My name is Michael Gay. That’s my real last name. It worked for my dad and it’ll work for me. I’m a guy who lives in Minnesota, who likes to write songs and sing them for people. I’ve chased this little dream my whole life and it has drastically altered the course I thought my life would take. I went to school to be a history teacher. Turns out, teaching isn’t very compatible with singing in bars all the time. The songs eventually won out. Now I just tell whatever stories I feel like telling.
I’ve released a few albums of original songs in the past and they are not hard to find if you’re interested in hearing them. None of them “went anywhere” but I am proud of them none-the-less and they’ve gotten me this far. They are all documents of a time and a place, projects I made with my friends within the means and limitations I had at the time.
When people ask me about the music I make I generally just say, “I do the troubadour thing” or something like, “If Jimmy Buffett grew up hanging out in pine forests and swimming in freshwater lakes.” Really though, most of my songs are stories that I feel convey some greater truth or create a space to feel comfort that maybe I couldn’t find at the time when I wrote it.
My favorite artists will always be the folks who only needed an instrument and a microphone to get their message across. I do my best to write songs that I think can stand the same test of time and truth and stand on their own without need of much embellishment. I believe in the power of songs to connect and unite people from all backgrounds and to be a portal of understanding to new perspectives.
I am motivated to tell stories of people I have known and to share the truths I have gleaned along the way. I like everyday characters and people who march to their own drum. I’ll admit that I am prone to romantic levels of nostalgia and tend to feel an immense dread for the future. I also can’t help but try to see the light between the cracks and to find a positive outlook in spite of the chaos. That’s usually when I find a song.
So yeah, my name is Michael Gay and I am a country and folk singer from Minneapolis. I am stubbornly hopeful that music is the way that I get to see and experience the world. I have a great love and hope for humanity and the tendency to get real existential, real fast. I like to rhyme words. I tend to have an unruly mustache and unfortunately am my own barber. I regularly drink a whole pot of coffee on an empty stomach and somehow never learn that this is a terrible idea. I like the feel of the wind in my teeth. I spend a lot of time messing around with broken junk in my garage. I like to make friends and hear new stories. I play anywhere they’ll have me and I would very much like to meet you and sing you a few songs.
If that sounds like your speed, don’t be a stranger. I like to play.
-MG