DISCOGRAPHY

Artwork by friend and fellow Jaffrey, New Hampshire native, artist Christopher Myott

Check Engine (2023)

Written on a derelict 250 acre farm on the banks of the Esopus Creek in the Catskills Mountains of upstate New York, this album was first conceived in winter of early 2022 and was completed in winter of late 2022. These songs travel across the seasons, echo down far-flung byways of deep Yankee countryside and offer a vision of how things seemed to be at the time.

released January 10, 2023

All songwriting, guitar, vocals and thumping boot by Michael Francis McCarthy. Drums, recording and mixing by Ben Rogers of Loud Sun Studio, Jaffrey NH. Mastering by Sean Peterson of Pensacola Mastering, Pensacola FL. Artwork by Noel Chrisjohn Benson. Special thanks to my beloved fans who contributed directly to the production costs of this album through IndieGoGo. I promise to go out there and play these songs for the people.

Listen on BandCamp

1.

Poor Man's Luxury 04:14

2.

City Of The Hills 04:04

3.

Demand Wasn't Brisk 06:06

4.

Northern Roots 03:47

5.

Sound The Morning Bell 05:09

6.

Living Plenty 03:57

7.

Humble Player 03:28

8.

Shouting At Clouds 03:28

9.

Child Of Humanity 06:56

10.

Like Lonely Women Do 05:13

Recorded at Loud Sun Studio in Jaffrey, New Hampshire between August and November of 2020, "Only The Strong Will Survive" is a soundtrack of the era in which it was recorded. These are songs about love come and gone, digital alienation, the dawn of artificial intelligence, the rise of fascism and one Yankee hippie hermit retreating from a world on fire, ever deeper into a Rip Van Winkle daydream...
released January 19, 2020

All music and words composed by Michael Francis McCarthy, with the exception of "Savia Andina", a medley of classic themes by legendary Bolivian folklore group Savia Andina.

Only The Strong Will Survive (2021)

1.

Bound For Yonder Mountain 03:37

buy track

2.

Send It To Collections 04:53

3.

So Long, Seedsong Farm 03:44

4.

Better Than Your Phone 03:41

5.

Judgement Day 03:43

6.

Shepherd In The Hollow 05:02

7.

How To Drive Slow 04:13

8.

Behold The Minotaur 05:11

9.

Only The Strong Will Survive 05:57

10.

Goodnight, Toll Collector 02:54

11.

Savia Andina 04:22

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE”

Migrant (2016)

Recorded in 4 studios in 3 states over the course of 18 months, “Migrant” (2016) is a collection of road songs, including 8 original compositions and 7 covers. These songs were in heavy rotation in live performances from 2014-2016 and you can hear the echoes of the road in the recordings, which feature three drummers, multiple guitar tones, experimental hand percussion, charango (a Bolivian 10-stringed instrument descended from the lute) and several recording formats including live band recordings, overdubbed layered tracks and raw solo acoustic. McCarthy toured the material from “Migrant” for 4 years, playing over 600 shows in Texas, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (and also Connecticut, but please don’t tell anybody. Fuckin’ Connecticut).

Listen on BandCamp

[you can click on the song titles to listen]

1.

Prologue 00:38

2.

At Home With Animal 02:36

3.

Green Grasshopper 02:24

4.

Songo Y Nanasga 03:14 (Savia Andina)

5.

Blue Angels 03:12

6.

Leave The Porch Light On 04:43

7.

Marry Me Away 02:14

8.

Corrina 03:50 (traditional)

9.

Kill The Old Grey Mule 04:02 (Belton Sutherland)

10.

All Blues 04:24 (Miles Davis)

11.

Compound Bow 02:52 (co-written with Christopher Myott)

12.

Done Got Old / Nobody But You 04:52 (Junior Kimbrough)

13.

Pastures Of Plenty 04:05 (Woody Guthrie)

14.

Ain't No More Cane 02:34 (traditional)

15.

Sgt. MacKenzie 04:16 (Joseph Kilna Mackenzie)

From The Shadow Of A Mountain (2014)

“From The Shadow Of A Mountain” (2014) was Michael Francis McCarthy’s debut full length studio production following the 2012 release of his first demo. Strains of John Lee Hooker and Woody Guthrie collide in a collection of songs about the mind of the Yankee hippie metalhead hermit looking out at the world from the shadow of a mountain. Written during a 6 month convalescence from a car accident, mostly in front of a roaring fire looking out the window into the bleak New Hampshire woods in dead of winter, this album features solo acoustic guitar, fully produced tracks with drums and vocal/guitar overdubs, a few covers and 12 original compositions drawing from influences ranging across the wider pan-American roots music diaspora.