Mike Merenda profile picture

Mike Merenda

About Me

Michael Merenda is a wordsmith, vocalist, guitarist and banjoist who has long recognized that a good song has the ability to improve the world. On both an intensely personal and universal level Merenda’s work strives to entertain as well as illuminate. His early fascination with the socially conscious writings of Bob Marley and Bob Dylan met head-on with the arrival of young, smart, outspoken artists such as Ani Difranco and Dan Bern, furthering the young writer’s blossoming ideology that politics need not be polarizing and dry, but alive, vibrant and inspiring.Merenda’s inventive approach to songmaking has been described as “zen.” He’s not one to premeditate a song or to fish stories out of newspapers, but rather he hoists his antenna and dials in frequencies already alive inside himself and the atmosphere. As a result, there are plenty of catchy hooks and memorable lines, but they come at you like approaching headlights on a dark, two-lane highway.His travels with internationally acclaimed string-band, The Mammals, have made Merenda exceedingly comfortable on stage. His signature breathy voice has hints of Nick Drake and M.Ward and in performance this soft delivery works like a magnet. Familiar yet enigmatic, Michael Merenda is a talent to watch in this songwriting renaissance of the 21st century.

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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 02/09/2005
Band Website: http://www.michaelmerenda.com
Band Members: Mike can be found on stage alone or with the following accomplices: Chris Merenda (aka Chewy), Ken "the Fury" Maiuri, Ruth Ungar, Carter Little, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Jose Ayerve, Jacob Silver, Pierce Woodward, Ben X, Robert S. Blake, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
Influences: Dylan. Buckner. Bukowski. Ginsberg. Phair. Guthrie. Petty. Young. Harrison. Lennon. Clash. Pixies. Galaxie 500. Morphine. DiFranco. Specials. Operation Ivy. Hamell on Trail. Lucinda Williams. Syd Barrett. Lou Reed. Paul Brown. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. Aaron Ross. Jeffery Lewis. Dan Bern. Utah Phillips. Dave VanRonk. Carter Little. Jose Ayerve. Dinosaur Jr. Lightning Bolt.
Sounds Like:

Layout by CoolChaser.."Merenda is one of the best songwriters of his generation - literate, political, melodic, alternately angry and satirical and sensual.” - Michael Simmons, High Times ************************************************************ ************** "Every decade has its state-of-the-art folk-rock band. This decade's is the Mammals, most often noted for featuring Pete Seeger's grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and fiddler Jay Ungar's daughter Ruth. But the band's secret threat is songwriter Michael Merenda, seemingly descended not just from one famous folkie, but the entire folk tradition itself. His songs range from sensitive, breathy ballads to audibly grinning political broadsides." - Jeff Rosenberg, Willamette Week ************************************************************ ************** "Folky and rootsy feel with witty and brilliant lyrics. Moments of Dylanesque depth and vocal delivery, others of They Might Be Giants wit, some fine acoustic guitar picking, lap steel, and Hammond organ. Male vocs primarily but a girl in there sometimes. All songs are really good. Remember basic good songwriting? This will remind you." - KZSU Stanford ************************************************************ ************** "What distinguishes Merenda bucolic bebop from a host of other indie singer/songwriters? Honesty. Well, that and the fact that he's exponentially more creative than others. Election Day avoids playing into tired folk cliches by delicately juggling genres and glorifying traditional simplicty. Not only is this stuff eccentric enough for college radio, but its professional enough to dazzle the Americana airwaves - great crossover music." -Ryan Hoffer - Shut Eye Records
Record Label: Humble Abode Music
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

WKZE Guest DJ 5.20.09 "THE SURREAL"

Hello Friends,As promised here's a little wrap up of my guest DJ session with Will from Wednesday, May 20th, 2009.We started things off with "Absolutely Cuckoo" by Magnetic Fields.  This was my way of...
Posted by on Thu, 21 May 2009 11:16:00 GMT

Sing Out review: Quiver

Sing Out / Autumn 2007 / Vol. 51 3 This third solo album from The Mammals' songwriter/guitarist/singer is a quietly compelling collection of songs that provide (sometimes veiled) commentaries on perso...
Posted by on Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:03:00 GMT

MM featured on XM radio!

The RADAR REPORT is a special feature highlighting XM's most notable bands each week. XM RADiO will be featuring THE ENGINE AND THE EMERGENCY BRAKE from my record, QUIVER (Thursday  November 15th, 20...
Posted by on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:25:00 GMT

Mike & Ruthy myspace page

Thought I should let you all know that there's a brand new myspace page specifically for Mike & Ruthy: http://www.myspace.com/mikeandruthy.Ruthy and I have a new duo record coming out this fall. We'...
Posted by on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:56:00 GMT

AmieStreet.com

There's a very cool website for checking out new music called AmieStreet.com. I recently uploaded all three of my studio records there as well as The Mammals first studio record, Evolver. I really d...
Posted by on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:46:00 GMT

"Soldier for the Prince" on the rise!!

Whatever you people are doing, it's working!!When I checked today my song "Soldier for the Prince" had moved up to #112 on Neil Young's "living with war today," Songs on the Times page. You folks pus...
Posted by on Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:36:00 GMT

busy, busy

ruth and I have been sitting in this panera bread for wat seems like 10 hours taking advantage of their free hi-speed wireless. These are the sorts of sacrifices one must make when residing in middle...
Posted by on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:20:00 GMT

Soldier for the Prince posted at Neil Young.com

Hoorah! Soldier for the Prince was added to Neil Youngs "Living with War" page of current protest songs! I'm thrilled. You can go the page and clink my song and vote me up the ladder (i think)thank...
Posted by on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:04:00 GMT

Neil Young is the man

http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/index.htmlThere's a whole page dedicated to new "protest songs" at neilyoung .comHow cool.check out this link and have yourself a listen. I just submitted four of my ...
Posted by on Wed, 23 May 2007 10:29:00 GMT

Listen to my entire catalogue for free!!

Through the magic of "Technology" I made my entire music catalogue available for free listening at: http://www.michaelmerenda.com/music.html!!mmo, and I'm listening to the new spouse record, relocati...
Posted by on Sat, 21 Apr 2007 11:43:00 GMT