Hello again!

It's been a long while since our last post, as we have all been busy with other projects and general life business. The Mayflies are starting to rehearse again, however, and as a result, we will start playing more and more shows. Our next one is this weekend in Des Moines at the Raccoon River Brewing Company. Saturday Nov 8th.

Some fun facts about the Mayflies individual members' outside projects;

Benj Upchurch is not only a fantastic mandolinist, he is an accomplished ceramic artist and instructor. You can see his work here: Benj's ceramic art


Natalie Brown is a very busy musician, teaching High School Orchestra in Cedar Rapids as well as playing in several projects. Catch her many performances here: Natalie Brown

Stacy, James and David also play in an increasingly popular Grateful Dead tribute called Winterland. Winterland focuses on the Dead's early 70's/late 60's era music. Here tis: Winterland

Stacy and Benj also play in an original folk act, The Feralings, with Patrick Bloom (founding Mayfly) and Nicole Upchurch (Awful Purdies). Here we are; The Feralings

Hope you all have a stellar autumn!

-The Mayflies

Mayflies Hiatus and Benj and Stacy's new project!

Hey Gang,

The Mayflies are on a brief hiatus, as our fiddle player, Natalie will be studying traditional fiddle in Scotland for 9 months. When she returns, we will begin making our brand of earth scorching bluegrass rock. :)

In the meantime, Stacy, our singer/guitarist, has a new project that includes Benj Upchurch (Mayflies mandolinist) and Patrick Bloom (former Mayfly and founding member) as well as Benj's lovely lady Nicole Upchurch on banjo/vocal. This project is The Feralings and here is a link to our first 3 song demo. I hope you lke it, and will consider visiting our facebook page to sign up and show your support.

Peace!

Mayflies new album, "Saturday Afternoon Girl" leaves the mixing stage!

Hi folks,

Our latest sonic effort, "Saturday Afternoon Girl" has gone from the mixing stage, to the mastering stage, which is to say that it will be released to the public in about a month! We will be pressing this one onto vinyl, as well as CD and as always digital downloads.

We are very excited to share this one with you all. Please stay in tune for more information!

Peace,
The Mayflies

Updates on the recording

So, The Mayflies have been back at Flat Black Studios for the past several weeks, slipping in for a few hours here and there, to lay down tracks for our 5th album. (yes, I say album because I grew up in the 70's)
Our pal, (and co-founder of the Mayflies), Patrick Bloom, is producing the record. It is a departure from our last one, A Thousand Small Things, in that it is much more introspective, mellow and spacey.

As soon as we have a track mixed, we'll post a sneak peek, so keep checking back.

Bye for now!

April 30th with Cornmeal!

Hey friends!

We are pleased to deliver this early warning about our show with the wonderful band Cornmeal, on April 30th in Iowa City at The Blue Moose Tap. Tickets are going fast, so you may want to order them now. If you haven't heard Cornmeal play yet, you are in for a treat. These folks play fun, fast, and freaky bluegrass...and put on a stellar show. Click on their name above to go to their website for links to video.

In other news, The Mayflies are nearly finished tracking the new album (as of yet untitled) and we are very excited about what is coming out of our instruments, and are so grateful to have the opportunity to record our songs with the production help of our very talented pal, Patrick Bloom.
Hope to see you at The Blue Moose!

Peace,
The Mayflies

Announcing the birth of yet another new Mayfly!

The Mayflies family is so pleased to announce that Samantha Blickhan (who sang harmoniously on our last record, A Thousand Small Things) is now a bonafide member of the band! You may not see her at every single performance, as she does play with the wonderful Wandering Bears and the vivacious Vagabonds too.
However, she is a fine addtion to our ranks.

In other news, we recently discovered that our talented fiddler, Natalie Brown, is also a talented piano player...so look for some more change-ups in our instrumentation! Natalie just released a great solo record, by the way, called "Violin Crossings" Check it out! The Mayflies do a funkified version of' Devil Went Down to Georgia' on it.

In other, more additional, extra news, The Mayflies have begun work on our next record! We are in pre-production currently, and will be going back into Flat Black Studios in early December.

Well, that's about it....oh yeah.....come to The Mill in Iowa City on Halloween eve 10-31, as we will be dressing up as, and attempting to channel the music and energy of one of our biggest influences...The Grateful Dead. This show should be a spectacular, so please spread the word and come on down!!

Grateful for Jerry's Jam

Well, this past weekend we headlined Friday night at the 12th annual Jerry's Jam (celebration of Garcia's birthday) at Hidden Acres Music Farm, and we had a transcendent experiance. The people were so loving and kind and fun to spend time with. What an exceptional tribe of people.

We learned about a dozen Grateful Dead tunes for the event, and they came really well. My favorite moments of our set were Eyes of the World >space> Stella Blue and Half Step Mississippi > Franklin's Tower.

Thanks to all the avid fans who made us feel so at home!

Love,
The Mayflies