Michael in his own words...Click here for the extendo-version biography...
Download PDF Music Bio and Press Page
- KPBS Radio Interview - "These Days" Radio Program, April 2007 Click Here to Listen
- Promotional 10 minute Video (early 2006) - Click Here
- Promotional 10 minute Video (early 2006) - Click Here
Watch biographical interviews done on network television / radio:
- PBS Television - "Full Focus" TV Show Channel 11, San DIego - * March, 2007 Click Here to watch
- ABC News Interview - April 2007 Click here to watch
- PBS Television - "Full Focus" TV Show Channel 11, San DIego - * March, 2007 Click Here to watch
- ABC News Interview - April 2007 Click here to watch
Awards / Notables
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2008 Great American Song Contest Finalist
2008 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist
Best of 2008 - Singer/Songwriter, San Diego Magazine
2007 International Acoustic Music Awards Male Artist of the Year Runner-up
2007 Songwriter of the Year, Pacific Songwriting Competition
2006 Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Finalist
2006 Official Endorsement by the Independent Artist Registry
2005 Winner of the Triple-A Album of the Year, Los Angeles Music Awards
2004 Winner of Male Singer/Songwriter of the Year, Los Angeles Music Awards
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2008 Great American Song Contest Finalist
2008 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist
Best of 2008 - Singer/Songwriter, San Diego Magazine
2007 International Acoustic Music Awards Male Artist of the Year Runner-up
2007 Songwriter of the Year, Pacific Songwriting Competition
2006 Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Finalist
2006 Official Endorsement by the Independent Artist Registry
2005 Winner of the Triple-A Album of the Year, Los Angeles Music Awards
2004 Winner of Male Singer/Songwriter of the Year, Los Angeles Music Awards
Michael Tiernan
The Story:
Surviving cancer at age 16… At 18, traveling the country in a van with a group of
wacky Catholic hippies giving retreats to young people… Criss-crossing Europe
through college with his guitar… Hanging with monks deep in desert
monasteries… Living in the Vatican as a seminarian in his 20’s on the way
to becoming a priest, yet preferring to play gigs in local Roman pubs, or studying
Buddhism in the piazza when he should’ve been in class…
What would a person like this have to say about life? Plenty, especially when
magnified through the prism of a song.
Meet Michael Tiernan. Through the experiences of what could be ten lifetimes, Michael
is an artist who has plunged into and explored the deep spaces of personal and worldly
conflict, the beauty of love and nature, as well as the meaning of suffering and pervasive
unhappiness that threatens our human experience on all sides. In his music, he
resurfaces from these depths beaming with a positive outlook for all of us.
The Music:
In his newest CD, “Spaces”, Michael explores several types of both the real
and metaphorical spaces that life offers each of us, from the space that exists between
people in relationships, to the vast space of nature that surrounds us, to the deep and
sometimes ominous space in our own hearts. His songs offer a helping hand to
explore those spaces in each of our lives with realism, hope, courage, and
ultimately, joy.
In one of his featured songs, “Same Sky”, he celebrates how two people can be
completely bonded and connected, even when distance and time separate them.
However, in the title track, “Spaces”, he ponders the paradox of how two people
who love each other intensely can be so close in physical distance, but emotionally
miles apart. He shows how each person requires his own space, not to be
smothered by another’s control, but to be respected and loved as a free individual.
The end result is love without a controlling and self-centered ego.
Taking the idea of Spaces to a more universal level, Michael’s song “You Hide” demonstrates
that all humanity shares key common experiences that bind us all as one, despite being
dressed up in different cultural expressions, languages, and religions.
To many, the world appears to be a frenetic, fast-moving, and even negative place. Michael Tiernan’s
new CD is a gift of self-examination and self-empowerment that finds the still point amid the bustle. It
encourages and inspires us to make conscious choices which affirm the good that is all around and
deep inside us, and it treats the negative with humor and a light heart.
