Michael McGarrah

2nd place winner of the American Songwriter March/April 2010 Lyric Competition with his song "Starlite Hotel". - American Songwriter

1st place winner of the American Songwriter July/August 2005 Lyric Competition with his song "Iowa". - American Songwriter

2nd place winner at the 2012 Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Competition. - Tucson Kitchen Musians Association

'Dancin' In the Bone Yard' has been
selected as the Grand Prize Winner in the 12th Annual Great American Song Contest. - Song Writers Resource Network

"Starlight Hotel" has been selected as one of six finalists in the Lyric Writer Awards, presented by We Are Listening. - We Are Listening

I wish I could write like McGarrah. I could spend hours just listening to his tunes, soaking up the rhythm and wordplay. He has a voice that can carry off his great writing and simple guitar picking that provides a great backdrop for his words without getting in the way.

So, the next time you are thinking more about steelers and meat packers and pickup trucks heading across the country, the next time you want to hear words of the American experience put together elegantly, find a Michael McGarrah CD, open a Lone Star, pour yourself a shot of Whiskey, and just listen. - Aldon Hynes - Orient Lodge

Michael is a terrific talent...a fine poet with a great 'lived-in' voice. I love it. Great story songs. So far for me Dancing In The Bone yard, Country Girl (great atmosphere here ), Nightbirds
Waltz and Rockabilly Sat Night are the stand outs.. And this must be the
first Tuba solo Ive ever heard that made me stand in amazement! ( (Lets
Pretend Were Strangers)...a truly superb work. - Grammy Winner

I was on board Michael McGarrah's "Love Boat to Reno" from the moment I heard the first track, " Dancin' in the Bone Yard." The house sound engineer at a gig I was working was playing the CD to test the house system. I heard it and I knew right then I had to have it. "Dancin' in the Bone Yard" is a mesmerizing song with cinematic images and great clarinet hooks baited with a vaporous ghostly violin...

From the first tuba note and swing clarinet sounds on the tile track "Love Boat to Reno," it's obvious you're not on an ordinary journey... by the time the boat docks, you're glad you have been along for the ride.

Radio Ranger
KOPN 89.5 FM
Columbia, MO. - KOPN 89.5

Don Charles, Dsquared: McGarrah’s songs function like an emotional spyglass, peering about the room and soaking in the significant details. He is an iconoclast in the Tom Waits tradition - often the point of departure is so skewed that you feel he’s taken you to the wrong place (Love Boat to Reno?). Then the poet does his magic and you realize he had you right where he wanted all along. And he can write a love song that will make you ache for it. - Dsquared

...possessed of a voice that can tell a story in many different forms from the Tom Wait's lite of 'Dancin' in the Boneyard' to folk, country and spoken word, he'll turn his pipes to any gentle genre...'Nightbirds Waltz (How Are You Sleeping Tonight)' has a cargo of emotion whereas the title track is all about seersucker suited dandyism - he likes to play roles. He's the narrator on 'Rockabilly Saturday Night' and on 'Iowa' he shows that he can write 'the dust has blown her years away, stole the color from her eyes', this tale of disappointment soundtracked by violin and viola stealing the show. McGarrah is a stylist using generic patterns to tell his stories - there's humour and emotion packed in with the role-playing. - AmericanaUK

McGarrah is a storyteller. His tenor/baritone voice is compelling and convincing as he weaves his americana tales. - Victory Review

Top-notch song writing, excellent arrangements, and expressive, engaging
vocals.

- KVMR/FM