Chris McGovern profile picture

Chris McGovern

This is for Mom, 'Teresa from the Bronx'

About Me

I was born in Queens, NY, where I began playing piano as a child. I actually studied classical music and I've done recitals long before I became a rock musician. I have been writing songs since I was 22. I am a huge lover of music (See 'Influences' if you got a couple of hours) and I especially love the piano. The bands I played in include Magenta Passport, Orisha, The Foibles, The Lea Brennan Band (aka Lea Brennan & The Yankee Hill Gang), and Our Names.
View CMc's EPK

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/21/2006
Band Members: Chris McGovern- piano, vocals (I did play the drum parts on the CD as well, but very painstakingly--I also did the bass parts, but from the keyboard)
Influences: Ferenc Liszt; The Beatles; Brian Wilson/Beach Boys; Billy Joel; Ben Folds; Joe Jackson; Ray Charles; Thelonoius Monk; Stevie Wonder; Bob Dylan; Neil Young; David Bowie; Elvis Costello; R.E.M.; Elton John; Jimi Hendrix; Pete Townshend/The Who; Ray Davies/The Kinks; Bruce Springsteen; Woody Guthrie; Leadbelly; Robert Johnson; Muddy Waters; Fats Domino; Jerry Lee Lewis; Carl Perkins; Elvis Presley; Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps; Johnny Burnette; Eddie Cochran; Johnny Cash; June Carter Cash; Patsy Cline; Buddy Holly; Chuck Berry; Little Richard; James Brown; Sam Cooke; Bo Diddley; Charles Brown; Huey 'Piano' Smith; Bill Doggett; Booker T. & The MG's; Duane Eddy; Link Wray; The Drifters; The Coasters; Roy Orbison; Otis Redding; Aretha Franklin; Marvin Gaye; Smokey Robinson; BB King; Santana; The Band; The Byrds; Buffalo Springfield; Simon & Garfunkel; Felix Cavaliere/The Rascals; Van Morrison; Harry Nilsson; John Lennon; Yoko Ono; Captain Beefheart; Frank Zappa; Michael Nesmith/The Monkees/1st Nt'l Bnd/2nd Nt'l Bnd; Gram Parsons/Int'l Submarine Band/Flying Burrito Brothers; Emmylou Harris; Tim Buckley; Nick Drake; CSNY; Carole King; James Taylor; Joni Mitchell; Jackson Browne; Jim Croce; John Prine; Don McLean; Cat Stevens; Pete Seeger; Bob Marley; Bill Withers; Tom Waits; Bette Midler; Hank Williams; Flatt & Scruggs; The Louvin Brothers; The Osborne Brothers; Bill Monroe; J.S. Bach; Mozart; Beethoven; Schubert; Paganini; Berlioz; Wagner; Chopin; Bartok; Stravinsky; George Gershwin; Scott Joplin; Eubie Blake; Jelly Roll Morton; Fats Waller; Art Tatum; Bud Powell; Horace Silver; Vince Guaraldi; Herbie Hancock; Chick Corea; Ramsey Lewis; McCoy Tyner; Cecil Taylor; Keith Jarrett; Brian Auger; Oscar Peterson; Dave Brubeck; Mose Allison; Nat 'King' Cole; Harry Connick, Jr.; Frank Sinatra; Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground; The MC5; Iggy Pop/The Stooges; David Johansen/New York Dolls; Patti Smith; Television; The Ramones; The Rolling Stones; The Hollies; Dave Clark Five; The Animals; Pink Floyd; The Small Faces/The Faces; The Yardbirds; Eric Clapton/J.M.B./Cream/Derek & The Dominos; Steve Winwood/S.D.G./Traffic/Blind Faith; Tchaikovsky; Debussy; Ravel; Respighi; Rachmaninov; Shostakovich; Duke Ellington; Louis Jordan; Count Basie; Louis Armstrong; Dizzy Gillespie; Charlie 'Bird' Parker; John Coltrane; Miles Davis; Charles Mingus; Art Blakey; Max Roach; Buddy Rich; Lionel Hampton; Cal Tjader; Milt Jackson/Modern Jazz Quartet; Wes Montgomery; Ornette Coleman; Sun Ra; Billie Holiday; Ella Fitzgerald; Sarah Vaughan; Chris Connor; Blossom Dearie; Nina Simone; Etta James; Ruth Brown; Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Jean-Luc Ponty; Ravi Shankar; Teiji Ito; Edgar Varese; John Cage; Phillip Glass; Samuel Barber; Charles Ives; Aaron Copland; Leonard Bernstein; Stephen Sondheim; Burt Bacharach; John Fogerty/CCR; Led