Michael McGarrah

Artist Information

Biography

It began when I was quite young, bumping along the blue highways of the Pacific Northwest in the bed of my Dad's 1955 Chevy pickup truck, watching the clouds scroll across the sky, humming to myself and fooling around with words and little melodies in my head. I learned through the years that a good lyric driven song can knock you off your foundation for a little while...transport you to another place...like a little timeshare condo in your head.

Now I'm reaching for the proverbial brass ring. I'm mixing metaphors, but I have to say, I hate songwriting one moment, and cling to its skirts like a needy child the next, begging for something just outside my reach, like a dog snapping at soap bubbles, occasionally I'll get one and find it has just disappeared and left a funny taste in my mouth, but once in a while I get that magic bubble and it opens up a parallel universe...a hole in the fence through which, somehow, one single little patch of this untamed universe falls into place and makes total sense to me...and I get to keep it. That makes it all worth it. For a little while.

michaelmcgarrah.com

http://www.americansongspace.com/94efacf43b19c7329d3db79f489d7c110351730f

Instrumentation

Michael McGarrah. Guitar and vocals. Possible accompaniment depending on location.

Discography

CD "Love Boat to Reno" May 2007

"Let's Pretend We're Strangers", Hole in The Sky, Bob Bourgoin, Tail Wheel Music 2001

" Dancin In The Bone Yard" Indie Artists Alliance Songwriters and Storytellers CD Volume 2 Compilation CD

Links

• American Songspace
• No Depression

Audio

• Dancin in the Bone Yard
  Listen  
• Rock-a-Billy Saturday Night
  Listen  
• Early Sunday Morning
  Listen  
• The Train
  Listen  
• Country Girl
  Listen  
• Nightbirds Waltz (How are you sleeping tonight?)
  Listen  
• Love Boat to Reno
  Listen  
• Iowa
  Listen  
• Hand Me That Bottle
  Listen  
• Let's Pretend We're Strangers
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Love Boat to Reno
• Iowa
• Dancin in the Bone Yard
• Lets Pretend We're Strangers
• Early Sunday Morning
• The Train
• Country Girl
• Hand Me That Bottle
• Rock-A-Billy Saturday Night
• Mr Sandman (Keep an Eye On Me)
• Sentimental Fool
• Starlite Hotel

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• 2nd Place Winner 2012 Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Competition
  

  2nd place winner at the 2012 Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Competition.

• Grand Prize Winner - 2010 Great American Song Contest [+ Show ]
  

  'Dancin' In the Bone Yard' has been selected as the Grand Prize Winner in the 12th Annual Great Am... 'Dancin' In the Bone Yard' has been
  selected as the Grand Prize Winner in the 12th Annual Great American Song Contest.

• 2nd Place winner 2010 American Songwriter lyric contest [+ Show ]
  

  2nd place winner of the American Songwriter March/April 2010 Lyric Competition with his song "Starli...2nd place winner of the American Songwriter March/April 2010 Lyric Competition with his song "Starlite Hotel".

• Music Monday - Michael McGarrah [+ Show ]
  

  I wish I could write like McGarrah. I could spend hours just listening to his tunes, soaking up the ...I wish I could write like McGarrah. I could spend hours just listening to his tunes, soaking up the rhythm and wordplay. He has a voice that can carry off his great writing and simple guitar picking that provides a great backdrop for his words without getting in the way.
  
  So, the next time you are thinking more about steelers and meat packers and pickup trucks heading across the country, the next time you want to hear words of the American experience put together elegantly, find a Michael McGarrah CD, open a Lone Star, pour yourself a shot of Whiskey, and just listen.

• 1st place winner 2005 American Songwriter lyric contest
  

  1st place winner of the American Songwriter July/August 2005 Lyric Competition with his song "Iowa".

• "We Are Listening" lyric writers award finalist [+ Show ]
  

  "Starlight Hotel" has been selected as one of six finalists in the Lyric Writer Awards, presented by..."Starlight Hotel" has been selected as one of six finalists in the Lyric Writer Awards, presented by We Are Listening.

