11.09.08 | Recent News
Grand Prize Winner of the Sonic Bids Listening Room Retreats Competition

One of Top 5 Finalists in Songwriter Universe Magazine Song of the Month Competition

Recently signed agreement with Hook Line and Sync Licensing Agency in Australia

Song featured on MVY radio's "Local MusiCafe"

09.26.08 | Thanks to all who came out to Rockwood
Wednesday night's show at Rockwood was a huge success thanks to alll who came out and showed their support. I had been working really hard on the string arrangements and was beginning to wonder what would happen if we had all this great music and no one showed up, but that did not happen. I apologize for the insensitive comment about the Giants not deserving to win the super bowl last year. I am a sports ignoramus. I admit it and perhaps next time I should keep my opinions about football to myself. Still I found their victory last year inspiring. If they can do it, I can do it. Here's to the wildcards! (Am I digging myself into another hole yet? Better quit while I'm ahead.)
The last minute surprise set from Reid Maclean was a treat. The band after us, Rusty Belle kicked ass and the whole night reaffirmed my love of Rockwood Music Hall. Definitely on of my top 5 venues in the city.
Thanks again for coming out!

07.15.08 | Link to NPR's Soundcheck Interview and Performance
Thanks to everyone who tuned in yesterday to Soundcheck. Here is the link to the podcast. We had a really fun time playing in the new studios at WNYC and I enjoyed getting to meet the man, John Schaefer, behind the voice. After the show, he and Reid bonded over the time that Reid called in to the show to tell the story about how he once got liquid nails caught in his beard.

Be sure to come out to Jimmy's #43 this Wednesday. Should be a fun show. See the "shows" page for details.

07.13.08 | Soundcheck with John Schaefer
On Monday July 14th I will be playing on Soundcheck with John Schaefer. This is a really huge honor, and it is living proof to me that when I set my sights on things that I want to happen for my career, they can sometimes actually materialize! I am going to be bringing into the studio a 6 piece band, which will include Reid Maclean, Justin Hines, William Berlind, Katie Kresek, Artie Dibble and Ian Riggs. It is Sunday night now and I am about to head off to rehearsal at Will's. It has been a beautiful day and afternoon and I have really enjoyed putting together the charts for the band today. Becky has been working overtime on baby duty this weekend and most of last week actually, since I found out about Soundcheck, and I am really grateful to her for giving me the time to pull things together for this show. Baby June is doing great, smiling more than ever. It's amazing how when she does that, the whole world seems to melt. Last night, after kind of a fussy day, I sang to her as she lay there in her swinging chair in the kitchen and she was just beaming. She doesn't like the instrumental breaks so much. She prefers it if I just keep singing. I'm putting some new picture of her up in the gallery tonight.

Tune in tomorrow at 93.9 FM or 820AM at around 2:00. If, by the time you are reading this, you have already heard the show, thanks for stopping by my site.
Take care,
Colin

05.26.08 | Little One On the Way
Becky and I are awaiting eagerly the arrival of our first child. I haven't written about that yet here on this journal, even though we have obviously known for quite some time now, but I suppose it's time. We have been preparing the house for weeks now, getting everything ready and there is a pretty good chance that she (we found out that we're having a girl) will be here by the end of the week. It is a very happy time for us, and I feel blessed that she is going to be coming into such a warm community.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how having a child is going to impact my life as a musician. Of course I have heard all the stories about people who pretty much gave up playing music after having a kid. I am not worried about that with me though. I think that as I get older I just become more focused on what I really want and I become better equipped to get it. I seem to have been born with a kind of stubbornness to do the kind of work that I want to do, no matter what life presents me. Sometimes it's a curse but it can also be a blessing and I guess it gives me comfort when I look ahead at the future and wonder what is going to become of me. There is so much that I can't know yet, but I don't feel afraid, I just feel excited. I can't wait to meet my daughter! I will post some pictures of her as soon as she arrives. Wish us luck!

