kirsty mcgee

Artist Information

Biography

BREAKING NEWS - KIRSTY McGEE & THE HOBOPOP COLLECTIVE TO RECORD A LIVE ALBUM IN OCTOBER 2009 AT A ONE-OFF SHOW IN MANCHESTER, UK. RELEASE AND FULL TOUR PLANNED FOR SPRING 2010.

'kirsty mcgee has the kind of voice that stops you dead in your tracks. she blends styles like a master alchemist and has a way with melody that means the moment you hear her songs it's impossible to get them out of your head.' - BBC

'a beautiful record by an artist worth keeping an ear on' - dirty linen

'inspirational musicianship - joyously engaging songs, shining with american influences.' - rough trade

'the uk's grittiest folk hobo - sheer, banjo-dominated americana from its tom-waits-esque washboard blow-outs to its clarinet soliloquies' - HMV

'fine, beautifully crafted songs, delivered in a clear individual voice' - RTE 1 (ireland)

'a fine album, and possibly her best so far' - rock n' reel ****

'one of the strongest and most unusual voices of her generation' - the irish world

'a stunning musical masterpiece that is up there with the best of eilen jewel, devon sproule and amy lavere' - maverick

'a national treasure' - manchester revue

'less a gentle pastoral stroll than a knees-up in a 1920s speakeasy' - metro


a maker of delicate yet stubborn songs; an instinctive traveler; a human scrapbook - kirsty mcgee has become something of a cult figure on the uk and european songwriting scene. her songs are the soundtrack to a colorful patchwork of experience, and attest to a unique life full of paradoxical quirks and actions from the heart, sung by a voice just that little bit too pure to have seen what she has seen. it is just one of the many ironies that surround her eccentric past and qualify her to write and perform music of such rich integrity and sincerity.

mcgee’s emergence as a unique and strong voice in acoustic music coincided with her now-famous early appearance alongside suzanne vega at brampton live festival in 2001. this has been followed with four studio albums, two BBC award nominations (best newcomer, best original song) and a consistently busy international touring schedule. her work has attracted collaborations with some of the most important names in the scene, such as producers john wood (honeysuckle, 2002), boo hewerdine (frost, 2004), and neill maccoll (two birds, 2006). her fourth album, ‘the kansas sessions’ was recorded in the usa with maverick songwriter and producer mike west of truckstop honeymoon.

her affinity with a life of perpetual movement and a hand-to-mouth existence has made its mark on her songs in a manner reminiscent of jack kerouac and the 'beat' generation, and has made her music difficult to classify. she has been variously described as producing 'folk noir' and ‘hobopop’ - she and mat martin were described in maverick magazine in 2007 as 'simon and garfunkel: the tim burton version.'

mcgee’s band, the hobopop collective, is the latest development in her performance career. raw and edgy, it adds to mcgee and martin’s distinctive and accomplished duo the skills of two of the country's most exciting emerging jazz musicians. the quirky and inspired double bass of nick blacka (aim, mrs columbo) and imaginative drumming of rob turner (neil yates' new origins, magic hat ensemble) add dimensions of jazz and rockabilly to mcgee's already exceptional rootsy songwriting and martin's sensitive banjo and guitar playing. hobopop collective guests are encouraged at many shows, and have included christopher cundy (guillemots), karine polwart, james steel (the brute chorus), inge thomson and kreg viesselman.

in recent years mcgee has set up on her own in the music industry. tired of the commerical complexities of tried and tested routes, she and mat martin have set up hobopop productions, encompassing hobopop recordings and the hobopop booking agency, with the idea of putting quality music ahead of all other considerations, and reintroducing fair trade to an industry that is currently undergoing enormous change.

Instrumentation

kirsty mcgee - vocals, guitars, mandolin
mat martin - banjos, guitars, ukes, vocals

also performs as the kirsty mcgee hobopop collective, featuring :
nick blacka - double bass
rob turner - drums
+ many guests on many instruments.

Discography

2010 (forthcoming) - live album from kirsty mcgee & the hobopop collective (hobopop recordings)

2008 - the kansas sessions (hobopop recordings), produced by mike west

2007 - the hobopop e.p. (hobopop recordings)

2007 - sapho & phao e.p. (hobopop recordings)

2006 - two birds (park records), produced by neill maccoll

2004 - coffee coloured strings (single) - playlisted for daytime national airplay, nominated for 'best original song' in BBC folk awards.

2004 - frost (park records)- produced by boo hewerdine

2002 - honeysuckle (fellside records) - produced by john wood & clive gregson - nominated for 'best newcomer' in BBC folk awards.

