Welcome Home and The Kerrville Folk Festival

I’m getting packed up to leave the Kerrville Folk Festival this morning, for Houston, Texas to visit a few friends and play a show, before I head back to California.

This has been my second year in a row having the opportunity to attend the New Folk Songwriting Competition, and I’ve been doing my best to be present while I’m here—so I’m writing this from a Starbucks, with some A/C and internet before I start my drive to Houston.

I wrote this song called “Home” a long while back. It’s about how home isn’t a place: it’s people. You don’t have to agree with me on that notion: it’s my own personal belief system—and I don’t want to push that agenda on others. Moreover—I hope for it.

I open up my heart for others.

Some people wipe their shoes on it (and that’s okay).

Others yet still, pick it up off the floor, dust it off and put it back where it belongs (thank you my lovelies).

And then there are those few who have this perplexing perpetual gift of bouncing my heart on a chair like a Jewish Wedding. 99.9% of the time, they are artists. You know who you are you.

“Love is eternal sacred light, free from the shackles of time.”

“Welcome Home” will never grow old on these tired ears, so it will remain the music of my soul, having it said to me, and I too, will say it in return.

Thank you my friends.

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, songwriter, singer, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

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The Puzzle (Acoustic)

I’m a deeply curious person. I look at the world around me, and I see endless mystery.

Potential quantum fields, where you as an observer have just as much importance in the creation of reality, as a particle within that quantum field, that seemingly chooses one state once you observe it.

Wow.

And you’re living in this. What I just said a second ago is how a quantum computer works with a qubit. That qubit exists in a superposition until it is utilized for computation.

I mention all this, because that’s what this song is about. It’s about reality and life here on Earth. It’s about mathematics and religion and science and whether these are things we discover or if they are human inventions.

I’m reading this book by Carl Gustav Jung right now called “Answer to Job”. It’s about the Book of Job from the Torah or the Old Testament.

YHWH. Jung made this speculation: what if God is Unconscious?

I can only shrug my shoulders—but what I can say is that I’m immensely thankful that I am conscious and I get to ask questions and be curious and read books and write songs that celebrate this mystery that we live in. We take it for granted; I take it for granted.

The Puzzle. That’s what this song is called. It’s on an album I just put out called Desert Dogs.

You can stream it. You can buy it. I’m gonna go for a walk and appreciate all this natural splendor today and be thankful. If you like this tune, it's also available to listen to in its original form, here:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/mikevitale/desert-dogs

A Recipe for Kooky's: https://linktr.ee/mikevitale

Bob Loblaw's Law Blog: https://mikevitalemusic.com

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, songwriter, singer, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

SOCIAL MEDIA

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

INSIDE my HEAD RSS

Desert Dogs Now Available on All Streaming Platforms

My New Album DESERT DOGS released today, Friday May 9th.

It should be live on Spotify and Apple Music and will continue to aggregate to all the streaming services throughout today.

This has been a unique release for me, as I treated every song on the album as a single. I’m happy to finally have it out to the world. My very last single is SILVER LINING. That will be live on the streaming services as well.

I gave Spotify about two weeks to mull over that track, in terms of Playlist Placement. I’m not holding my breath, but always hope for the best. I also manually pitched it to playlists for Spotify this morning. It's about $80 to do that, and I'm happy to give it a go, because I believe in this song and I believe in this album.

The Album Cover: I took this shot at the Natural History Museum in Manhattan in 2021 while I was out on tour supporting my previous album Φ.  They are desert dogs. Unique. Unlike and unrelated to wolves and coyotes. They are their own special variety, and the last of their kind. That is why I chose them: Wild African Dogs.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to its creation:

Frank Reina - Drums

Evan Stone - Drums

Tamir Barzilay - Drums

Brad Cummings - Bass

Paul Jones - Bass

Dave Gonzalez - Bass (R.I.P. my friend)

Cory Hunter - Bass

Chris Halopoff - Guitar

Molly Miller - Guitar

Cory Clark - Guitar

Scott Dibble - Keys

Jesse Nason - Keys

Anastasia Flionis - Background Vocals

Geoff Pearlman - keys, drums, guitars, bass, shakers, percussion

Ryan Lipman - Mixing Engineer

Andre De Santanna - Mixing Engineer

Barrett Slagle - Mixing Engineer

Jon O’Brien - Mixing Engineer

Geoff Pearlman - Mixing Engineer

Mark Alan Miller - Mastering

Thank you for being incredible at what you do and for making this with me.

Link to Stream:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/mikevitale/desert-dogs

Link to Purchase Album:

https://mikevitalemusic.bandcamp.com/album/desert-dogs

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, songwriter, singer, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

SOCIAL MEDIA

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

INSIDE my HEAD RSS

Take It Easy | The Eagles

Here’s a one mic take of one Mike playing a take of Take It Easy by The Eagles (but mostly Jackson Browne?)

Recorded into an AT4033 on a Martin D3R

GoFundMe (help me get to the Kerrville Folk Festival and back on Tour) https://gofund.me/b15baea8

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, songwriter, singer, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

SOCIAL MEDIA

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

INSIDE my HEAD RSS

Killer Queen

This was around this time in 2023. May, I mean. I mean May. Maypoles? That’s a thing still, right?

Thoughts on me in 2023:

• I feel that 2025 me, has mastered the detail of not covering my face with a microphone. Perhaps I lack attention to detail when I’m doing things in haste? (that’s probably all of us?). I don’t know; I’ve never been all of us?

• This is Killer Queen, by Queen. An acquaintance of mine said he felt they were very underrated as a band. I think so too. They are brilliant.

• I’m not sure if I would have written this very statement in 2023. I’m going to lean towards a no, but my head is in the grow category.

I think that about covers a bunch of stuff that has little to do with this song, and everything to do with me. Narcissist!

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, songwriter, singer, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

SOCIAL MEDIA

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

INSIDE my HEAD RSS

Bandcamp Friday May 2nd 2025 (that's now, for now)

Today is Bandcamp Friday and I have a new album called DESERT DOGS, that is available exclusively for sale on Bandcamp. I spent two years releasing this album one single at a time.

It comes to streaming platforms as a full length album, next week on Friday May 9th, however, you can purchase the album today on Bandcamp and all proceeds go to me for today only.

Thanks for listening to the stories I tell. I hear them from all sorts of folks, and I write songs about those stories, as well as my own on occassion. At heart, I am a storyteller and a creator. I absolutely adore producing music like this and performing it for folks.

I’ll put a link below if you’re interested in bending an ear. People tell me the first track is really great. It’s called Silver Lining.

Bandcamp Friday Link:

https://mikevitalemusic.bandcamp.com/album/desert-dogs

Bob Loblaw's Law Blog

https://www.mikevitalemusic.com

A Recipe for Kooky's:

https://linktr.ee/mikevitale

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, songwriter, singer, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

SOCIAL MEDIA

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

INSIDE my HEAD RSS