Also, I have posted some new songs in the Washington Market Songs section of this site. The pieces I have posted are kind of a song-cycle with a different song to represent each piece on the chess board. I wrote and recorded them to help the children I work with remember how to play the game of chess. They are very goofy and I hope you enjoy them. I have also posted some new photos in the "Photos" Section, and a great drawing that a friend of mine Josh Jordan did of me at a recent gig at The Cornelia St. Cafe.
Colin

03.11.08 | Mini-CD in the works
The last few weeks have been full of many changes. The new place is almost all set up in Brooklyn and we love it. Moving the fish tank turned out to not really be as big an ordeal as we thought it would be. The only casualty was a fish that I accidentally poured down the drain because he hid himself too well when I was trying to catch them all. Too tough for his own good. Desperado. Maybe he's still alive, swimming through the sewar system, unharmed. I wish him well.

Last weekend I did a recording project with Reid Maclean and Jason Harod, produced by William Berlind with Aaron Thurston on drums and Paul Phillips on bass. We are doing a 6 song CD, collaborating and playing on each other's songs. The entire project is being "comissioned" by our good friend Kathy Reber, and the recording is going to be finished right in time for her birthday party in early May. Reid and Jason and I all recorded 2 songs each, just drums and bass so far and the rest will get filled in over the next 10 days or so. Nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices flowing. I'll keep you updated on how and when the CD will be available.

That's all for now. Got to go back to work. Send me an email if you are reading this. I love to hear from you.
Colin

02.13.08 | Folk Alliance
This weekend is likely to be a pretty hectic one for me and Becky as we are moving to Brooklyn. 7 years in Harlem finally coming to a close. I am very excited to be near the Botanical Gardens, The Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park and the 2 or 3 train (in case I miss Manhattan). Still haven't quite decided exactly how we are going to move the fish tank. Last time was kind of a disaster.

So next week I am going to be heading to Memphis, TN for The Folk Alliance Music Conference. I will be there from Tuesday the 19th to Sunday the 24th, and I will be performing at 1 AM on Friday night at the CDBaby Showcase. I am very excited to meet people and hear/play some great music. These dreary winter months leave me hungry for some festival-style picking and song-swapping, so I hope I can find some of that down there. I will be sharing my hotel room with Reid Maclean and I don't doubt that we'll find some kind of fun trouble to get ourselves into.

I'm writing lots lately. I made it my New Year's resolution to try to write a little bit everyday. Trying to never let myself get too far from the process of song writing. I find that when I write more, it's hard to tell whether what I am writing is good or not. I've got about 3 or 4 songs on my plate right now and all of them seem in various stages of disarray. It always amazes me how fast they seem to go from being like that to being finished. I seem to know when I am over the hump with a song, when I got what I wanted out of it and even if it's not all done, I know that writing the rest of it will be easy. I just have to figure out what it is about the song that made me want to write it in the first place. The four that are on the table right now are about:
1. The Giants winning the Super Bowl
2. A girl who got herself the nickname "Swiffer Girl" by doing obscene things with a household cleaning instrument
3. How much fun it is to play music in a band
4. Taking a Vacation (from myself)

As soon as I move into the new place in Brooklyn I am going to set up my little home studio and start recording these songs and posting them on this site. I am looking to redesign this site, by the way, since so many people have been telling me that they liked the old one better. That one was a pain in the ass to up-date! But it was cooler... I know. I'll make some kind of compromise. Any suggestions are most welcome.

12.13.07 | The Haps
It's mid-December. Becky and I got a Christmas tree but have not put anything on it. Normally we put some lights on our trees, or if we're feeling ambitious we make some origami decorations that we get out of a book that I bought at The Museum of Natural History. This year we have hardly had a free second yet. The tree certainly does smell good though and I never mind having a little extra plant life around, even if it is dead (or soon will be).

