San Diego may not have the lofty cultural reputation of other major metropolitan areas in the U.S., but for a growing number of musicians, a move to this area is a precursor to bigger and better things. It\u2019s been a trend for some time now. Examples include Rosie Hamlin of the 1960s legends The Originals and 1990s sensation Jewel, both of whom originally hailed from Alaska. Meanwhile, Irish indie-rockers The Thrills were sent by their label to soak up some of the Mission Beach lifestyle. The latest addition to the growing list is singer-songwriter Veronica May, who performs at Humphrey\u2019s Backstage Lounge on Nov. 14. Originally from a small farm town in Byers, Colo., in a graduating class of 20, May arrived in San Diego in July 2006 with just a car packed with belongings. Her parents are musicians who had a band in the 1970s together \u2014 The Flatlanders. “I do believe that\u2019s where it all stems from,” said May. “I think it is in the blood. My earliest memories are sitting on an amp listening to my mom and dad practice. This probably explains my hearing loss too,” she said. Ironically, though May is known as a terrific guitarist, her main instrument for 22 years was the piano. According to May, the move was obvious. “It\u2019s hard to pack a piano,” May said. “My dad always wanted me to play guitar ever since I was a girl. I would pick his up and say \u2018This hurts my fingers! Way too hard.\u2019” A cross-country move led her to pick up the six-stringed instrument. “Before I left my dad\u2019s house at the age of 17, he gave me his guitar,” May said. “It was the one he played when mom and him were still together. It meant so much to me. I knew I had to learn.” Within a few days she had already begun to pick out chestnuts like “Greensleeves.” Currently, May performs in the trio format with backing group the To Do List, featuring bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Simon DasGupta. “I opted for the three-piece format because I have a small car,” May said. While she has recently considered expanding her group\u2019s sound with a violinist, “I like the bare-bones sound of a trio,” she said. “I want to make sure the detail of the guitar is there and I have such a wonderful rhythm section that they make it all possible.” Though performing in San Diego for only two years, May has quickly risen to the top of the local music scene, a fact evidenced by her win in the category of Best Acoustic Performer at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards. “I was surprised to hear I even got nominated,” she said. May said the award set the bar higher for her music. “It definitely does,” said May. “We are doing a lot of changes with our look and our sound at the moment and everything is really steering in a new direction.” Though still a fairly new act, May said she is thrilled with the progress made so far. She has a new album set for spring release and will tour extensively in 2009. “I have been honored to be here in San Diego,” May said. “It\u2019s hard to get into so many venues, but I have a lot of confidence in where our sound is going. Things are all looking up from here as far as I am concerned.” May will take the stage at Humphrey\u2019s Backstage Lounge, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, on Friday, Nov. 14. For more information visit www.myspace.com\/veronicamay.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Diego may not have the lofty cultural reputation of other major metropolitan areas in the U.S., but for a growing number of musicians, a move to this area is a precursor to bigger and better things. It\u2019s been a trend for some time now. Examples include Rosie Hamlin of the 1960s legends The Originals […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Veronica May makes inroads into San Diego\u2019s acoustical realm","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11593,11561,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-no-images","category-peninsula-beacon","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}