"...Jaime Michaels' songs are as elusive as smoke and mirrors...His voice raspy with sadness and longing, Michaels pens contemporary tunes where love shines from within like a falling star..."
Sing Out! magazine
Jaime sings. He always has. Always wanted to. Except maybe when he was in the fourth grade and Sister Mary Eymard used to traipse him and his two brothers around St. Mary's and force them to harmonize to Maguire Sisters tunes. Fortunately not too long after that he discovered what was going on up the road from the old Rhode Island homestead. And from the first act he ever saw at the Newport Folk Festival, a very young Tom Paxton, he knew what he wanted to do. That.And damned if that's not what he wound up doing. Well, more like this and that . . . a few years of sincere sixties singer songwriting in Cambridge trying to steal some of Tom Rush's tunings and Bonnie Raitt's rasp, opening shows for Dave van Ronk, Patrick Sky, Doc Watson, John Hammond and Jesse Colin Young . . . a couple of more solo years worshipping at the alter the Saints Tim, Buckley and Hardin . . . a fondly remembered stint as bass player/guitarist for the acoustic trio Beckett, touring and opening shows for Livingston Taylor, Jonathan Edwards and Earl Scruggs. Following time spent in Vermont teamed with guitarist Ron Renninger and saxophonist Leon Future in the band Favorite Cousins, Jaime left New England in 1980 for the shores of South Carolina.What followed was at least a lifetime and a half touring the deep South as lead singer for the Truly Dangerous Swamp Band, learning how to drive a truck while sleeping . . . actually, the tour lasted for a pretty constant 8 ½ years . . . the Swamp Band was out there rocking college campuses and clubs from Oxford, Mississippi to New York City, Princeton, NJ to Key West, opening shows for Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Poco, Roseanne Cash and Vince Gill among others . . . and all the time Jaime was gathering up the pieces of his particular musical puzzle . . .In the mid 1990’s, things changed again when Jaime relocated to the New Mexican desert town of Santa Fe. The voice he found there is nothing short of amazing. He has since released six well received solo albums. His finely honed songwriting skills combined with powerful vocals and intricate guitar playing have been praised in acoustic music publications like Sing Out! and Dirty Linen magazine, as well as being singled out in songwriting competitions like the John Lennon songwriting contest and the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Contest where he is a three time finalist.In addition to touring the US performing solo at clubs, festivals and house concerts, Jaime is signed to Club de Musique Records, an indie singer/songwriter label based in Milan, Italy. He has toured in Italy and England and in 2006 recorded his album once or twice upon a time at a studio near Bologna, Italy using an all Italian backup band.
An engaging, emotional and energetic performer, Jaime is now working to expand his touring to reach a wider US audience and to see as much of the rest of the world as is possible, singing the whole way. He’s beginning to suspect that he might be into this music thing for the long run.Booking information is available at BlueHeronArtists.com
contact Meredith Ray
[email protected] Phone 303-973-3687Latest news updates available at www.myspace.com/JaimeMichaels
