Biography
They say you should never meet your heroes . . .
Often this is true. In SJ McArdle's case however, meeting a group of musicians he had long admired from afar in Nashville turned into the catalyst that has seen him emerge as one of the true international hopes from the Irish music scene.
Not that SJ has been part of a 'scene'. The Drogheda songwriter has eschewed some of the more traditional routes in the music industry, preferring instead to trust that his instincts and his talents would lead him to a fateful day such as that when he recorded in Nashville's legendary Sound Emporium.
The product of a music-besotted family at a time when vinyl was carefully listened to, SJ McArdle's first musical purchase was Bowie's 'Heroes' - a record that would open the doors to a host of early influences and ensure that the idea of the maverick was firmly implanted in his head from an early age. He began playing guitar at the tender age of ten, and went on to combine a love of music with that of poetry which saw him pen his own compositions and spend his teenage years playing in various bands.
The Irish music scene at the time was awash with groups desperately trying to follow in U2's giant footsteps, but SJ continued his musical upbringing by taking in the sounds of Talking Heads, Pixies and REM, while embracing both the Irish and international folk movements. The poetry of William Blake, Thomas Kinsella and WB Yeats also figured largely, ensuring that the written word would figure as largely in his creations as the music.
As the music progressed, SJ's interest in performance reached to the stage, joining the renowned Irish Calipo Theatre Company and acting in roles in national tours with the company. Taking roles in plays such as David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, SJ's comfort in stage performance matured on a different level, ensuring a new comfort with the audience that he had been slowly building through his own music. Live music and songwriting, however, was really where it was at.
During this time, SJ was still writing the music that would eventually determine where his path lay, and he also began work as a session musician,
lending his talents to musicians such as Ricky Warwick, on tours supporting the likes of Bob Dylan and Sheryl Crow, biding his time until that crucial opportunity might come his way.
Being invited to play at an Oscar party in LA in the company of legendary Irish film director Neil Jordan was perhaps the long awaited, but hardly expected, break that sometimes separates those who try and those who die. A high point no doubt, but in reality a start. As a result of the Los Angeles appearance, the wheels were set in motion and contacts made that would lead to a subsequent world wide publishing deal and the faith that would put SJ in a studio with the likes of Rodney Crowell, Bryan Sutton, Dan Dugmore and Richard Bennett.
These men, who had worked with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Warren Zevon and Steve Earle would provide the musical backbone for SJ McArdle's debut record. The publishing deal with Jewel DC Publishing, set up by the front man of European rock giants, Reamonn, allowed SJ to make several trips to the US and also record in Sound Emporium, where he would rub shoulders with a newly wrought musical duo about to take the world by storm, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
The setting and the company would bring out the best in SJ's songwriting talents, lending a mature and rootsy template that would allow his extraordinary voice to shine through. At times revealing its true Irish heart and at others meandering into Americana, SJ's debut has collected and absorbed much of the musical journey that the artist has been on until this point, and forged them into something uniquely his own.
– Michael Carr
Instrumentation
Discography
Blood And Bones (2009)
Links
| http://www.sjmcardle.com |