Audio

• sandman
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• gunsore
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• lamb
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• sparks
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• bonecrusher
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• no way to treat a friend
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• the profit song
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• Omaha
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• Alibi Blues
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• Last Orders
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• Sandman
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• Bliss
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• The Last to Understand
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• Stonefruit
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• Dust Devils
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• Faith
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Lyrics

• Sandman
• Gunsore
• Lamb
• Sparks
• Bonecrusher
• No Way To Treat A Friend
• The Profit Song

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• various quotes [+ Show ]
  

  'kirsty mcgee has the kind of voice that stops you dead in your tracks. she blends styles like a mas...'kirsty mcgee has the kind of voice that stops you dead in your tracks. she blends styles like a master alchemist and has a way with melody that means the moment you hear her songs it's impossible to get them out of your head.' - BBC
  
  'a beautiful record by an artist worth keeping an ear on' - dirty linen
  
  'inspirational musicianship - joyously engaging songs, shining with american influences.' - rough trade
  
  'the uk's grittiest folk hobo - sheer, banjo-dominated americana from its tom-waits-esque washboard blow-outs to its clarinet soliloquies' - HMV
  
  'fine, beautifully crafted songs, delivered in a clear individual voice' - RTE 1 (ireland)
  
  'a fine album, and possibly her best so far' - rock n' reel ****
  
  'one of the strongest and most unusual voices of her generation' - the irish world
  
  'a stunning musical masterpiece that is up there with the best of eilen jewel, devon sproule and amy lavere' - maverick
  
  'a national treasure' - manchester revue
  
  'less a gentle pastoral stroll than a knees-up in a 1920s speakeasy' - metro

• album review - the kansas sessions (2008) [+ Show ]
  

  Thank God for the weak American dollar: It enabled Brit singer/songwriter Kirsty McGee to hop over t...Thank God for the weak American dollar: It enabled Brit singer/songwriter Kirsty McGee to hop over to this side of the pond and into Lawrence, Kansas. There she and nimble-fingered instrumentalist Mat Martin recorded a dozen intriguing tracks on The Kansas Sessions at the Ninth Ward Pickin' Parlour. They are hardly the typical folkie fare. The opening track, 'Bonecrusher,' features zippy Dixieland horns; the war lament 'Gunsore' has infectious iron skillet clanks and syncopated beats underneath an otherwise heavy message. McGee's vocals are delightfully lush, somewhat jazzy, and occasionally haunting while her lyrics range from straightforward, personal, and direct ('No Way To Treat A Friend') to artsy, mysterious, and allegorical ('KIller Wasps'). 'The Profit Song' is particularly clever, Martin's banjo, Larry Maxey's clarinet, and Tom Johnson's trombone playing dance merrily around the lyrics the personify profit as the almighty despot that the entire world bows to. A beautiful record by an artist worth keeping an ear on.
  - Dan Wilging

• live review - kirsty mcgee duo (2007) [+ Show ]
  

  The organisers of The Melbourne Festival (that’s the one in Derbyshire, by the way) had brought back...The organisers of The Melbourne Festival (that’s the one in Derbyshire, by the way) had brought back Kirsty Mcgee and Mat Martin and the duo proved, once again, why they are rapidly becoming the darlings of festivals and gigs around the country; they and their music are really rather sublime, in a ‘hobopop, vagrancy, down and out, deft sort of way’. At least, ‘hobopop, vagrancy, down and out, and deft’ was how Mat might describe their sound. They are a very appealing duo playing equally appealing acoustic music that is almost impossible to categorise.
  
  Kirsty and Mat were dressed in shabby chic evening wear: Mat with braces and shirt hanging loose; Kirsty sporting a bowler hat. For one moment they looked like a sepia tinted silver screen cinema print. Two silent movie hobos from the wrong side of the tracks who had found themselves transformed into a pair of toffs sneaking into a glitzy, up-market manor house soiree, full of champagne and gaiety, only to find that they’d stayed too late enjoying themselves, that the clock had struck midnight and that it was all starting to dissolve around the edges without them realising. The evening suits had started to deconstruct, the grand piano had become a banjo and the harp had reverted to a homemade guitar. But no one had told them so the music and their performance remained wonderful, enchanting, full of air and fire as well as earth and water. This duo is far too cool for ‘boho-pop’ never mind ‘hobopop’.
  
  The venue was the baptist chapel on, appropriately enough, Chapel Street: a taste of temperance; a shade of Sunday school; a Derbyshire meeting house; something of the Ryman Auditorium; something of a Las Vegas wedding chapel. It was a wonderful venue for Kirsty and Mat to try out some of their English based, southern influenced, white gospel, and they didn’t disappoint, starting everything off with a succulent version of Lamb, “When the lamb cries on the mountain, sometimes the mother, sometimes the wolf.” I had to look twice to check there were only two people producing all that music, all that shivering, hollering, edgy, dark, delightful, disturbing, involving, beautifully phrased, acoustic music. They kept up the urgent, chugging, syncopated, rhythmic gospel feel with The Profit Song, snappy rhythms from Kirsty, Mat sounding wonderful off-beats on his banjo. A duo has to work hard to make everything seem that full, that easy and they did; swapping finger licks, alternating vocal phrases, holding everything together like an old time circus trapeze act that throws in a little juggling, as if being on a trapeze wasn’t enough; Mat supporting, Kirsty soaring above. Kirsty introduced The Profit Song as a capitalist (even anti-capitalist) song but, if there is a political edge to some of her new songs, she is too subtle a writer to be pinned down by simple slogans. There is complexity to her writing, even if the effect seems simple; she is always more opaque than transparent. Mat and Kirsty know instinctively that it’s a song to be sung and enjoyed, and the song’s hook, as well as its heart, always remains in the right place. Kirsty is a literate, intelligent songwriter whose songs are miniature works of art; genuine musical entertainments with a long reach.
  - Niel Dalton
  

Setlist

up to 2 hours of varied original material on differing combinations of instruments. occasional covers, including tom waits, mike west, randy newman, kreg viesselman...

Basic Requirements

Calendar