Welcome to OUR Blog!
January 3, 2006
By Bob McKillop

Hi folks – my name is Bob McKillop, and I’m thrilled about writing this blog and helping to promote and support the Maine acoustic and folk music scene! Thanks to Shannon Bryan and all the folks at MaineToday.com for the opportunity!

You may have read my bio associated with this blog, but you can get more information at my website .

I’m passionate about songwriting as an art and as a craft, but also as a business. There is an incredible pool of songwriting and performing talent out there in Maine – it really is amazing. These people love what they do, and I believe that they have a right to pursue it as a way of life. Too many highly talented musicians and songwriters are doing what they do best in the margins of their lives – we would all benefit if they could focus on their art and make a decent living at it.

This requires a certain level of support in the community and a willingness on the part of music patrons to part with some disposable income in return for the enjoyment they receive in consuming live and locally recorded music.

It also requires a level of professionalism and business savy on the part of the artists, and the presence in the market place of viable market channels for the products of their efforts. As the digital music revolution evolves, there will be a wider set of opportunities for artists of all types to get their material in front of an audience. But with those opportunities comes a need for a higher level of technical and business sophistication.

My goals in music are to develop my own songwriting talent, to become a competent business person in the music industry, and to develop a series of conduits for me and other Maine songwriters and musicians to get their art in front of appreciative audiences.

The opportunity to write this blog is one small step in achieving those goals, but an important one; it’s also one that I will enjoy immensely.

I’m hoping to help you identify the local and regional music that you will enjoy, the venues where you will most enjoy hearing it, and the recorded music that you will most enjoy having on your play list. While I will focus on local Portland and Maine talent, I will also write about the great music in other parts of New England – Boston, Providence, the Berkshires, Portsmouth, Nashua, and Manchester.

Also, I’m looking forward to hearing from you, the readers of this blog, and to engaging in a discussion with you about how you share or don’t share my opinions, and about what your favorite artists and venues might be. I sincerely love all types of music, but I’m focusing here on acoustic, folk, Americana, and blues music. Let’s keep it constructive – I’m OK with you indicating that you don’t like an artist or his/her music – that’s part of what this is all about; but let’s keep it respectful and clean.

Thanks again to MaineToday.com, and to you, the reading public, for this chance to learn and grow in music. I’ll do my best to live up to the opportunity.

All the best to you
Bob McKillop

E-mail this entry to a friend