Michael Falzarano and The Memphis Pilgrims

I started The Memphis Pilgrims in 1987. A friend decided to throw a party on Elvis’ ten-year death-a-versary in New York where I’d moved the year before after having spent ten great years in San Francisco. I thought The Memphis Pilgrims was a great name for the band because Memphis, the home of Elvis, is also the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll in my opinion. I think every music lover should make a pilgrimage there at some point to see Graceland, Beale Street, Sun Studios and the like.
Anyway, I remember that first show clearly. The drummer I hired called to say he couldn't make it, but was sending another drummer to do the gig. His replacement showed up with a broken leg and cast from the bottom of his right foot to his groin. The bass player never showed up at all, and I got a bass player friend-of-a-friend to play who happened to be there. It turned out to be a lot of fun despite the fact that I had never met anybody in the band and never saw them again.
I’d played on and off with Hot Tuna since 1983. While I was touring with them, I met Michael Slater and Steve Sacher, who later joined The Pilgrims. Shortly thereafter we got underway full time along with drummer Eliot Rachman. The band had many others drummers, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten their names over the years. One drummer that I remember, however, we nicknamed Happy. He had a day job as a window washer for many of New York's skyscrapers. He'd rock out all night and drink and party like the rest of us, then somehow manage to keep his balance on the scaffolding the next day.
The Pilgrims continued to play together for a few years all over New York City and the surrounding area before recording a five-song EP. Then in 1989 I hooked up with Hot Tuna again full-time and put The Pilgrims on hiatus until the early ‘90s. Although I’ve always loved playing in Hot Tuna and have both written and co- written many songs for the band, I still had a body of work that wouldn’t fit in the Tuna format. The Memphis Pilgrims allowed me to showcase that material while collaborating with other musicians.
"Mecca" Michael Falzarano And The Memphis Pilgrims AMD 103 Available At: www.cdbaby.com And Apple iTunes
The hiatus ended with a new version of The Memphis Pilgrims which included Hot Tuna drummer Harvey Sorgen, bassist Steve Rust, guitarist Jimmy Eppard and eventually keyboardist Professor Louie. We worked often during my off time from Hot Tuna. As The Pilgrims, I recorded an album of 12 of my songs, Mecca. The original 12 tracks on Mecca feature Sorgen, Eppard and Rust along with Danny Lewis of Gov’t Mule who many people refer to as the 5th Pilgrim as he played on most of the tracks. I was also joined by Jorma Kaukonen and Pete Sears of Hot Tuna, Larry Packer of Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys (the only band to be produced by Jimi Hendrix and one of my faves from the ‘70s) and Dave Castiglione on sax.
There have been many fine musicians who have spent time in The Memphis Pilgrims over the years and who have helped me with my vision for this band. I want to thank them all for their help and support on this journey – for without them it would not have been realized.
Michael F.
It's been a busy couple of months, Touring with the NRPS, producing a few CDs, recording and getting ready to play a show with The Memphis Pilgrims at the Bearsville Theater on Sept. 24. We haven't played a show together in a long, long time so we're all excited to get into it and see where it goes. We did recorded 5 songs together for my last CD We Are All One and we're in touch with each other fairly regularly so it should be fun and interesting. Professor Louie and master fiddle player Larry Packer will be playing with us as well as a couple of surprise special guests. Also Jimmy Eppards son Joey will be opening the show. Joey's a great guitar player as well as a fantastic drummer. He played drums for the band Coheed and Cambria for many years. So like I said it should be an interesting night of music. If you're in the area stop in and check it out. I've also been at work producing the new Marjorie Thompson CD and should have that done in about a week. As far as the NRPS go, we’re going back out on the road starting next week and we're already making plans to start recording the follow up to our last CD Where I Come From which along with my CD We Are All One is on Woodstock Records. Both CDs continue to do well, getting air play around the country. Maybe the boys will even let me produce the new one as well, we'll see. Well that's it for now as you can see there's no rest for the weary around here....Michael F.
The New Riders of the Purple Sage new CD Where I Come From and my CD We Are All One are now in stores everywhere. They’re also available for mail order at www.woodstockrecords.com and for download on itunes and all the other download sites. Get them both now!