Eleanor Murray

Here are some updated dates for our current tour! It’s bound to change still so keep checking our performances page for updates to come.

6/2 Seattle WA, 6/3 Olympia WA, 6/4 Portland OR, 6/5 Ashland OR, 6/6 Arcata CA, 6/7 San Francisco CA, 6/8 Oakland CA, 6/9 Davis CA, 6/10 Santa Barbara CA, 6/11 Phoenix AR, 6/12 Tucson AR, 6/13 Albuquerque NM, 6/14 Santa Fe NM, 6/15 Marfa TX, 6/16 Austin TX, 6/17 Fort Worth TX, 6/19 Little Rock AR, 6/23 Nashville TN, 6/24 Chapel Hill NC, 6/26 Charlottesville VA, 6/27 York PA, 6/28 Baltimore MD, 6/29 Harrisburg PA, 6/30 Brooklyn NY, 7/1 Shelter Island NY, 7/2 Brooklyn NY, 7/3 Boston MA, 7/4 Boston MA, 7/5 Ithaca NY, 7/6 Jamestown NY, 7/7 Cleveland OH, 7/8 Louisville KY, 7/9 Bloomington IN, 7/10 Champaign Urbana IL, 7/11 St Louis MO, 7/14 Chicago IL, 7/15 Chicago IL, 7/16 Winona MN, 7/17 Minneapolis MN, 7/18 Des Moines IA, 7/19 Lawrence KS, 7/20 Oklahoma City OK, 7/22 Denver CO, 7/23 Salt Lake City UT, 7/24 Jackson WY, 7/26 Boise ID, 7/28 Portland OR, 7/30 Olympia WA

We’re hitting the road this June and July with our brand new vinyl, “Thunderling” (Talking Helps Records)! Also the brilliantly talented Abigail Peachtree is joining part of our crazy adventure and delighting us with her sweet, sweet songs.

We’re going around the whole country! Watch out! Here’s what we got lined up and also what we’re hoping for. (Note: not all these dates are confirmed and the cities may inevitably change. The real deal is on our performances page. Be sure to check back there for updates.)

6/2 Seattle WA, 6/3 Olympia WA, 6/4 Portland OR, 6/5 Ashland OR, 6/6 Arcata CA, 6/7 San Francisco CA, 6/8 ??, 6/9 Davis CA, 6/10 Santa Barbara CA, 6/11 Phoenix AR, 6/12 Flagstaff AR, 6/13 Albuquerque NM, 6/14 Santa Fe NM, 6/15 Marfa TX, 6/16 Austin TX, 6/17 Dallas TX, 6/18 Denton TX, 6/19 Little Rock AR, 6/23 Nashville TN, 6/24 Chapel Hill NC, 6/26 Charlottesville VA, 6/27 York PA, 6/28 Philadelphia PA, 6/29 Harrisburg PA, 6/30 Brooklyn NY, 7/1 Shelter Island NY, 7/2 Brooklyn NY, 7/3 Boston MA, 7/5 Ithaca NY, 7/6 Cleveland OH, 7/7 Pittsburgh PA, 7/8 Bloomington IN, 7/9 Louisville KY, 7/10 Champaign Urbana IL, 7/13 Chicago IL, 7/14 Lake Forest IL, 7/15 Madison WI, 7/16 Minneapolis MN, 7/18 St Louis IL, 7/19 Lawrence KS, 7/20 Oklahoma City OK, 7/22 Denver CO, 7/23 Boulder CO, 7/24 Salt Lake City UT, 7/25 Boise ID, 7/26 Portland OR, 7/27 Olympia WA

phew!
see you’s soon,
eleanor

The mini-east-coast-tour is sadly over but a total success! So many wonderful shows and people, thank you everyone who helped make it happen. Let’s see, some highlights for you…we ran out of gas on our way to Boston from Bard College in a small farm town with no cell phone service and the nearest gas station 6 miles away. Thank goodness for triple A. Though they only gave us enough gas for 5 miles…we made it though! With beaming colors. Also, Harrisburg PA is my new favorite stop, I swear the those people are made of sugar! The tour concluded with a thunderous-lightening-pouring rain-flood warnings show in Brooklyn at my brother’s pad. He put up a sign on his door that night and by the morning, there was only a blank sheet of paper, all the ink had washed off! Not even a stain left! We ended up having an intimate show that evening and there’s some sweet videos of my bro playing flute and singing with me.

Though I am a little sad to be back, there’s no time like the present to start making the next tour happen! This June and July, me and my fabulous “co” (the band) are taking on the whole country. We’re making a counter-clockwise loop around the gigantic US of A and like always, would love to see you along the way and would greatly appreciate any help/recommendations with shows.

Check out this live recording of “The Whale” at Moviate, Harrisburg PA !

love!
eleanor

Hey all you lovelies…I’m heading to New York next week for a mini-tour, solo-style. I would love to see your beautiful faces and/or the beautiful faces of your friends! Check out the dates and info and be sure to check back for updates. If you wanna help out with a show, you would become my instant hero. And that’s a big deal in my book. You can write me at eleanor.c.murray(at)gmail(dot)com.

