About Me
"Without Paul McMahon's songs in my life the world would really be a dark and difficult place." -Sharon Gannon, co-founder Jivamukti Yoga Center.."Haunted by clarity...his voice carries the seed sound." -Joseph 'Beautiful Painted Arrow' Rael."...entertainment for the post-historical era, his lyrics are so good they occasionally obscure the fact that he's a hell of a good crooner." -WOODSTOCK TIMES."Better then an hour of MTV" -Jon Pareles, NEW YORK TIMES."An artist who provokes extreme thoughts and emotions." -Carlo McCormick ARTFORUM.McMahon is an innovative cultural originator with an eclectic body of work. His current work is Neo-Traditional acoustic with old time guitar picking and words from traditional folk songs sprinkled into the lyrics.From a musical family, Paul McMahon has been singing and playing in public since before the age of fifteen when his jug (skiffle) band played at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge, MA, a place where he saw Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Jim Kweskin and many others. Formerly a blues lead guitarist (he took lessons from Elvin Bishop) he began writing songs under the influence of punk rock in the late seventies and has been active ever since, amassing well over 100 songs. Also known for his work in performance art, video, visual art, writing and standup comedy, he has been awarded grants for his work from the National Endowment for the Arts, Franklin Furnace, the Jerome Foundation, Art Matters Inc. and Meet the Composer. In 1996 he was ordained an Interfaith minister and regards work as worship and creativity as divinity.Since 1977 he has performed his own material both solo and with bands at venues ranging from the Bottom Line to CBGB’s to the Guggenheim Museum. He was a member of the No Wave band DAILY LIFE with GLENN BRANCA and later formed A BAND with WHARTON TIERS. Since 1978 he has released three 45rpm, 7†singles and nine CDs. One was originally a 12†LP, released on Neutral Records (Sonic Youth, Swans). Most are available online in various media including iTunes: http://www.mp3tunes.com/artist_details.php?artist_id=38556
and MSN Rhapsody http://www.music.msn.com/artist/?artist=40384820
The most recent release is GENTLE MAN, a compilation of earlier releases curated by Sharon Gannon, co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga Center. https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/paulmcmahon8.
A song of his is included on Jivamukti’s new instructional DVD, coming out later in 2007. He is currently working on a new CD in Woodstock.His songs have been covered by JOHN HERALD, SYD STRAW and others. He has performed on bills with LYLE LOVETT, MICHAEL HURLEY, MARSHALL CRENSHAW, DAN HICKS, FREEDY JOHNSTON and GLENN BRANCA. Two of his songs from PROPHECIES are slated to appear in an upcoming collection to be released by the venerable ESP label. Since moving there in 1990 he has played with three generations of Woodstock musicians, including JOHN HERALD, JIMMY and JOEY EPPARD, members of THE BAND, HOT TUNA, BLUES MAGOOS and CAT MOTHER. He was in WRITER'S BLOCK with SPIDER BARBOUR and JUDY WHITFIELD and NAKED, with JULIA NICHOLS, KEN DOLL and YEMAYA.
He formed the ARMY OF LOVE with AMANDA JO WILLIAMS and a changing cast of characters including HOLLIS SMITH, DREW NORTH, EMILY LOPEZ, ALANA ORR and MACKENZIE PARKER. He also backs his sister (adopted) Lakota singer GAYLE TWO EAGLES and his god-daughter SHAMSI RUHE and appears on 93 MILLION YEARS BC by 70-something bebop alto sax man HUGH BRODIE. He performed at the 25TH ANNIVERSARY WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL in 1994 and at many Clearwater Festivals. He won the annual singer-songwriter contest at the Towne Crier in Pawling, NY. His act, the ROCK’N’ROLL THERAPIST, where he instantly composes songs based on problems from the audience has been heard on radio since 1982 and was a regular feature on KTV, a kids show on CNBC, 1989-91. He has appeared on CINEMAX, WNET-TV, NICKELODEON and often on WFMU-FM, everyone’s favorite college radio station. His work has been favorably reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES, BOSTON GLOBE, OPTION, SOUND CHOICE, ARTFORUM, PAPER and the WOODSTOCK TIMES. His interview of Wayne Newton appeared in the May 1990 issue of INTERVIEW.
When asked why he isn't better known he replies that he is very famous, but it is 'stealth' fame.LINKS TO ONLINE SITES FOR DOWNLOADS AND SALES of 8 CDSCDBABY: http://cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=paul+mcmahon&allsearch
submit=SearchiTunes: http://www.mp3tunes.com/artist_details.php?artist_id=38556MS
N: http://www.music.msn.com/artist/?artist=40384820&menu=al
bumsRhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/paulmcmahonAs far as I can see Rhapsody and CDBaby are the easiest to listen free to, the latter offering two minute samples only.ps- There's another Paul McMahon. His album is the one with Midnight Sun in the title. My first LP is available only at www.paulmcmahon.tv