The Community
Tiernan also gives back to the community through his participation in local and national cancer-support
foundations and through organizing music events to showcase up-and-coming artists in his native San Diego,
known as "San Diego's New Acoustic Generation".
Discography
"L.A. Can Wait" 11 song album to be released August, 2010
"Spaces" 14 song album released April 2007
"Allied Gardens" - 12 song live acoustic album side-project with songwriters Sven-Erik Seaholm and Peter Bolland
"Jumping In" 12 song album released in March of 2005
"Still Listening", 14-song album released February of 2004
"Two Weeks (with Nothing to Do)" 14-song solo demo album released March of 2000.
Other Projects
:"Allied Gardens" - 12 song live acoustic album side-project with songwriters Sven-Erik Seaholm and Peter
Bolland, released in 2007
"Beatnik", 13-song album released with the alternative rock band, ScrapApple, in 1994
The Story:
Surviving cancer at age 16… At 18, traveling the country in a van with a group of
wacky Catholic hippies giving retreats to young people… Criss-crossing Europe
through college with his guitar… Hanging with monks deep in desert
monasteries… Living in the Vatican as a seminarian in his 20’s on the way
to becoming a priest, yet preferring to play gigs in local Roman pubs, or studying
Buddhism in the piazza when he should’ve been in class…
What would a person like this have to say about life? Plenty, especially when
magnified through the prism of a song.
Meet Michael Tiernan. Through the experiences of what could be ten lifetimes, Michael
is an artist who has plunged into and explored the deep spaces of personal and worldly
conflict, the beauty of love and nature, as well as the meaning of suffering and pervasive
unhappiness that threatens our human experience on all sides. In his music, he
resurfaces from these depths beaming with a positive outlook for all of us.
The Music:
In his newest CD, “Spaces”, Michael explores several types of both the real
and metaphorical spaces that life offers each of us, from the space that exists between
people in relationships, to the vast space of nature that surrounds us, to the deep and
sometimes ominous space in our own hearts. His songs offer a helping hand to
explore those spaces in each of our lives with realism, hope, courage, and
ultimately, joy.
In one of his featured songs, “Same Sky”, he celebrates how two people can be
completely bonded and connected, even when distance and time separate them.
However, in the title track, “Spaces”, he ponders the paradox of how two people
who love each other intensely can be so close in physical distance, but emotionally
miles apart. He shows how each person requires his own space, not to be
smothered by another’s control, but to be respected and loved as a free individual.
The end result is love without a controlling and self-centered ego.
Taking the idea of Spaces to a more universal level, Michael’s song “You Hide” demonstrates
that all humanity shares key common experiences that bind us all as one, despite being
dressed up in different cultural expressions, languages, and religions.
To many, the world appears to be a frenetic, fast-moving, and even negative place. Michael Tiernan’s
new CD is a gift of self-examination and self-empowerment that finds the still point amid the bustle. It
encourages and inspires us to make conscious choices which affirm the good that is all around and
deep inside us, and it treats the negative with humor and a light heart.
The Community
Tiernan also gives back to the community through his participation in local and national cancer-support
foundations and through organizing music events to showcase up-and-coming artists in his native San Diego,
known as "San Diego's New Acoustic Generation".
Discography
"L.A. Can Wait" 11 song album to be released August, 2010
"Spaces" 14 song album released April 2007
"Allied Gardens" - 12 song live acoustic album side-project with songwriters Sven-Erik Seaholm and Peter Bolland
"Jumping In" 12 song album released in March of 2005
"Still Listening", 14-song album released February of 2004
"Two Weeks (with Nothing to Do)" 14-song solo demo album released March of 2000.
Other Projects
:"Allied Gardens" - 12 song live acoustic album side-project with songwriters Sven-Erik Seaholm and Peter
Bolland, released in 2007
"Beatnik", 13-song album released with the alternative rock band, ScrapApple, in 1994