Zeppelin; Black Sabbath; Joe Walsh/The James Gang; Leslie West/Mountain; Chicago; Supertramp; Boz Scaggs; Steve Miller; Paul McCartney/Wings; The Eagles; Little Feat; Lynyrd Skynyrd; ZZ Top; The Allman Bros. Band; Paul Rodgers/Free/Bad Company; Badfinger; Big Star; George Harrison; Phil Lynott/Thin Lizzy; Marc Bolan/T. Rex; Sweet; Yes; Peter Gabriel/Genesis; ABBA; Tom Scholz/Boston; AC/DC; Van Halen; Rush; Peter Frampton/Humble Pie; Jethro Tull; Steely Dan; The Doobie Brothers; Lindsey Buckingham/Fleetwood Mac; Robert Fripp/King Crimson/League of Gentlemen; Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits; Bob Seger/The System/Silver Bullet Band; Queen; Prince; Sly & The Family Stone; Curtis Mayfield; Al Green; Issac Hayes; The Temptations; The Supremes; Parliament/Funkadelic; Saint-Saens; Alkan; Busoni; Mussorgsky; Daniel Johnston; The Shaggs; Jad Fair/Half Japanese; Graham Parker; Squeeze; Talking Heads; X; The Germs; Pere Ubu; The B-52's; The Specials; The English Beat; The Slits; The Sex Pistols; The Clash; Mick Jones/BAD/BAD II; Joe Strummer/The Mescaleros; XTC; Paul Weller/The Jam/Style Council; Gang of Four; The Buzzcocks; The Police; U2; Robert Smith/The Cure/The Glove; Siouxsie & The Banshees; Kate Bush; Simple Minds; The Smiths; a.p.b.; Dexy's Midnight Runners; Echo & The Bunnymen; Depeche Mode; Vince Clarke/Yaz/Erasure; OMD; The Human League; Ultravox; The Pretenders; Blondie; The Cars; Cheap Trick; The Go-Go's; The Waitresses; Sonic Youth; The Pixies; Kim Deal/The Breeders/The Amps; Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails; Kurt Cobain/Nirvana; Bob Mould/Husker Du/Sugar; Paul Westerberg/The Replacements; Matthew Sweet; Beck; Lenny Kravitz; The Bangles; Barenaked Ladies; They Might Be Giants; Kim Shattuck/The Muffs/The Beards; Shonen Knife; Zuzu's Petals; The Dixie Chicks; Aimee Mann; Tracy Chapman; Bjork; Fiona Apple; Sarah McLachlan; Tanya Donelly/Throwing Muses/Belly; Jeff Buckley; Jeff Tweedy/Uncle Tupelo/Wilco; Green Day; Squirrel Nut Zippers; Brian Setzer; John Hiatt; Bela Fleck/The Flecktones; Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Sweet Honey in The Rock; De La Soul; Arrested Development; Run D.M.C.; Public Enemy; Weezer; The Posies; Robert Pollard/Guided By Voices; Dr. John; Leon Russell; Johnnie Johnson; Nicky Hopkins; Alan Price; Al Kooper; Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan; Garth Hudson; Ray Manzarek; John Paul Jones; Ian Stewart; Ian McLagan; Rick Davies; Rick Wright; Tony Kaye; Tony Banks; Richard Tandy; Gregg Rolie; Gregg Allman; Chuck Leavell; Bobby Whitlock; Billy Powell; Billy Preston; David Sancious; Danny Federici; Roy Bittan; Christine McVie; Larry Knechtel; Bob Mayo; Benny Andersson; Chris Stainton; Steve Nieve; Jools Holland; Michael McDonald; John 'Rabbit' Bundrick; Raphael Rudd; Vladimir Horowitz; Artur Rubinstein; Sviatoslav Richter; Gyorgy Cziffra; Jorge Bolet; Martha Argerich; Leon Fleisher; Van Cliburn; Leslie Howard; Lang Lang; Evgeny Kissin; E. Power Biggs; Virgil Fox; Jascha Heifetz; Nathan Milstein; David Oistrakh; Yehudi Menuhin; Issac Stern; Itzhak Perlman; Anne Sophie-Mutter; Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg; Hilary Hahn; Yo-Yo Ma; Chris Thile/Nickel Creek; Jack White/The White Stripes; Rufus Wainwright; Lisa Germano; Norah Jones; Nellie McKay; Regina Spektor; Feist; KT Tunstall; Joss Stone; Josh Ritter; The Avett Brothers; various Broadway recordings; the sounds of the shore; the sounds of birds singing; the sound of running water; the sound of hearts beating; the sound of people laughing (FOR me, not AT me :))
Sounds Like: Billy Joel fronting R.E.M.
Record Label: Frump Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

