About US

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THE STORY BEHIND THE MAC CARTHY FOUNDATION

 

It was the summer of 2021 and I had hooked up with my friend Vic and his son-in-law, Sandro Dominelli en route to a game of golf at Castlegar, BC. We got chatting and it turned out  Sandro was both a professional musician and an operator of a recording studio. A month later, I found myself sitting in that studio, guitar in hand, recording a couple of tracks. I wondered what the songs would sound like with a really good vocalist and professional musicians playing with me. Sandro confirmed we could take things to a different level if we went that route. Although I wanted to sing my own songs, I also wanted the music to sound the best it could be. I never regretted that decision.

 

A few weeks later, another acoustic guitarist, a bass player and a vocalist joined me in the studio to record three songs. Listening to the music  come alive was a joy for me. I subsequently recorded 10 more songs with Sandro at his studio in St. Albert. Those songs made up the album Stepping Stones which you can listen to on this website. 

 

As I was finishing recording the final tracks with Sandro, the thought came to me; why not give others who have songs that need to be made public the chance to experience the wonder and excitement of seeing their work come alive, just as I had experienced it. It would give session musicians work, give both novice and experienced song writers opportunities to have their music recorded. It would build community and I hoped it would be also be a fun project for myself and Sandro to be part of such a process. That then is how THE FOUNDATION came into being. 

 

Colm Mac Carthy

 

 

BIO

 

My name is Colm Mac Carthy and I was the founder and one of the Directors at THE MAC CARTHY FOUNDATION. I grew up in Dublin Ireland listening to the likes of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Harry Chapin, Don McLean, and Elton John.

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No one in my house played music until I played a little finger style guitar in my late teens and early twenties. Even though I loved the music of finger style guitarists like Stefan Grossman and John Renbourne, my interest in music faded as I got busy with studies in medical school. After several years of working as a physician in Ireland and England, I emigrated to work in rural Canada. I lived in several small rural communities throughout Manitoba and Alberta and my medical career didn't leave me much time for music. In fact I hadn’t touched a guitar for almost 30 years until I picked one up again in early 2019. After several months of banging away on my old Yamaha guitar, I decided it was time to splurge and go out and get a decent one. I headed for Stang's Guitars on 76th Avenue in Edmonton, ready to buy a top end Taylor acoustic guitar. Somehow I left there with a guitar from a small Quebec company called BOUCHER. It's a 12 fret acoustic guitar designed for finger style playing. That guitar sounded so good and I was hooked. 

By early 2020, just as the pandemic was starting, I was playing 2-4 hours of guitar a day and I was starting to write songs. In October 2021, I resigned my position as an Assistant Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. I haven’t missed a beat since and I hope to continue writing and enjoying music for years to come.