The Kieran McManus Experience
BIOGRAPHY
Based in Portland Maine, Kieran McManus plays guitar, cello, and piano. He first began with classical piano at age 6, and switched to guitar when he was 12. In the past few years he has become obsessed with cello.
His music is based on the great folk music of mountain traditions like bluegrass, and old time, with a deep love for celtic, rock, and funk. He is also an avid fan of Jerry Garcia, John Hartford, Gillian Welch, Sigur Ros, Rushad Eggleston, and Ben Sollee.
While working for the Smithsonian Folkways Music archive, Kieran developed a great appreciation for the rich music traditions of this country. While living in Jackson Hole Wyoming, Kieran participated in the weekly Hootenanny for 50 consecutive weeks, where he became inspired by all the great traditional musicians who performed a diverse array of bluegrass, folk, cowboy music, and oldtime.
This is Kieran's first year doing the RPM challenge.
Thanks for checking me out!
BAND MEMBERS
Kieran McManus
YEARS COMPLETED
2009
GENRES
Folk
OTHER BAND SITES
http://www.kieranmcmanus.com
http://www.myspace.com/lonesomefiddlestringband
Completed Albums
Yellow Moon Over Portland(2009)
This is Kieran's first year doing RPM. Using a Macbook, Logic, guitars, a cello, piano, banjos, and various other noisemakers I set out to record 10 songs for the album. Yellow Moon Over Portland drew inspiration from string bands, bluegrass, and the great sacred acoustic melodies that sing out from fiddles and cellos and guitars.
Silencing the perfectionist tendancy in the studio, I had to keep moving even when I wasn't quite sure of where I was going. What resulted was a surprisingly cohesive collection of songs. Most of the songs are instrumentals, and Geep Amara sang on two of the songs which were co-written with my friend Eric Swan.