Michael Francis McCarthy is a wandering troubador who travels far and wide developing and performing a unique brand of acoustic folklore music that blends Delta slide blues, bluegrass, Bolivian folklore, 70s jam, celtic trad music, American folk and acoustic thrash/death metal. His performances have been described as “authentic” and “hypnotic”, featuring rich guitar work, powerful vocals, deep cuts, finely-polished original compositions and a deep song book of the most beloved stringed folk music from across the Americas and beyond.

BOOKING: mikemccarthysongs@gmail.com

From Michael:

“I’m not on social media and I don’t wish to be. I sell sounds to the people in my immediate environment. I don’t need or at all want to be famous. This is a spiritual journey, one for which I have lived my entire life and one for which I am willing - and planning - to die. This is not about making myself into some kind of internet personality caricature figurehead - this is about gathering the notes of the Mother Song, about doing my humble little part to unite the world by tying together the frayed diaspora of threads of the greater human musical folklore experience, about consolidating my own identity as a global citizen by placing the stories of my ancestors in context with the ancestral stories of all the people I meet in my travels. I only need the money I need. In the words of The Band, “I don’t mind choppin wood, and I don’t care if the money’s no good. You take what you need and you leave the rest”. I like fun outdoor venues in places near my loved ones, private parties, sharing stages with similar artists, and wandering in places where I’ve never been before, authentically living the life of The Troubadour, The Bard, The Minstrel - the stranger from a distant land who wanders into town on foot with his instrument, songs and stories. In addition to performing 125 shows annually, I am also a migrant farmworker, and I toil long, weary hours on various farms across many states and multiple countries. All of my work, all of my music and labor - it’s not really “mine”, because it’s not about ME; it’s about WE - WE troubadours, WE farm workers. Like Woody Guthrie, the grandfather of post-war American folk music culture, says, “We come with the dust and we’re gone with the wind”. What I’ve got is something that cannot be defeated (or cured) by wealth, poverty, or attachment…but I do have bills, so book me to play your venue, house show, BBQ, festival, work camp, homeless resource center, rail yard, FEMA camp, ecolodge, hotel, wedding, corporate event or whatever because MIKEY NEED STRINGS AND TRAVEL MONEY”

BOOKING: mikemccarthysongs@gmail.com