half of the songs tracked for that. Went to the UK for a couple of weeks and suddenly the project fell through the cracks. Hoping to get back to that soon and finish that up by the end of the year. Again if you've been out to see any of the live shows you're probably familiar with the material from these recordings.
Rainy Season Never Ends Follow Up
I've done the demos for the follow up to Rainy Season Never Ends but
haven't
had the chance to do any proper recordings of those songs. Been updating
the home studio over the past month and hope to have everything up and
running over the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll be able to record
these songs by the end of the year.
MELLOW DRUNK NEWS:
Rare Victory Records
Tribute to Grant McLennan
Rare Victory Records will be releasing their lovely Tribute to Grant
McLennan in October 2007. Mellow Drunk contributed their version of Grant's song Boundary Rider to the Tribute, which also features The Clientele, Luke Haines, The Bats and many others. Definitely a must listen for any Grant/Go-Betweens fans!!!!
Jam Records
Sweet Relief
Jam Records recently released Sweet Relief, an awesome three CD set
to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. You can find Mellow Drunk's
song From My Window on the compilation, along with a plethora of other heavenly
pop nuggets.
February 2007
I can't believe we're already into February 2007. I've been doing well in the
New Year. No longer depending on either the stick or the brace after having
spinal surgery eleven months ago (bit off-balance here and there but getting
by!!!). Luckily no damage to my arms, hands and fingers and I've been enjoying
playing out live more than ever. Here's everything I can update at the moment.
BESTS!!!
Leigh
Monthly Residency at the Plough & the
Stars Pub in San Francisco
I've been doing a monthly residency at the Plough & the Stars Pub since the
end of last year and would urge anyone in the SF Bay area to come down. All
the shows are free and I've always played at least two sets (twenty-plus songs).
Core people with me at playing most shows are Burtt B. (mandolin), Darcy Vaughn
(viola) and Stephen Cavoretto (trumpet, backing vox). Have also had various
friends such as Ricky Maymi, Derek See and Michael Padilla along at various
shows.
Here's a copy of the set list from the last show:
Songs for the Plough - Feb 14th, 2007
1 Dana
2 Lost in the Crowd
3 Remains
4 This is No Dream
5 Angela
6 Heat & Light
7 The Other Side of the Ocean
8 Faith Healer
9 Long Drawn Sunday (The Orchids)
10 The Way it Must Be
1 November 1918
2 I Was On the High Wire
3 Faintly Glowing
4 Ambulance Station (Sudden)
5 Won't You Stay With Me 'till Morning
6 Day After Day
7 Where the Time Goes
8 There for You
9 Dead Sea Fruit
10 The Prisoner
1 By the Light of the Magical Moon (Bolan)
2 O Lucinda (Perrett)
3 Sister Mary
4 Independence Day
5 You Ain't Going No Where (Dylan)
6 I'm Waiting
7 Pale Blue Eyes (Reed)
8 Waiting for the Man (Reed)
Mellow Drunk on Rare Victory
Records Love Goes On Tribute to Grant McLennan
Mellow Drunk will be appearing on Rare Victory Records Love Goes on Tribute
to Grant McLennan (tentatively scheduled for release in the fall of 2007).
Grant wrote so many great, heart-felt songs it wasn't easy to try to come up
with one to choose but Ricky and I went though lots of Grant's songs over a
twenty-four hour period and came up with a version of "Boundary Rider" from
the Go-Betweens final recording Ocean's Apart . I'm very happy with
the results and we'll be in good company on the release as it will also feature
The Orchids, Luke Haines, Steve Kilbey, The Bats, The Clientele, Trembling
Blue Stars and many others.
Northern Star Records/CD
Baby Downloads
Northern Star records in the UK are featuring downloads of both
my solo CDs, in addition to offering downloads of Mellow Drunk's
recordings. CD Baby and i-Tunes have Mellow Drunk's Always
Be Drunk (Mellow Drunk's first CD) and Fast Music by
the Products (aye, my first band) available for CD sales and
downloads.