Decatur Singer-Songwriter Mike Killeen Releases New Album, Ghost

Decatur-based singer-songwriter Mike Killeen has released his fifth album, "Ghost" (Saturn 5 Records), produced by original Wilco drummer Ken Coomer at Coomer's Nashville studio. Its nine original songs feature Killeen on vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica and piano, plus the full backing of Joe Garcia on lead guitars, Ted Pecchio on bass and Coomer on drums, with Kristen Englenz and Nathan Beaver on harmony vocals.

“Mike Killeen can take you to that place, the place of a lost love, that yearning we all have for someone, or he can paint the picture of human loss, that deep like that runs between life and death,” Coomer says of the artist, whose songs he first heard through a streaming service. When Coomer expressed a desire to produce Mike’s next project, the longtime Wilco fan was blown away. Their mantra in recording the album was to “not make just another singer-songwriter record.”

Killeen is also the founder of Amplify My Community, a non-profit organization that has raised and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars toward organizations offering support for the homeless and impoverished. They’re the folks behind the annual Amplify Decatur concert, the most recent of which, on April 13, was headlined by Mavis Staples after sets from The Bitteroots, Kevn Kinney, Julien Baker and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.