Lucky Mud's new CD, Into the Night, is starting to get airplay in Europe as well as here in America. Fourteen original songs from Mike and Maggie McKinney bring out their skills as both vocalists and songwriters.
An important new album from the duo, each song tells a story, though there is no ‘theme.' It starts quietly with Into the Night, a tale of driving an old car into the unknown, "The night sky is dusted with stars/ and there's a pale crescent moon on the rise/ I've spent my whole life just running from you/ and I don't really know why."
The duo splits the songwriting on this, their eighth album, as Maggie follows Mike's opening song with a poignant story of living alone. Into the Night ends with a Cowboy-Swing song called Born to Honky-Tonk, then Maggie's raucous Truth With a Twist.
"Lucky Mud is from the deeper side of Folk Music. The couple have a soulful connection that is palpable, and their ballads are a much needed departure from the cookie cutter, sample-driven fodder currently filling the airwaves. A splendid way to battle the daily grind. "
EARBUZZ
"Lucky Mud's new CD (Ride the Pony) is a showcase of original contemporary folk music - pure down-home Americana, from Mike's beautifully melancholic "Evangeline," to Maggie's wonderful show-closer, "Ride the Pony," But it's the duo's milk-and-honey harmonies that wrap their sound up into one neat package"
Rice B. RadioIndy
Mike and Maggie have played their original songs from the mainstages of the Florida Folk Festival and the Will McLean Festival to a sold-out concert at the legendary Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, Ireland. Their music has taken them to concerts in Newcastle, England, and to The Forge, in Bandera, Texas. They have eight CDs showcased on CD Baby and their own website - http://www.luckymudmusic.com
One of Maggie's original songs, Banshee, is now the title cut on a new Independent Film out of Oregon, making the rounds of film festivals.
Mike's book, A Thousand Bridges, released to critical acclaim as a hardbound novel from Walker Books in NYC, is now available as an eBook in all readers:
Available now on Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/A-Thousand-Bridges-ebook/dp/B0061YAU5Y
iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-thousand-bridges/id475526637?mt=11
Sony at http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/michael-mckinney/a-thousand-bridges/_/R-400000000000000529707
Barnes and Noble at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-thousand-bridges-michael-mckinney/1013957032
His writer's blog, http://writinginbedsleepinginthechair.blogspot.com/
is now online.