Denver, January 22, 2008 - Clay Kirkland will celebrate his 61st birthday with an interactive, unplugged performance intended to maximize the acoustic properties of Daniels Hall at Swallow Hill Music Association on Friday, February 8 at 8 p.m. Dubbed the "Every Breath is a Gift Tour," this is the second year in a row the concert has taken place and it is chock-full of special guest musicians.

The audience will be asked to provide some of the choral and percussion accompaniment to Kirkland's opening solo set. "One of the negative effects of having so much wonderful recorded music available is that the people in the community don't get together and make music as much as they used to. Music has become too much of a spectator sport. The audiences at Swallow Hill are made up almost entirely of students of music, people who are well-trained amateur and professional musicians. I feel I can trust them to help me with some foot stomps and handclaps, some vocal call and response, even some harmonizing, and I'm excited about Daniels Hall sounding like one big drum kit and a huge church choir. The audience will be thrilled to feel like a vital part of the concert yet there will be plenty of time for them to sit quietly and enjoy the performance of the great musicians on stage," he says.

Several musicians are slated to appear with Kirkland: Megan Yalkut, who has studied in India, Nepal, and in California with Ali Akbar Khan, will perform on sarod and vocals; Ed Contreras, a member of the band Laughing Hands as well as the Swallow Hill faculty, will be on percussion; Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff, who has toured with the Godfather of Funk, George Clinton, for more than ten years and who studied sitar in India with M. Shukla, in addition to currently heading up his own smoking band, U.S. Pipe, will switch between guitar and sitar throughout the evening; Linda Flinkman, who holds a masters degree in music therapy from Naropa University, will tinkle the keyboards; and Jeffrey Rodgers, who has studied in India with Allah Rakha, Ravi Shankar’s accompanist for more thirty years, will perform on hammered dulcimer and tabla. Rodgers and Kirkland will perform their legendary "Himalayan Queen meets the Orange Blossom Special."

A few more guests will also be on the stage through the evening, including violinist Eugene Fodor, who will play with the band on the Beatles' "Within You, Without You" and who will solo a gorgeous Bach ciaconna. His wife, Sally Fodor, who played in the Aukland Philharmonia in her native New Zealand, will play viola on "Within You, Without You," and will join Eugene in a Mozart Menuetto, theme and variations, and allegretto. Drummer extraordinaire, Ernie Crews, will be the glue that holds it all together. The grand finale will be an all-out acoustic blues and rock 'n roll jam session with several surprise guests.