Wes McDonough comes from an extremely supportive family, which has made his choice to pursue a music career in Nashville quite simple. Hailing from Frederick, Maryland this soulful pop crooner has the power and vocal abilities to engage any audience.
Wes expressed an overwhelming passion for music early on - from the moment he learned to make noise. He cannot recall wanting to do anything other than sing and perform for a living. Wes’ parents have old tapes of him singing, humming along, and even playing a plastic guitar to the tunes of Michael Jackson, Eddie Rabbit, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle, The Beatles, Elvis, Juice Newton, Air Supply, and the Oak Ridge Boys - to name a few.
At the age of 11, Wes began studying voice after being discovered at a youth talent competition by a renowned private vocal instructor. Wes was trained classically but also sang show tunes, popular, secular, and spiritual music while studying voice.
Wes was given a guitar by a close family friend around age 12. After being shown a couple of chords, he took it from there and began to craft his own tunes.
At age 16, he began writing songs. “I remember one called 'You & I' that I composed on guitar, and another called 'The Innocence of Youth' that I wrote for the piano,†Wes chuckles, “looking back, they aren't too badâ€.
In Frederick County (Maryland), where Wes attended high school, there was a magnet school for the arts called VPA (Visual and Performing Arts) that accepted a small number of students from all over the state on an audition basis to study and perform. He was accepted to and attended VPA during his junior and senior years. Wes also sang in All-County, All-State, and All-Eastern choruses.
While in college, Wes started playing in bars and clubs around Baltimore - first playing solo, then eventually with a full band. He continued writing, and frequently played his originals at gigs. Wes began accumulating a respectable following, which came out regularly to hear him perform his original tunes.
After college, Wes started playing music as a full time job. In 2002, he put out a CD under the band name Lira; a 7-track EP entitled “See Foreverâ€. This EP sold 2,500+ copies, all at shows in the Mid-Atlantic region.
His song “Falling†placed in the 2003 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Rock category. Upon signing a management deal in 2003 with Deep South Entertainment, Wes and his band did a small tour of the east coast, which ran from Boston, MA to Savannah, GA and everywhere in between.
After the tour, Wes decided to once again take the reigns of his own career and continued writing and performing full time in bars, clubs, and small venues all over Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia. Wes has headlined sold-out shows at Fletcher's (275 capacity) and the 8x10 (350 capacity) both located in Baltimore, Maryland. Wes McDonough has also shared the stage with Better than Ezra, Violent Femmes, Carbon Leaf, and Nine Days.
The Nashville chapter of Wes’ career is just beginning, and he looks forward to building a more national fan base while playing and collaborating with all the fine talent Music City has to offer.
