McGarvey's debut solo cd, Tell Your Mother, earned raves from publications ranging from Time Out New York, the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Weekly and Performing Songwriter magazine. The disc was also included in several year-end "Best of " lists in both the US and UK.
In late 2006, McGarvey finished mixing a new collection of songs entitled Beautiful Mess, and is currently shopping the new material.
McGarvey maintains the melodicism on Beautiful Mess but the overall tone musically and lyrically is far more intimate than his debut. Songs like "Girl Meets God" and "Citizens' Band" reveal debts to artists like Elvis Costello and fellow Upper Darby native Todd Rundgren while "Gone, Gone, Gone" has the flavor of a 1960s technicolor film score and "Please Don't Go"--with its portraits of the desperate lives being lived in the fictional town of New Jerusalem--is the closest thing to suburban Gospel music you'll ever hear.
Bill McGarvey bio
On his debut solo cd, Tell Your Mother, McGarvey's melodies feel like they're being beamed directly into the new century from a 60's AM radio deep in his soul, where he combines them with an intelligent, slightly fractured and completely personal lyrical perspective clearly tuned into the details of the present.
Tell Your Mother earned raves from publications ranging from Time Out New York, the Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, Philadelphia Weekly and Performing Songwriter magazine. The disc was also included in several year-end "Best of " lists in both the US and UK.
Recently, McGarvey finished mixing a new collection of songs entitled Beautiful Mess, and--capitalizing on the success of his first solo cd--is currently shopping the new material.
McGarvey maintains the melodicism on Beautiful Mess but the overall tone musically and lyrically is far more intimate than his debut. Songs like "Girl Meets God" and "Citizens' Band" reveal debts to artists like Elvis Costello and fellow Upper Darby native Todd Rundgren while "Gone, Gone, Gone" has the flavor of a 1960s technicolor film score and "Please Don't Go"--with its portraits of the desperate lives being lived in the fictional town of New Jerusalem--is the closest thing to suburban Gospel music you'll ever hear.
On the new collection, McGarvey augmented his own cocktail drums, guitars, mandolin and harmonica with his backing band The Good Thieves which includes Jason Loughlin (Ben Arnold Band) on guitar, piano and bass; Mike Tichy (The Mooney Suzuki) on guitar, bass, keyboards. He also enlisted Tony Leone (drums, mandolin) and Byron Isaacs (bass) from the band Ollabelle--whom he often shared the bill with--to play on several tracks. Amy Helm, also of Ollabelle and daughter of the legendary Levon Helm (The Band) sings a beautiful duet with McGarvey on "True Blue." Rounding out the Beautiful Mess guest list is Andy Burton (Ian Hunter) on piano and organ and Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams) on pedal steel.