At 4 p.m. Sunday, June 12, East Montpelier’s Colin McCaffrey performs original songs in a rare solo performance at the Plainfield Opera House Concert Series.
McCaffrey has received a lot of positive press in these pages as a go-to producer of acoustic music from singers and bands performing bluegrass, country and old time music. He’s also been reviewed for his own four albums of songs. He’s performed with a number of country and country swing bands as well. He’s a multi-instrumentalist whose playing has graced a number of other musician’s albums. McCaffrey was a finalist in the 2010 and 2020 USA Songwriting Competitions, winning first prize in 2012 for best jazz song and first prize (Bluegrass category) in the 2009 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest.
Most of the time McCaffrey performs in duos, trios or multi-member bands. A solo performance is rare for him.
“I do quite a bit of solo work,” he explained. The reason we don’t often see his name on a program is that his solo work is often at nursing homes and senior centers, “stuff you can’t advertise.” At those venues, McCaffrey performs old standards, country, swing and earlier 20th-century songs.
Asked why he isn’t out performing solo more frequently, McCaffrey said, “For me, it’s an issue of time and energy. I have so many things I’m working on. I don’t have time to chase down the gigs.”
Much of the music he will perform this spring and summer will be with musicians he has worked with frequently for many years. They include gigs with singer-songwriter-guitarist Patti Casey and singer-banjo player-guitarist Danny Coane.
Asked what is different about working solo versus playing duos and group work, McCaffrey said that as a soloist he has “a lot more freedom to choose material and the freedom to try a different set of tunes that I didn’t plan on doing. I can also change the arrangement on the spot.”
But soloing does have its constrictions. “You don’t have anyone else, you have to carry the whole experience by yourself. When you do a solo, there is no one to take a musical break, to give me some time to relax.”
The best type of solo gig, said McCaffrey is “exactly what the Opera House gig is, appreciative listeners.”
He said at the Opera House he will draw from the deep catalog of songs he has written. “The audience will hear almost all originals, from jazz standard-type tunes to a country ballad and a bluegrass-type tune.”
The hour’s worth of performance in one set will be performed with guitar although he is an accomplished fiddler and mandolinist as well. “The songs will be taken from my solo albums and include some songs I’ve never released.”
Asked what the rewards are for winning a song-writing contest, he said, tongue in cheek, “You get a good batch of guitar strings.” More seriously, “It’s more a feather in your cap, but you never know who might hear it. It’s an ego pursuit; it’s nice to hear other people say, ‘That’s good.’”
A few of McCaffrey’s songs have been recorded by others including Brattleboro-based Housetop, a swing-folk band that did “Your Feet Look Good.” Christine Malcolm, from Morrisville, recorded “Gypsy Boy.” “Blue Mountain Whiskey” was covered by a New York bluegrass band.
Getting songs recorded requires the writer to “keep putting stuff out there,” McCaffrey explained.
While McCaffrey encourages people to attend his Opera House concert, he will also perform at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, at the Echo Center in Burlington with Casey; 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 10, with the Radio Rangers on Craftsbury Common; and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 29, at the Highland Lodge in Greensboro, again with Casey.
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