Mick McLaughlin was my music partner, compañero of the long nights, and inspiration as a wildly creative and deeply talented musician. He died in 1998, leaving a silent rupture in the creative universe. Years later, opening a box of his tapes and listening and cataloguing his music knocked loose so many emotions - sadness, elation, nostalgia, gratitude, intense missing. I realized that music only dies when it no longer pushes air, that like any living thing, a song needs to breathe.
I was determined to make Mick’s music breathe again. And it finally does with the release of his first single “Dance Dance” from an eleven-track, soon-to-be-released album of original Mick McLaughlin music titled Dopeyville Stomp. “Dance Dance” can be downloaded free from Bandcamp (link below). Leave a comment here so that I know Mick’s music is reaching people.
I also send this out into the world as a tribute to the best drummer and best brother I ever had. Every beat on every song on Dopeyville Stomp is played by Gregg Todd.