No more car!! And sorry about the name switch!

Hi guys, Thanks for all your patience and everything. I'm really sorry that I haven't done any blogging on here for a very long time. I even went and changed my name for a time before my car died (Mor...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:39:00 PST

OMG, there's a gig on Saturday in NY!

Friends,I'm playing at the 169 Bar in New York on Saturday at 8 PM--I'm really sorry my page isn't showing the date. But this is really exciting, and I can't wait! If you could hear me, you'd hear a v...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:57:00 PST

Sorry, they're not ready yet! Oops!

Please bear with me, I'm a pauper! But I do have every intention of getting these CDs ready to put out, especially so I can get back out to the gig circuit really soon--Bloody expensive this business ...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:39:00 PST

A new year

Hey there! Happy New Year to all of you! I hope this is a great new beginning for all of us. I have not one, but 2 CDs (1999's CMc and 5 Dollar EP,  the one I just wrapped up) that I ha...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 01:58:00 PST

I can't say much...

...but Mom 'came into rest', as they say in the obits, on Dec. 10th. We were there for her, and, hopefully, we made it a comfortable and peaceful transition for her. Here's the obit from the Conn...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:43:00 PST

Please pray for my mom

I've probably already mentioned this elsewhere on here, but my mother is currently living out her last days, and some family and friends are spending time with her. She's been in and out of hospitals,...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Sat, 09 Dec 2006 08:37:00 PST

Tracks are DONE!!!!

Hello!!! The tracks are done for 5 Dollar EP!! We just wrapped it up last night, and I couldn't be happier--You're in for a real nice disc, people! Did the remaining piano stuff on Wed, and the vox on...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 01:39:00 PST

The Hilary and Chris (Thile) Show!!! (Updated)

As a musician, you wonder when the biggest, most influential moment in live performance (I mean LIVE, in front of you) occurs ever, in your lifetime, or if it has occured and when. I believe Tuesday n...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:12:00 PST

New masters on player

Well, actually, not BRAND new, but these are the final versions of the masters for the 1999 tracks with much improved sound, and a couple of overdubs. Steph and I put 'em up last night, so enjoy!!
Posted by Chris McGovern on Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:18:00 PST

Sessions for the next CD have begun!!

Hi!!! I got together with Brian Kelly (Talking To Walls: http://www.myspace.com/talkingtowalls  http://www.talkingtowalls.com ) last night (He has a studio in his house) and started, in...
Posted by Chris McGovern on Thu, 21 Sep 2006 02:47:00 PST