Piano-playing singer/songwriter and producer
The love child of Leon Russell and Randy Newman; it’s clever and quirky, funky and bluesy.
The full band show is a party with horns and up to 9 musicians on stage!
Solo piano performances are intimate and soul-stirring.
Lyrics are personal yet speak to the universal:
coming out, finding purpose, grief for his late husband, and staying positive through the pain.
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About Borrowed Tunes, vol. 2: Songs for You
Mike Maimone, an LA-based artist who recently relocated to the city of angels from Nashville debuts his 6th solo album and 2nd collection of covers, Borrowed Tunes, vol. 2: Songs for You. These piano and vocal recordings radiate with the emotions of love and loss.
Maimone met Howard Bragman in February, 2022. One year later they were engaged, when Bragman was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia. The couple tied the knot in the hospital on February 10, 2023. Howard passed on February 11.
Maimone had planned to release an album, “Mookie’s Big Gay Mixtape” in March, but once again canceled all of his tour dates and postponed the release. (His 2021 album release tour for “Broke, Not Broken” was also canceled due to a pericarditis diagnosis and hospitalization). He attended Bragman’s funeral with family in Michigan and performed an emotional song at Howard’s request for his headline-grabbing memorial service.
With their home now unbearably silent, Maimone decided that filling it with music would be the best therapy. Still unable to process his emotions into original songs, he recorded seven covers that were meaningful throughout their relationship. In his words, “Recording the songs that were important to us has been part of my therapy since Howard passed away in February. It has been difficult to face the fact that I never got to play some of them for him. Lots of tears. But sharing these songs and the love and the stories behind them with you all now really helps. I hope you’ll enjoy them and toast to Howard with me as you listen.”
Maimone played the songs on his Patreon livestream and realized that this was his way back into performing. “I had canceled everything. I didn’t want to be out in the world without Howard, much less back on stage,” he said. “But after learning and recording these special songs, I felt so incredibly connected to Howard. He devoted his life to helping people live their truths with confidence and courage. He wouldn’t want me stuck in the house. I realized that sharing the love behind this music was my way back onto the stage.”
The first of three Howard Bragman tribute shows was a sold-out night at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood on Augst 11, 2023. The next two are August 22 at Rockwood Music Hall in New York, and September 7 at the Red Room in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit The Trevor Project.
Maimone shared on social media, “I’m donating the proceeds to the Trevor Project, because there have been moments I wanted to join Howard, but music saved my life. So I want to support this organization that helps LGBTQ+ individuals who don’t have such an outlet for their grief and trauma.”
Maimone has been featured on NPR, American Songwriter, Pride.com, Relix, Nashville’s Lightning 100, Rock and Blues Muse and more. For more information on Mike Maimone, visit his website here, or connect with him on Instagram at @mikemaimonemusic.
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Press Contact:
Cory Councill
councillcory “at” gmail.com
Contact Mike:
mike “at” mikemaimone.com
(213) 677-7664
Live Photos
About Mike
Off stage, Mike Maimone is humble and introverted. He greets the staff at venues, quietly sets up his keyboard, and mingles with the audience before his set. But as soon as the lights come up, he transforms. Daytrotter founder Sean Moeller took note, saying he “goes from zero to a hundred quicker than most.” Relocating to Nashville in January 2020, he moved characteristically fast. He took his keyboard-stomping, howling vocals, and piano chops to songwriter rounds and showcases every night. By February he was named a Lightning 100 FM Local Artist of the Week.
When COVID put an end to his auspicious start as a Nashville performer, Maimone switched gears, creating a visual album in his home studio. “isolation:001:the movie,” was accepted to multiple film festivals, including a very special live performance at Hobnobben Film Fest.
As live music came back, Maimone released “Broke, Not Broken” on June 18, 2021 (he had recorded it with his band in Chicago pre-pandemic).
Maimone was hospitalized the week of the album release with pericarditis and canceled his release tour. But in typical workaholic fashion, Maimone made a music video in his hospital bed for album track F.M.L. Since he had no playback device for the audio, he had to film the entire video in 14-second clips using Instagram stories. Shortly after returning from the hospital, Maimone and his partner of 7 years – and then-fiancé – parted ways.
About a year later in 2022 Mike met PR guru Howard Bragman, and their lives intertwined immediately. Over the next year, the two split time between Nashville and LA, while Maimone released six singles in anticipation of a “mixtape” album for release in early 2023. The couple was engaged in February 2023, when Bragman was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia. They were married in the hospital on February 10, 2023. Howard passed on February 11. His last request of his new husband was to perform “The Best” at his memorial. Maimone granted that special request, following a performance of “God Bless the Child” with music legend Stevie Wonder.
Maimone pushed the release of “Mookie’s Big Gay Mixtape” until June 2023. Upon its release Mike shared, “If you’ve been with me the past 2 years, you know how much this means… Pericarditis, breaking off an engagement, finding my footing again, meeting my other half, getting engaged, his diagnosis, marrying him and losing him in the same week… this is so much more than an album to me. It’s a testament to carrying on. Through the hardest of times, we have to keep our heads up, send positivity into the world as best we can, and be there for each other.”
Always laced with a bit of comedy and sarcasm, Maimone’s latest music is a spattering of genres, tapping into a range of emotions experienced through major life changes in recent years, including the pandemic, ending one love, finding new love, and more. “Although it’s very different from my previous albums, it turns out that a patchwork of songs is the perfect way to tell the story of the past few chaotic years,” he says.
“Mookie’s Big Gay Mixtape” is the 44th release from the singer/songwriter and producer on his label 8eat8 Records since 2008. He has also contributed keyboards to many other artists’ recordings.
On top of being prolific in the studio, Maimone has averaged over 100 tour dates each year since 2005. As a solo artist, with his trio Mutts, as a keyboardist for Company of Thieves, Los Colognes, and others, he has performed at legendary venues from The Fillmore in San Francisco to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, and at festivals such as Lollapalooza, Sasquatch!, Summer Camp, Forecastle, Summerfest, and Riot Fest. He has toured in support of artists including OK Go, Plain White Tees, Blues Traveler, Murder By Death, The Hold Steady, and more.
Maimone grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, not coming out of the closet to his Catholic family and friends until age 30 – three years into living with his partner at the time. He was an all-state high school athlete while studying and performing classical piano. He graduated from business school, but soon quit his accounting job to focus on music full-time.
Mining these disparate life experiences, the prolific writer has published an eclectic body of work spanning over 100 songs. For example, “God, Country, Grave” appeared in a sex scene of the adult show Banshee on HBO Max, while “Let’s Go” made the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field playlist.