• P.J. Curtis [+ Show ]
  

  Michael is a terrific talent...a fine poet with a great 'lived-in' voice. I love it. Great story son...Michael is a terrific talent...a fine poet with a great 'lived-in' voice. I love it. Great story songs. So far for me Dancing In The Bone yard, Country Girl (great atmosphere here ), Nightbirds
  Waltz and Rockabilly Sat Night are the stand outs.. And this must be the
  first Tuba solo Ive ever heard that made me stand in amazement! ( (Lets
  Pretend Were Strangers)...a truly superb work.

• Radio Ranger [+ Show ]
  

  I was on board Michael McGarrah's "Love Boat to Reno" from the moment I heard the first track, " Dan...I was on board Michael McGarrah's "Love Boat to Reno" from the moment I heard the first track, " Dancin' in the Bone Yard." The house sound engineer at a gig I was working was playing the CD to test the house system. I heard it and I knew right then I had to have it. "Dancin' in the Bone Yard" is a mesmerizing song with cinematic images and great clarinet hooks baited with a vaporous ghostly violin...
  
  From the first tuba note and swing clarinet sounds on the tile track "Love Boat to Reno," it's obvious you're not on an ordinary journey... by the time the boat docks, you're glad you have been along for the ride.
  
  Radio Ranger
  KOPN 89.5 FM
  Columbia, MO.

• Larry Hillberg
  

  Top-notch song writing, excellent arrangements, and expressive, engaging vocals.

• Heidi Fosner [+ Show ]
  

  McGarrah is a storyteller. His tenor/baritone voice is compelling and convincing as he weaves his a...McGarrah is a storyteller. His tenor/baritone voice is compelling and convincing as he weaves his americana tales.

• David Cowling [+ Show ]
  

  ...possessed of a voice that can tell a story in many different forms from the Tom Wait's lite of 'D......possessed of a voice that can tell a story in many different forms from the Tom Wait's lite of 'Dancin' in the Boneyard' to folk, country and spoken word, he'll turn his pipes to any gentle genre...'Nightbirds Waltz (How Are You Sleeping Tonight)' has a cargo of emotion whereas the title track is all about seersucker suited dandyism - he likes to play roles. He's the narrator on 'Rockabilly Saturday Night' and on 'Iowa' he shows that he can write 'the dust has blown her years away, stole the color from her eyes', this tale of disappointment soundtracked by violin and viola stealing the show. McGarrah is a stylist using generic patterns to tell his stories - there's humour and emotion packed in with the role-playing.

• Don Charles [+ Show ]
  

  Don Charles, Dsquared: McGarrah’s songs function like an emotional spyglass, peering about the ro...
  Don Charles, Dsquared: McGarrah’s songs function like an emotional spyglass, peering about the room and soaking in the significant details. He is an iconoclast in the Tom Waits tradition - often the point of departure is so skewed that you feel he’s taken you to the wrong place (Love Boat to Reno?). Then the poet does his magic and you realize he had you right where he wanted all along. And he can write a love song that will make you ache for it.

Setlist

Show highlights material off the May 2007 release "Love Boat to Reno" along with additional songs. All original material. Sets and back up musicians vary.

Love Boat to Reno
Rockabilly Saturday Night
Hand Me That Bottle
Lets Pretend We're Strangers
Dancin In the Bone Yard
The Train
Night Birds Waltz
Iowa
Early Sunday Morning
Mr Sandman (Keep an eye on me.)
Country Girl
Cold Cold Floor

More...
Stoners Lament
Livin in a Doublewide
Moonshiners Daughter
Broken Drum
Strange Little Town
16 Kinds of Fool
To Get That Way
Shake Mill Blues
The Chance You Take
Say You'll Be There
Sentimental Fool
Starlite Hotel
Does It Ever Feel Just Wrong
Closer to the Light
Date With an Angel
Big Yellow Moon
Gamblin Town
She Loves Me Like a Heart Attack
Someone Like You

Basic Requirements

Calendar