I have a bunch of new gigs posted. It's a hell of a lot of work posting gigs on all three of my sites (this one, my sonicbids epk, and myspace) so I think I will just send everybody from those sites to this one. I also posted a new track in the "listen" section and a few new photos in the "gallery" section. Please peruse at your leisure.

I have been listening to two artists incessantly: Richard Thompson ("The Best of the Capitol Years") and Pierre Bensusan ("Pres de Paris" and "2"). I could write volumes about each of them but you should just cut to the chase and go buy all 3 of those albums on iTunes immediately. I always feel a little lame for buying "Best of" albums because I feel like I need to take the good with the bad when I get into an artist, but I have to say that it kind of blows my mind to listen to that Richard Thompson album and realize that there is not a bad song on it. Very inspiring.

I am pleased to say that my album "Window Seat" has recently gone "Balsam" on CDBaby. That's my term for what happens when you sell over a hundred copies. It may not sound like a lot but hey, we're talking about folk music here. I'm very pleased.

That's about it for now. Hope you have some Happy Holidays,
Colin

10.01.07 | New Review/Feature on Berkeley Place
"Generally, I’m into pop, rock and rap, but every so often I cotton to a kinder, gentler album that crosses my desk.

Colin McGrath’s “Window Seat” is such a record, with folky ditties about a favorite childhood book, old friends, and a simpler time. It’s mostly just Colin telling nice stories, but he’s accompanied at times by Aaron Thurston (The French Kicks), Rob Moose (Sufjan Stevens, Antony and the Johnsons), and many others. It’s not the kind of record you’d expect from a native New Yorker."
Ekko, Berkeley Place

09.13.07 | Huss and Dalton Singletree Banjo Acquired!
I just got a new Huss and Dalton Singletree Banjo. I went out to Mandolin Brothers in Staten Island two days in a row and played every old time banjo they had and I got the one that I liked best. I'm still keeping my old banjo on hand. Actually, the logo that you see at the top of this site comes from one of the inlays on that old banjo. I'll always have a good feeling for it, especially since I saw it all the way from being a garage sale give away ($1) to being a playable, unique instrument. I remember before I fixed it up one repair guy told me I might as well make a clock out of it, that it was just too far gone and not worth the headache. Glad I ignored him. But this new one is a different beast entirely. Amazing tone, great feeling, it even smells good. Nothing like a new instrument to put a skip in your step as you walk all the way to your broken bank.

08.20.07 | Window Seat Choosen as Editor's Pick on CD Baby
Here's the review:
The first time you pop in a disc with childlike anticipation, a little bit on the edge of your seat, there’s either an immediacy to the music that grabs you or it goes in one ear and out the other. Colin McGrath fits into the former category: he has a way of crafting songs that pull you in one level at a time (rather than hitting you over the head with the beginning of a song), and crafts his emotional build with a most tender and yet forthright touch. And similarly, despite the number of times a music junkie can pop in a new album, be engaged with the instrumental parts only to be disappointed with the mismatched vocals, living with an album like Colin’s, where the first entrance of his voice hits such a perfect tone of conceptual resonance, is a reminder of how rare it actually is to find such perfect compatibility between singer and songwriter, whether both are the same person or not. So while his listeners are first engaged by his vocal quality, drawing from bits of Greg Brown to Paul Simon, Jackson Browne to Nick Drake, the wonder and integrity doesn’t end there. McGrath’s knack for instrumentation makes one ponder his background; from violin harmonics to charango to prepared and toy piano, his musical sense of space is reminiscent of an orchestrator. McGrath’s use of color and tessitura suggests thoughtful consideration of instrumentation, beyond what the majority of songwriters are willing to ponder: that of instrumental conversation, sonic space, and the ability to change a textural color with an effect that, while it isn’t audible, shifts the tone without question. At the same time, McGrath has a solid singer/songwriter approach and result, These are solid songs, often playful and light as well as intellectual and profound. Window Seat more than earns its esteemed place as an editor’s pick for male folk.
author: Tamara Turner, CD Baby

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