I hope to see you soon!

love,
eleanor

No joke! We’ve been working on a new vinyl this winter and it’s getting ready to see the world. This vinyl is a live version of our previous 2010 album, “Oh Thunder” with a few new treats and twists. We just had so much fun the first time around, we had to dive in again for some more. It will be released this June on Talking Helps Records in time for our two-month national tour.

On a different note, just want to give a big, sincere apology to anyone that came to the SPAR this weekend to see my show. I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit, in the midst of feeling sick with an oncoming cold and convinced the show was next weekend, I failed to show up! I make it a point to treat music and performances with my highest amount of respect and it pains me to find out I made such a mistake. I wrote the date wrong in my calendar and yet, somehow, I see I had the date right on this website! Man oh man, I have to admit, my mind’s been falling apart a little from tour planning, and so has my body, and I will be sure never to make this mistake again! Next show, whatever you want to hear, even if I don’t know the song, you got it. Or I’ll bring some candy…

love,
eleanor

I can’t write about winter enough. I don’t think I could hold back even if I tried. It’s such a complex season, with so many faces and things to say. That’s not saying that I enjoy it, however. I think I enjoy winter after it leaves and it’s only then can I appreciate what it brought me and see clearly what happened during our insane affair.

For me, it’s a time of projects, writing, and introspection, which are three of my favorite things. But just as the natural world behaves differently for each season, so does creativity. And I think this is where I butt heads with winter. I want to create and release and move these things around in the world. I am so eager for motion. But winter’s movement is slow and sleepy, or sporadic in fitful storms. But maybe if I accept that these creations are seeds in the ground, waiting for spring, winter and I might be able to get along, or at least communicate a little better. And you know what they say, talking helps.

There are a lot of shows this month. Just to remind you, Feb 11th – at the Alamingo House with Joe Capoccia, Kendl Winter, and Angelo Spencer, Feb 17th – at the 4th Ave Tav (flyer above) with Autumn Electric, Secret Plan, and The Bob Schwenkler Experience, and Feb 23rd – at the Northern with Eternal Tapestry, Endless Boogie, and Arboretum.

Other news, a mini-East Coast tour is happening! Solo-style. The plane tickets have been purchased. The time is April 6th-18th and check back for the dates/routes/details. And be sure to check out new videos up from Olympia Winter Nights, filmed here at the Evergreen State College. You can see the whole live set here or watch select songs on the video page. What a fun fun fun night.

Lastly, here are some lyrics for you to read if you like of a new song I’m working on. Take care.

love,
e-dawg

You can try to sell it but it will not sell,
Give it lively colors, say it “promotes good health.”
But we will not buy it and we can not hold it,
And we not do not see it as merchandise.
But we know we feel it and we know we need it
When it comes into our lives.

I went for a walk late at night after being bed-bound from a bad cold for a couple of days. The night felt so vibrant and bright, I felt so close to it and so close to myself. I began to think about music and what it means to me and I was surprised to see that I’ve strayed these past two months from this meaning, which has inevitably made me very confused and depressed. Music is spiritual for me. I don’t follow any religion but I do embrace what I call spirit. I describe it as the underlying breath of things or an intuitive magic. This spiritual place is where my motivation to sing and play comes from, it’s where the songs are written. It is the source that fuels and sustains music for me.

It’s so easy to lose sight of this. But I’ve seen when I trust and embrace the spiritual side of music, I become fulfilled beyond any of my expectations. There is an overwhelming sense of things falling into place.

So I developed this exercise on my walk, a meditation for myself, to continue to remind myself where music belongs to me. I’m also including a live version of Cathedral recorded on No Love For Ned online radio. Enjoy.

love,
eleanor

I imagine the holiest of spaces. And every inch of its existence was built for the sole purpose of holding and expressing the sound within it. It is a cathedral, a temple, or a shrine, but with no context, definition, or history. I am viewing the architecture of this space. I imagine how every piece of it was built intentionally to house and amplify holy sound. Sound intended to bring those in its experience closer and closest, to spirit.

This song belongs here. This is its place, its home. This is where it was written. Its purpose is the purpose of this space: to awaken the spirit. There is no performer or audience, there is nothing to sell. Those ideas do not apply here. The idea that this song comes another’s voice has no relevance. It is only an appearance. This is our voice, our song. This is where we sing. This is where we write. This is where we hear and crumble.

January has been the month for recording! What better timing than the dead of a Northwest winter. I’ve started a new band with my violinist, Pam Margon, called Tattered Dress. We’re a folkie-fiddly duo and have just made our first recording! We play traditional fiddle songs, old cowboy covers, and folk originals. Pat Maley, of the legendary Yo-Yo Recordings, recorded us performing live in my little one-room house. We plan to release the album sometime this spring.

Also, this week the Eleanor Murray band is recording our first vinyl record! We are recording a LIVE version of Oh Thunder. We are planning to release this record on Talking Helps Records, sometime in the near future. This recording will feature the new band, plus song variations and changes. Think Scream but with some real screaming this time.

Other news…a mini EAST COAST TOUR in the works for this spring. If you have any help or resources to offer, please write us at info (at) eleanormurray.com . We would greatly appreciate it! We also have a greater US tour in line for this summer so stay tuned for dates!

love,
eleanor