who is Michael Shawn McGovern?
Music became my modus vivendi around summer 1977 in Mike Eckerd's garage listening to "God of Thunder" by KISS. Consequently, I began playing trumpet in 4th grade for my elementary school band, which led to a year-and-a-half of guitar lessons at Weighman's Studio playing The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, and experimenting with the instrument itself. Eventually, my attention shifted to bands like AC/DC, The Kinks, Rush, and The Who jamming on a kid-size Yamaha keyboard with my friend, Kenneth Kallenbach. I wrote my first song, "Astrolad," at age 15, and additional influences like Led Zeppelin, U2, R.E.M., Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and Neil Young pierced my vision. After fashioning a tin can drum set at age 16, I joined my first band, Psychedelic Pyramid, two years later frequenting garage gigs/parties. We played together for about a year-and-a-half; I married and had a son, but continued writing poetry/songs. In 1996, the initial materialization of My Dog Bill resulted in collaborations with guest musicians for about a year and one show. Subsequently, during the summer of 1997, I joined an Irish band called Roundtower and played around the tri-state area and New Orleans until early 2001. Once gaining custody of my son, I stepped out of the limelight, but continued generating songs while learning bass guitar. In 2009, I painted Laraine Colden's house—a talent agent for the International Model and Talent Agency and Mainline Models and Talent located on the west coast. Around this time, my mom passed away, so I buckled down, got a vocal coach, wrote a 3-minute song with a duet partner, Abby Dahl, and boarded a New Year's Eve train to LA. We performed in an IMTA Expo 2010 competition, earning third place for duets, and for myself, fifth place in the male competition. Once arriving home, My Dog Bill needed resurrecting. In spring 2013, as Facebook would have it, musical soul mates reconnected, started writing songs, dusted off some original tunes, honed our craft, and played barbeques and pool side gigs at various beaches. 2015 is My Dog Bill's coming out party and second chance at radiating upbeat vibes, energy, and happiness into people's lives. Fortified with unyielding drive, an underpinning of songs, musicianship, and compassionate people, we are ready to inspire the masses with our music and mindset.