Freedom to Play What He Wants: Hugh Pool as a solo performer. (Courtesy Photo)
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You’re bored, a little depressed. Sick of the cold, tired of shuffling around the house, and you aren’t sure if you’ll ever see the sun again. In other words, you’re suffering from cabin fever.
Lucky for you, Hugh Pool has the remedy.
The veteran New York musician is visiting Michigan for his annual Cabin Fever Tour, guaranteed to take your mind off the news, the cold and the fact summer sunshine is still months away.
Why Michigan in mid-winter? Pool has toured the state for several years in the summer as half of the blues/roots duo Mulebone, with his partner John Ragusa. So he’s familiar with the area. But he wondered what it was like in the off-season.
So a couple years ago, he decided the best way to cure his own cabin fever was the antidote for Michigan residents as well. His now-annual trek to Michigan is an opportunity for the Brooklyn-based singer, guitarist, producer and studio owner to flee the confines of the big city and the comfort of his recording studio for the wide-open spaces of the road.
Pool: You never know what might happen on stage and on tour. (Courtesy Photo)
Among his inspiration for the shows is fellow troubadour John Prine, who toured the upper Midwest in the off-season, eschewing busy summers for a time when there was both less competition for attention and a need for those holed up in their homes for a way to relieve the isolation. So Pool followed suit, grabbing a guitar and an amp, a couple changes of clothes, and then piled it all into his car.
Then it was off to northern Michigan, during the time when people are starting to feel that winter’s never going to end. It offers relief for both Pool and his audience. And while he loves playing with Ragusa, doing solo gigs gives him freedom to play exactly what he wants, when and how he wants.
“What I get is a little bit of money and the freedom to play what I want to play,” Pool says. “I do more eclectic singer/songwriter (music), flat-picking.”
Pool will perform at Grow Benzie in Benzonia on Tuesday (Feb. 24), Sisters in Traverse City on Wednesday (Feb. 25, $20), Short’s Pull Barn in Elk Rapids on Feb. 27, and Salt Of The Earth in Fennville on March 1.
Pool’s primary income-producing business is Excello Recording in Brooklyn, which he owns and runs. He produces and plays on various sessions there, which gives him the opportunity to play a number of different string instruments, from guitars to bass, mandolin and banjo. He’s worked in the studio with everyone from Debbie Harry (Blondie) to jazz luminary Michael Brecker and fellow string wizard Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, The Band, the Black Crowes).
On stage he’s worked with Patti Smith, Gov’t Mule, Leslie West, Johnny Winter, Dave Edmunds, John Mayall, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and more. He has performed on the “Emeril Lagassi Show,” “The Mitch Albom Show” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” His original songs have been used in network TV shows, movies, award-winning documentaries and an off-Broadway play.
So yeah, the guy gets around.
And while he loves all the opportunities to play with others, there’s a certain attraction to solo gigs. Plus, it gets him out of the house and any ruts and routines.
“I’m a big believer in ‘You never know,’” says Pool. “You can sit at home and you know what will happen. If you go out on the road, you don’t know what will happen.”
VIDEO: Hugh Pool at Chalfonte Theatre (Elk Rapids)
VIDEO: Hugh Pool at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp
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