Sunday, 8/8 – Join me on the patio at one of my favorite places! Come out to the Yarde Tavern for a bite, stay for the tunes!
Live music starts at 4pm!
3 Hadley Street, S. Hadley, MA
Happy Weekend!
Sunday, 7/25 – Join me on the patio at Bond 124 for a bite to eat and some live music!
🎵 Acoustic entertainment starts at 4pm
124 Main Street, Somers, CT
TOMORROW, Sunday, 7/11- Join me at Maple View Farm & brewery in Granby, CT! Quite a lovely spot to enjoy a craft beer and some live music-
🎵 Acoustic tunes begin at 3pm!
192 Salmon Brook Street, Granby, CT
Sunday, June 27 – Find me playing out on the patio at Bond 124!
Music starts at 4pm– Join us!
124 Main Street, Somers, CT
Friday night, 5/28 – Come on up to The O’s Music Bar!
Kevin Crane will kick off the live entertainment at ♪6pm and then I’ll take the stage at ♫8pm with a fresh mix of acoustic covers & some original material- Join us!
330 Amherst Rd, Sunderland, MA
Surprise!
I’m thrilled to pick up a last-minute gig at this beautiful farm & brewery in Granby, CT tomorrow, Sunday, May 16!
Join us at Maple View Farm – should be a lovely day!
Music starts at 3pm 🎶🎸
192 Salmon Brook Road, Granby CT
This Sunday, 3/21, at Nathan Bill’s!
I’ll be warming up the stage from 2pm-4pm with some solo, acoustic covers and original tunes and then we’ll hear from my good friend Scott Reddy from 4pm-6pm!
Gonna be a beautiful day- join us! 🎶🎸💘
110 Island Pond Road, Springfield, MA
You heard it here first- I will be performing at Center Square Grill for St. Patrick’s Day this year!
Stop by one of my all-time favorite restaurants this Wednesday, the 17th, for some holiday-themed food & drink specials and of course, LIVE MUSIC!
I’ll be starting up the acoustic, Irish drinking tunes at 4pm and will play until 7pm– Join us!
84 Center Square, East Longmeadow, MA
Hi Friends,
If this website is no longer a “blip” on your proverbial radar, I 100% understand. It’s no secret that the past year has thrown most of our lives into some state of upheaval.
Like many of us, I was forced to make some difficult decisions to try to maintain both the physical and financial wellness of my household.
It was quite fortunate for me that I was able to find my way into a full-time, benefitted position I enjoy outside the realm of food service. I’ve been missing my server family and sometimes even my old, ever-changing, part-time hours since this move, but because of it I’ve been able to continue supporting myself while also feeling some sense of security with regard to the spread of Covid-19.
While I am incredibly grateful to have been afforded this opportunity during a time of such uncertainty, it’s also the main reason you’ve heard next to nothing out of me, musically, for months.
You might recall a handful of live stream performances I did through Facebook and Instagram around the beginning of lock down, or maybe you even attended one of the last few outdoor gigs I played over the past summer. Those were some of the happiest, most fulfilling moments I can remember throughout the past several months of this quarantine life.
Around July I began working full time and since then it’s been harder and harder to find the time, energy or motivation to pick up a guitar and try to do anything purposeful with it.
I realize that most performing musicians have day jobs and I very much admire those who can really groove in that balance. For me, between the bouts of pandemic-related depression and anxiety and bearing in mind the fact that the physical live music scene is still on indefinite hold, the idea of a mere live stream has felt nearly impossible for a while now.
Today I finally acknowledged the repeated emails I have been receiving from WordPress, urging me to renew my domain registration.
I had been avoiding it, thinking: “What’s the point? I’m not using it, why pay to renew it?” but as the deadline crept closer, I realized that I absolutely do want to try to maintain this web presence. I’m very proud of what I’ve built over the last 5 years, even as so many pieces of that hard-won progress seem to have washed away in the relentless tide of Covid.
By renewing this domain, I acknowledge both inwardly and outwardly that better times are coming and I won’t let all this effort fade away to nothing.
It’s true that I’ve been tired lately but just the small act of committing to maintaining this space has seemed to generate a spark of renewed interest. If I can rely on myself to feed and tend it, maybe it can be rekindled again.
I want to put in the work to find that motivation to keep doing the thing I love and I want to recognize those of you who have supported me along the way, if you’re still there.
I’m still here…
With any luck, we’ll meet again on a sunny patio some Sunday this summer.
Love and miss you all.
Sincerely yours,
-Merrill
TOMORROW, July 19 – Sunday Funday at The Yarde Tavern in South Hadley – Come join us for a cocktail on the patio!
Live music starts at 4pm 🎵
3 Hadley Street, S. Hadley, MA
Merrill Shepard Solo Acoustic 