Colin McGrath

Colin McGrath began performing original songs when he was 18 while busking across Europe. He studied music at Oberlin College in Ohio, but the Irish, bluegrass, funk and improv bands he played with fueled his creativity as much or more than the classical music that he studied. After college, at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, McGrath became inspired by a straightforward and honest style of modern folk. He released his first, self-titled folk album while living in San Francisco.

McGrath is as at home composing instrumental music as he is writing songs. He held the baton as musical director of the Killing My Lobster Orchestra in San Francisco when he released “Allegro Con Chutzpah,” an album of quirky and comical instrumentals influenced by Latin, Klezmer and classical music.

Since relocating to his native New York City, McGrath’s music has been heard in theaters, concert halls, in documentaries (including a Bill Moyers film) and in ads on your TV. He has received commissions to write chamber pieces for The Central Park Brass, The New York Philharmonic TA Ensemble, and The Bloomingdale School of Music. He can also be heard singing and playing guitar, dobro and harmonica with his bluegrass band Speedrack.

With “Window Seat,” Colin McGrath returns to an old love, songwriting, but with the background of an orchestrator and composer, influenced by years of music making.