Press Kit
Michael Waite
michaelwwaite@gmail.com
172 County Road KCI
Marquette, MI 49855
Phone: +1-906-361-5628
View a radio one-sheet for the single Me and My Cat at Christmastime by clicking here.
View a radio one-sheet for the album We’ve Always Been at Home by clicking here.
View a radio one-sheet for the album Let it Go by clicking here.
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Press Quotations with Sources Linked
“…the quintessential rural singer-songwriter”
— ROSS BOISSINEAU, LOCAL SPINS MAGAZINE
“…refreshingly un-pop… the rhyming schemes sneak up on the listener, twisting the meaning of a stanza, confirming a simple fact: life is a beautiful conundrum.”
— JOHN SMOLENS, MARQUETTE MONTHLY
“One of the best one-man shows you’ll ever see”
—THE NORTH WIND, NMU’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Praise from Other Musicians
“One of my favorite songwriters and singers in Michigan”
—JOSHUA DAVIS, SINGER/SONGWRITER
“His velvet voice, smooth finger-picking acoustic guitar style combined with honest, beautifully crafted songs will touch your heart and bring a tear to your eye. Songs about friendship, love, bad habits, and the good life”
— JOHN CHURCHVILLE, GRAMMY-WINNING PERCUSSIONIST
"Why is this guy not famous? ...one of the best scat singers in the country."
—SUSAN WERNER, SINGER/SONGWRITER
“I have no doubt this was one of those performances I will remember to the end of my days… … was musically gorgeous, emotionally stout, and just intellectually lush. Teared up several times, laughed lots more, and shivered on nearly every piece.”
—ALEC LINDSAY, ORNITHOLOGIST
Short Bio
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Michael Waite weaves together folk, jazz, Americana, blues, and classic singer/songwriter elements into songs that explore the nuances of everyday life while staying grounded in the pursuit of happiness and wholeness. He has a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance, along with the education of a fifteen-year-long Taco Tuesday residency in a hotel lounge playing songs pulled off of a request wheel. While his music rings with the sounds of roots American music, his songs and arrangements have a fresh creativity and feature vocal improvisations informed by his first instrument, the jazz trombone.
Winner of the Marquette Arts and Culture Center’s “Outstanding Performer” award, Michael Waite has been called the “Voice of Northern Michigan” and “Marquette’s Quintessential Roots Singer-Songwriter.” People from the central UP often tell him that when they’re away from home his recordings bring them right back to the place they’re missing.
2022 Album Story
Michael Waite’s second studio album, We’ve Always Been at Home, was recorded in the house he built for his family in the Huron Mountains north of Marquette in Michigan’s UP, two miles from the furthest reaches of the electrical grid. The songs feature sage and playful observations about human nature and speak of the natural surroundings of their wilderness home, sometimes allusively and sometimes directly, such as in the Song of the River Thrush, an expression of the personal meaning of the sublime call of the hermit thrush. The sense of place on the album is enhanced by field recordings Michael made from the forest and shore near their home, as a fitting background to songs written within this same soundscape. The album features collaborations with many of the region’s finest musicians, including string arrangements written by Waite and performed by area high school students and their teachers. Michael's own orchestra teacher, Janis Peterson, is featured on fiddle on Please Marry Me and O Lord Put Me Out on the Sea. The album is set to release on October 6th, 2022.
“The new CD is an illumination. Music that rises out of the woods and lakes and streams of the UP. Sincere and wry lyrics backed by fine instrumental arrangements, which blend downhome, classical, and quirky. Mike has a unique vocal range (you can't help but think of birds and waterfowl while listening to these tunes), employing inflections and phrasings that remind me of The Band's Richard Manuel. Anyone who thinks there's a unique music to this land on Lake Superior would appreciate Mike's new collection of songs.”
— John Smolens, author. His full review of this album can be found at this link.
Long Bio
A melding of earthy grace and campfire poeticism, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Michael Waite hails from the north shore of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Weaving together a combination of folk, jazz, Americana, blues, and classic singer/songwriter elements, Waite's songs explore the geography and nuances of everyday life while keeping a keen eye on the pursuit of happiness and wholeness. Common themes in his work include the wonders of the natural world, the mysteries of the spiritual, and the joys of kith and kin. He's not afraid to sing about his darkness too, but at the end of the day he knows what he has and is grateful for it.
Raised in Harvey, a small town outside the port city of Marquette, Waite took early influence from his parents’ blues albums and Irish and American folk songs sung by his father, who passed on to Michael his uncommon memory for songs. He studied trombone in college, and picked up the guitar to accompany his singing. Earning a classical voice degree from Northern Michigan University, he began his career as a singer/songwriter, playing his own songs alongside a motley collection of covers. Before long he'd become a staple of the North Country music scene, connecting with audiences in the rare way that only true, deep talent does. While his powerful voice can easily reach the back seats, a quiet humility and gentle warmth marks his demeanor on and off stage. With each performance Waite disappears completely into the song, transporting himself and his listeners with grace, power, and the hard-won finesse earned by years of singing in all kinds of situations.
His repertoire and lifestyle grew out of the same root system. Building a home in the Huron Mountains just northwest of Marquette, he and his wife began raising a family in the rustic Michigan backwoods and their shared experiences inspired much of the material on 2008's Let It Go, Waite's debut album. Recorded in Chicago with a brilliant band of close friends and infused with a lifetime of musical influences, Let It Go beautifully captures the essence of Waite's philosophy; its songs meditate on themes of love, patience, connection, and the concept of home in both the physical and emotional senses. A critical success, the album served to broadcast his music well beyond Northern Michigan's borders and in the years since its release, he's been found touring as far afield as the Pacific Northwest. In 2015 he formed the six-piece acoustic band Adam Sawfox, helping him explore new tonal landscapes and a richer harmonic palette.
Michael’s new album, We’ve Always Been at Home, is coming out in mid 2022, with the full album release set for October 6th.
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