Rumson Singer Songwriter Shares His Passion with Local Audience

The scene: A cocktail party on a Saturday night in 1959. Mr. McCarthy at the piano while "the Mrs." sings. Songs from the rich tradition of the Great American Songbook like "I've Got You Under My Skin", "Take The A-Train" or "I Got Rhythm" by composers such as Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and George Gershwin as friends and neighbors all joined in.

These many parties and picking out melodies by ear at the family piano are the earliest musical memories of the Rumson guitarist and singer Dave McCarthy. 

"As with many people of my generation the switch went on February 9th, 1964," said McCarthy. "Of course, that was the date of the Beatles first performance on the Ed Sullivan show. One year after seeing that program, I was singing onstage at Markham Place School, and I had no fear." 

Dave's other biggest musical influence was his beloved older brother, who wasn't a musician himself. "It was Teddy's love of music that really inspired me. He loved so many styles of music from pop to rock and rhythm and blues. His collection of music was like a timeline of his life, whether it was a Doris Day song from a movie, a rap tune or an orchestral movie score," McCarthy described.

As his brother's music collection grew, so did McCarthy's interest. "When he came back from Vietnam, he introduced me to Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and Van Morrison's first group Them. At that time, I was playing guitar as well as singing. Years after that I found out about more obscure singer songwriters like Loudon Wainwright III and John Prine, so my musical interests are really diverse."

In the seventies, McCarthy organically formed a band called Revelry. "We started as a guitar and banjo duo, doing folk and country rock, and expanded from a duo to an acoustic four piece with two guitars, banjo, bass and four voices and drums," he said about his group.

His first group had a lot of success. "We were a very strong vocal band. At our high point we opened for a number of national acts including the Flying Burrito Brothers and Commander Cody. When we opened for legendary bluegrass player Lester Flat and we befriended his mandolin player Marty Stuart, who later went on to country music fame."

As the decade wore on and the band searched for direction, McCarthy found himself performing more and more as a soloist with his guitar and voice, which he does to this day. Today McCarthy plays regularly at a number of local places including Barnacle Bill's, McDonagh's Pub, the Celtic Cottage, the Twin Light Tap House and Val's as well as regular engagements at private parties. 

He says that what make him different from other performers is his passion for what he does. "What separates me from others who do what I do is that my approach to every song is to climb inside and fight my way out," he said. "I can call on over three hundred songs when I play, and it's important to me that I only do songs that I love. I enjoy myself immensely when I play, and it shows and I think the audience relates to that."

McCarthy, who is married and has one daughter, also teaches guitar, bass, piano, voice and drums at the in Fair Haven. "Teaching has opened me up to a whole new aspect of music. I love kids, they have a special wisdom and sharing music with them is a real joy in my life." 

Regarding the song featured in this piece "Travel All Over The World In The USA" McCarthy said, "This was one of my first attempts at songwriting, and there is a strange genesis for this song. I wrote it years ago after a bombing at an airport in Italy. At the time, people weren't traveling abroad, and it made me think of all the places in America with names from all over the world.”     

For more information and to find out where Dave is playing next visit www.DaveMcCarthyMusic.com                  

Download the movie