Michael Truckpile's music dances over the boundaries between soft folk ballads, wry country proclamations and gut-bucket rocking.  His intently exploratorive and expressive voice is backed by his steady, dynamic, acoustic guitar work.  Michael's song crafting spins yarns of hope, longing, observation and frustration around the question marks of life.  He grew up in a house full of music, his mom played keyboards in rock bands and taught piano lessons and his dad reviewed music and concerts since before he was born. Michael came up in the d.i.y. punk community in and around Albany, NY where he bummed rides to get his ramshackle drum sets and bands to and from their shows.

Having banged out rhythms and sang in punk bands since early adolescence, song crafting on the guitar is a more recent pursuit, inspired by Michael's clandestined purchase of a beautiful, old beat up 1940's arch top at a Kingston garage sale in 2003.  Michael has since written, recorded and released a full length CD on Art of the Underground Records, played shows in venues as varied as barns, pizza shops, CSA organic farms and big rock clubs, and toured around the U.S. with the Gadabout Traveling Film Festival, the Sparkle Kids Action Network, and solo.  Michael is also the drummer and singer for the hyperactive pop duo The Kiss Ups.

He is currently at work on his second CD "My Letter Finds You.." that reflects the stew of influences he's accumulated over the years. Michael's attitude and songs are grounded in a love for people and life and indiscriminately inter fuse the personal with the political. His spontaneous live performances engage the audience in the adventure of a song's birth with a sound that is rich and enveloping, bringing listeners into the intimate journey through self reflection, satire and revelation.

"Michael Truckpile has created a solo work of staggering depth and impressive craftsmanship. It's also a hell of a lot of fun. Through 13 cuts, he asks the tough questions: Who am I? And how can I fix this screwed-up world? The musical responses are alternately angry, bittersweet, fearful, and hopeful. Such self-examination risks sounding self-absorbed. But Truckpile's observations are sound, and his compositions are unnervingly personal and effortlessly tuneful." -Jay Blotcher, Chronogram Magazine