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MICHAEL FRANCIS McCARTHY is an itinerant American roots musician. Born and partially raised in South America, McCarthy developed an early love of music through childhood exposure to Bolivian folklore and Grateful Dead records. Picking up the guitar at age four, he began a 30 year odyssey that led him throughout the Americas, wandering the western hemisphere gathering the sounds of the deep south and remote cold north, of the cities and small towns, the cutting edge party towns and the forgotten roadside hollows of yesterday's blues and country circuits, forever in chase of the ghosts of his heroes - Hank, Duane, Jerry, Robert, Merle, Levon, Woody, Bob and the rest. His sound is at once traditional and fresh, featuring powerful vocals, dense guitar work and a repertoire of timeless material delivered with conviction. Based in the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York, McCarthy performs 200 shows a year from the Canada border to the Gulf Coast and all points in between.
Opening the show will be thirteen-year-old JASPER ZIMMERMAN, who has been playing the piano for six years. A native of Hastings-on-Hudson, Jasper attends Farragut Middle School. His piano teacher is Billy Lester, and his idol is Art Tatum. Jasper is a member of the Jazz House Big Band in Montclair, NJ, and a regular at the Jazz Forum jam sessions in Tarrytown. He traveled to Ireland with NYC's Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra to play at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Three of his pieces have been chosen by the NYS School Music Association for its Young Composer Honors Concerts. Jasper has performed on piano, trombone, vocals, melodica, organ, percussion and vibes, and he experiments with digital music production. www.jazzyjasperz.com