Michael Merenda: Bio
MICHAEL MERENDA
Michael Merenda is a wordsmith, vocalist and guitarist who has long recognized that a good song has the ability to improve the world. On both an intensely personal and universal level Merenda’s work strives to entertain as well as illuminate. His early fascination with the socially conscious writings of Bob Marley and Bob Dylan met head-on with the arrival of young, smart, outspoken artists such as Ani Difranco and Dan Bern, furthering the young writer’s blossoming ideology that politics need not be polarizing and dry, but alive, vibrant and inspiring.
Merenda’s inventive approach to songmaking has been described as “zen.” He’s not one to premeditate a song or to fish stories out of newspapers, but rather he hoists his antenna and dials in frequencies already alive inside himself and the atmosphere. As a result, there are plenty of catchy hooks and memorable lines, but they come at you like approaching headlights on a dark, two-lane highway.
His travels with internationally acclaimed string-band, The Mammals, have made Merenda exceedingly comfortable on stage. His signature breathy voice has hints of Nick Drake and M.Ward and in performance this soft delivery works like a magnet. Familiar yet enigmatic, Michael Merenda is a talent to watch in this songwriting renaissance of the 21st century.
Mike & Ruthy
When Mike and Ruthy met in New York City in 1998 Ruth was a young actress with a family background in folk music and Mike was a fledgeling playwright and songwriter with a family background in New England ice hockey. Within a month they were performing together in the basket houses of New York’s Lower East Side.
“Ungar is the daughter of Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy, two musicians who have kept American folk traditions stoked. Ungar spent her childhood amidst all manner of string instruments and the visitations of members of New York’s Jewgrass gang. She met songwriter Michael Merenda in the late 90’s and, after hearing him perform an original tune, asked him to play it again, whereupon she promptly sang a part in perfect harmony. Thus began a professional and romantic relationship . . . Ungar is a sensational singer . . . Merenda is one of the best songwriters of his generation - literate, political, melodic, alternately angry and satirical and sensual.” - Michael Simmons, High Times
The year 2000 found the duo moving from the high rents of the city to Western Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley where they met Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and formed a subversive, acoustic, all-timey stringband called The Mammals. For 6 years, they have toured concert halls and music festivals in America, Canada, Australia, and Europe including a 40 date tour in 2005 with Arlo Guthrie which culminated at the world renowned Carnegie Hall.
“Every decade has its state-of-the-art folk-rock band. This decade's is The Mammals, most often noted for featuring Pete Seeger's grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and fiddler Jay Ungar's daughter Ruth. But the band's secret threat is songwriter Michael Merenda, seemingly descended not just from one famous folkie, but the entire folk tradition itself. His songs range from sensitive, breathy ballads to audibly grinning political broadsides.”
- Jeff Rosenberg, Willamette Week
Mike and Ruthy got married on October 28, 2006 and with nearly a decade of touring experience, three Mammals studio records (Evolver, Rock that Babe, Departure), three Mike solo records (Trapped in the Valley, Election Day, Quiver) and one solo Ruth record (Jukebox) under their belts, the two hit the studio in January 2007 to record The Honeymoon Agenda, their first recording as husband and wife.
Theirs is a natural collaboration that reminds many listeners of Simon & Garfunkle or Richard and Mimi Farinía (perhaps because of the lyrical and blended vocal duets.) Mike & Ruthy accompany their voices with guitars, banjo, ukulele, glockenspiel, and often a kick drum (Mike began his musical journey as a drummer!) Mike gets the Dylan comparison a lot, not just for his left-leaning, Guthrie-esque song stylings, but also for his large, brown, curly hairstyle. Ungar’s singing talent is often likened to that of a Billie Holiday or Norah Jones although, ultimately, both of these young artists defy simple comparisons. The duo lives and records in their Catskill Mountain home just outside of Woodstock, NY.
The Story of Mike
Michael Merenda grew up in the small University town of Durham, NH. He spent his youth playing drums and guitar in several Northeastern rock/punk/reggae outfits before heading to NYC after graduating with a creative writing degree from Bowdoin College in Maine.
In New York Mike found himself at home at the Lower East Side’s Sidewalk Cafe, home of the burgeoning “anti-folk” scene. It was while living in New York that Mike met fiddler/singer Ruth Ungar who instantly began harmonizing to Merenda’s unique, poetic, outspoken songs and introduced the young songwriter to traditional folk music.
After a year spent performing together in New York the two left the high rents of the city for Western Massachusetts where Mike recorded his first album, TRAPPED IN THE VALLEY. Produced by Jose Ayerve (Spouse), “Trapped” unmistakably documents Merenda’s free-form style of writing and propensity towards sonic experimentation interlocking with the more traditional sounds and rhythms he had recently began exploring.
Under Ungar’s influence, Mike picked up old-time banjo and began working at the Fretted Instrument Workshop in Amherst, MA. At Fretted Mike was introduced to Tao Rodriguez-Seeger (Grandson of banjo-virtuoso, Pete Seeger) and, before he knew it, Mike was touring the US and Canada with Rodriguez-Seeger and Ungar under the name The Mammals.
Traditional music, which started out as a fascinating dichotomy to the modern, folk-ish songs Merenda had been intuitively writing, became a main focus. Soon The Mammals were headlining major American folk festivals and were being hired to teach banjo, fiddle and songwriting techniques at music camps and schools.
It was within The Mammals that Merenda evolved into a topical songwriter in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Not one to leave his original vision behind, however, Mike continued to produce solo records of his darker, "vaguely apocalyptic" material.
In 2004, with the help of The Mammals producer Max Feldman, Merenda released ELECTION DAY a “remarkable . . . musically experimental . . . political album”; a wild amalgamation of political folk, freak folk, anti-folk, rock, pop, country, alternative, underground and emo.
Merenda contributed songs to two more Mammals albums (Rock that Babe, Departure) before hitting the studio in January 2006, again with producer Jose Ayerve, to record QUIVER, a collection of twelve stunning, mysterious folk songs which unfold like a series of skilled poems sung to glimmering musical backdrops.
In 2007 Mike will be touring the US in support of QUIVER in between Mammals tours which will bring the band all over America as well as Australia and Europe. In November 2006 Mike will be supporting one of his favorite new-folk songwriters, Dan Bern, for a string of shows in Oregon and Washington state.