My latest CD, “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night”, recently passed the year and a half mark. I’m starting to get asked, “When’s your next one?” It’s flattering and exciting, though at the same time, I know how much work that next project will be. In the meantime, there’s a Christmas EP in the works to tide me over. And a live record, a mix of older and new songs, is in the planning stages for sometime next year. Way fun stuff. Coming soon.
In the meantime, I like to remember what my pal Guy told me: “Your latest album – and all those songs – are new to people who’ve just heard it/them for the first time.” Case in point: This nice review that recently came in from Rootstime in Belgium. I don’t read Flemmish but had a feeling it was a nice writeup. With a little help from a day-job co-worker who happens to live in Brussels, I now have a translation:
California west coast singer-songwriter Michael Gaither from is a true storyteller. He brings these together with a musical mixture of folk, country and blues in his latest album, “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night”.
The is the third release of Michael Gaither after his debut album “Spotted Mule And Other Tales” from 2006 and “Dogspeed” from 2009. For the instrumental backing for the eleven songs on this album he chose a varied orchestration with mandolin, bass, percussion, accordion, piano and violins, besides the sounds from his acoustic guitar.
Ten of these songs are his own compositions. “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” (see video) is a personalized cover version of a song by Warren Zevon. The central theme of the songs on this CD are formed by his home in Watsonville, where he takes a nostalgic look back in the album title track. In “Still A Small Town” he remembers how the town looked in his early childhood.
Michael Gaither’s typical humor can be found in the songs “Tell Me Where It Hurts” and “Now It’s A Taqueria” in which he humorously complains that the former good restaurants in his hometown have all been replaced by Mexican taco shops. Some “wisdom of life” then again forms the subject of two beautiful songs “She’s More Connected” and “Whiskey Hill”.
The song “Charlie And Chloe” is about a rescued baby coyote who lost his mother. However, our favorite track from this album is “Waltzes When She Runs”, a catchy waltz about the elegance of a horse that frolics along the beach.”Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night” is an easy listen from a storytelling California troubadour.
– Freddy Celis, Rootstime.be