Hi, here with a bit o' news to tickle your fancy. Like most folks in 2020 I been holed up for quite a spell, but busy. Have a new CD "Bare Bones" aimed for release in early October, a 4-disc set of 56 songs, subtitled "Chance, Folly, Desire & Dream" - best described by the liner notes on the back cover: “These songs, just vocal and guitar, recorded in ’78, ’79, ’81, and ’84 on a portable cassette, are remnants and revenants from my roaring 20s and dirty 30s, when it finally dawned on me that singin’ in bars…
Read moreOctober 1, 2025
New release! NINE LIVES OF SADIE BRIAR by Melvin litton
https://www.amazon.com/Lives-Sadie-Briar-Melvin-Litton-ebook/dp/B0FTJMH4RZ
Begins in blood and ends in fire, Nine Lives of Sadie Briar traces one woman's quietly heroic journey through an American century. From an Indian raid on the Kansas frontier in 1869 when she's briefly taken captive as a baby to Christmas Eve 1968 when she witnesses man first orbit the moon, Sadie experiences an epochal range of event and emotion through two husbands, a son and a daughter, and a giant grandson, deemed an idiot, abandoned to her faithful care over her final 50 years. Of keen mind and spirited, she comes of age in the fervent Populist era, falls in love with a radical newspaper man and shares in the ideals and conflicts that still play from the heartland to the shining seas. Sadie’s tale is a slice of the American saga that echoes down to the very moment.
“Melvin Litton’s book inhabits a woman’s consciousness in ways that few male authors since Tolstoy have been able to do…” – Barbara A Kerr, PhD, Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas, author of Smart Girls, Gifted Women and Psychology of Liberty
“Litton has an ear for the music of powerful writing in the treasure of each sentence…a story driven by the surprising, fierce, brave, and quirky nine lives of the captivating title character…” – Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, past Kansas Poet Laureate, author of The Magic Eye
“Melvin Litton makes you feel the raw beauty of the land and the struggles of the people who inhabited it…and lets you feel what Sadie felt, a fierce loyalty to the prairie and a wisdom that comes with her span of time there…” – Sue Shoemaker-Shea, Echo Dell Farm, Ionia, KS
READERS! Received a fine review in BookTrib by Peggy Kurkowski (member of the National Book Critics Circle) of my new novel KING HARVEST - Book 1, The Kansas Murder Trilogy! Check the brief blurb below and/or click link for the full review. If interested, you can buy the book online at Amazon or order from any independent bookstore near you. Thanks!
https://booktrib.com/2022/05/31/when-murder-rears-its-head-a-group-of-boys-coming-of-age-becomes-a-whole-lot-more-complicated-in-king-harvest/
"Flavored in Western-style language and adventure, giving the 'high' in High Plains Drifter an entirely new meaning...Litton delivers an atmospheric modern day cowboy story, replacing the horses with beat-up Fords and Chevys and the tobacco-chewing bronc-buster with joint-smoking soldiers-turned-philosophers. King Harvest is rich in characters and backstory, adding multiple layers to a straightforward conceit: choices have consequences, and they often reap the whirlwind. Readers will look forward to the second installment of the trilogy, which promises a new time, characters and story." -- BookTrib, Peggy Kurkowski (member of National Book Critics Circle)
https://www.amazon.com/King-Harvest-Kansas-Murder-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B09KJ7XSM5/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647629089&sr=8-1
BOOK NEWS:
As you likely know from browsing these Gothic pages, I also write books. Proud to announce that THE KANSAS MURDER TRILOGY will be forthcoming in 2022 from Crossroad Press. KING HARVEST, Book 1 (release date Jan. 25th) is already available for preorder at Amazon, B&N, Apple, Google, and Kobo. BANKS OF THE RIVER, Book 2, will be out in late winter or early spring; and you can expect Book 3, SKIN FOR SKIN, by next summer. If interested please take a look and perhaps try a sample at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KJ7XSM5. Thanks!
The Gothic Cowboy says:
Long time no news. Retired the Border Band in 2016 (back too weak 'n gigs too lean), returned to my origins riding solo as The Gothic Cowboy. Soon picked up a sideman, Mandolin Dan Hermreck, and we've been partnered ever since. Recently (September 16, 2019) we released a 26-song double disc, "Between the Wars." You might check it out. But here's the BIG news -- yesterday I signed with Peter Holmstedt (Hemifran in Sweden), who'll be handling European publicity for the music. No telling what will come of…
Read moreScript from the Old Skin:
Just a heads-up to introduce our new website along with the release of our 5th album (to be delivered Monday, Nov. 23, 2015), a double disc titled Fresh Blood/Old Skin. We’ve spent the better part of the past two years in this 27-song effort – all greatly inspired by our 9th, and last, bass player, Hugh Campbell, a young man of proud Navajo heritage and stout Scottish name. No stranger to borders, child of the desert Southwest come to age in River City (Lawrence), Kansas, he moves like a SkinWalker…
Read moreGothic Cowboy Review
Previous events
SINGER-SONGWRITERS: Eric Mardis, Gary McKnight, Lily B Moonflower, Hugh Campbell, Jonathan Woods, & Outlaw Jake w/Mando Dan!!!
The Gothic Cowboy & Mando Dan -- a raw blend of folk, country, rock 'n blues! No Cover!
SONGWRITERS: John Cutler, Emily Diane Stilwell, Ryan Manuel, Til Willis, The Bus Company (Dave Clark, Aaron Long, Nick Wells), Colby Walter, & Outlaw Jake w/Mando Dan!!! (*Note: Gothic Show is second Sunday due to Super Bowl -- back to First Sunday on March 1rst...)