Local artist profile: Mariah McCarthy

THIS week we chat with singer/songwriter Mariah McCarthy

What initially motivated you to become a musician?

When I was nine I decided I wanted to learn guitar because lessons were offered at my school, so my parents bought me a second hand nylon string for my birthday! One of my close friends Cassie (who I still sing with) was already learning guitar and I loved singing and all things performing so it seemed like a fun thing to do.

Can you describe your musical style?

I often find it difficult to describe my music style but perhaps gentle, thoughtful, contemporary folk. It has come from a combination of older singer/songwriter influences such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, crossed with more contemporary artists like Missy Higgins and Paul Kelly, with a dash of friends who I’ve played and written with for many years – in particular my guitar teacher Bianca Maes who helped me develop my guitar style and song writing. I never set out to have a particular sound, it’s just what came out when I started writing songs!

Which artists inspire you and why?

Singer/songwriters inspire me the most because I’m always captivated by their ability to weave lyric and melody together while telling beautiful, often personal stories. Someone like Paul Kelly who has had such a long and prevalent career and is still relevant today, whose songs have stood the test of time, is a big inspiration to me.

What are some highlights or fond memories you have from your career so far?

One of my favourite things to do is play folk and grass roots festivals – being able to share the weekend with a group of people and also being a part of the audience wandering around watching other acts is always a wonderful experience.

My EP release at Wesley Anne is a particularly fond memory – playing with friends and finally getting my music out into the world was a lot of fun and began the start of my trio with Cassie Ward and Ben Langdon as well. It’s always super fun whenever I get to perform as a trio with the help of their beautiful voices and Ben’s guitar work making mine sound better!

How has your music career been affected by COVID?

It’s definitely put everything on hold and saw a lot of great opportunities cancelled. I was set to perform in the showcase as a finalist for the Folk Alliance Youth Artist of the Year at the National Folk Festival last year – so who’s to say what effect cancelling opportunities such as that one may have had on my career.

But, I’m looking forward to getting back out into the industry with some releases coming up and continuing to perform live.

What have you been working on lately?

I am currently working on my debut album, a follow up to my debut EP released in 2018. I began organising the album all the way back in 2019 however I didn’t make a start on recording until late 2020 thanks to our friend COVID, then with another interrupted year it’s been pushed back again.

But I am very excited to say that it is very close to being finished and I can’t wait to release these songs that I’ve been working on for the past couple of years!