Aside from Sumner’s career writing and recording his original music, he has spent the last ten years playing lead guitar in various country acts from Maine to Tennessee. He is currently touring with the award winning Nashville-based Don Campbell, who maintains over one hundred shows a year. His career in country music may seem unlikely considering he grew admiring and learning the playing of Johnny Marr, Robert Smith, David Gilmour, Johnny Ramone, Andy Summers, Jimi Hendrix, Alex Lifeson & Robert Fripp to name a few.
McKane’s tastes have always been diverse and varied, but country was never considered an influence. Since entering the country music circuit, McKane states he has truly enjoyed developing his abilities as a country player, as well as touring the country and playing some of the largest venues the country offers. He says, one of the biggest thrills for him has been opening for country legends such as Willie Nelson & Charlie Daniels, also opening for current top-40 artists, such as Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Kenny Chesney & Carrie Underwood, among others.
The Sumner McKane Group recently taped their fourth live show for the Echoes "Living Room" concert series. The group's first Living Room Concert, in 2004, was chosen to be on a live compilation featuring Yo Yo Ma, Will Ackerman, Kaki King, The Album Leaf and Ottmar Liebert.
Sumner is currently working on sound design and writing/recording for television and film. He is also teaching at the Midcoast Guitar School as well as at Buckdancers Choice Music School, in Portland.The Sumner McKane Group's live show is currently a live score for the silent film: Nanook Of The North.
for a recent feature on National Public Radio:
Sumner McKane is a collector of images. A guitarist and composer with a photographer’s mind, McKane’s mental snapshots of trails traveled and times past inevitably find their way in to musical interpretations of these scenes. The vivid nature of the resulting soundscapes reveal musical and emotional themes that inexplicably straddle the line between fresh and familiar, all with fantastic facility.
In a recent review of McKane's latest release: "What A Great Place To be", John Diliberto, host of National Public Radio's- Echoes, said: "McKane's landscapes are tinged in ambient atmospheres and pulled by an undertow of psychedelia that makes them some of the most unassumingly mind-bending music of the decade."
"What A Great Place To Be" was 2nd on the 25 Essential Echoes CDs of 2008, & was in the top-5 in the 2008 Echoes listener poll.
in another recent review, the post rock blog-The Silent Ballet claims: "McKane is without question amongst the most talented songwriters, producers, and guitar players making ambient instrumental music right now."
Sumner grew up in Damariscotta, a small town in Maine’s midcoast region. This area that McKane called home is located at the head of a river, and abuts some of the most spectacular natural scenery in the state; perfect settings for the cinematic sounds McKane would come to create. Earlier in life, however, his interest was in punk, hardcore and metal (his occasional mohawk stated that fact proudly). in 1997 A trek across the country to Montana brought new experiences and, obviously, new landscape. Sumner stayed westward for years, honing his twangy country chops as well as playing atmospheric solo acoustic guitar. These seemingly different routes have met in the middle and are the main road running through the middle of McKane’s truly awe-inspiring and dynamic music.
