When you first read the title of this post, you might think that it is nothing special. Every musician creates and performs music for everyone. Usually personal thoughts and feelings are constructed in lyrical form, but the artist wants every one of us to hear and feel what they sing and play. Throughout history this has been the aim of the artist, and the hope is the audience will identify and understand the art. Yes, the musician puts it all on the line in hopes that all will be moved to listen many times over. Such is the case of Carrington MacDuffie, the singer/songwriter whom we are featuring this week.
Once before I remember featuring an act that could be placed in the Americana category of music. (New Americana) Another time I featured a group in Florida Music Letter. I must tell you that each time was a wonderful revelation for me. Carrington has fine music coupled with a compelling story that I believe many of you will enjoy. Therefore let us look at her life and background in music.
A native New Yorker, Carrington’s love for music was sparked in early childhood while listening, dancing and singing to the records that her dad, a huge music aficionado, was spinning — Teddy Wilson, Beethoven, Herb Alpert, Hudson River folk, Scottish marches, Bob Dylan, classic rock, and the Beatles, among many other artists. From the time she began writing songs as a teenager in her native New York, MacDuffie’s musical inspiration has been fueled by expansive experimentation in songwriting and performance styles, drawing on the sounds and rhythms of New Wave, World, and New Age.
Based upon what you’ve learned about Carrington MacDuffie so far, you may think you have an idea of the sound of her music. Well, you might be way off track. That’s because there is more to Carrington’s story than just the music. Carrington MacDuffie is a well-known spoken word performer and narrator who has voiced a wide range of characters and dialects, including the part of a shamanic Scottish dwarf in World of Warcraft. You see, I have known successful spoken word performers and there careers usually are a lot like that of a musician. In MacDuffie’s case, she has simultaneously enjoyed the fruit of both careers.
Carrington has recently performed narration for audiobooks of Marianne Williamson’s newest book A POLITICS OF LOVE, Gail Sheehy’s landmark best-seller PASSAGES, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson’s WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE. Most recently, Carrington can be heard on the critically acclaimed audiobook RODHAM, which showcases a “what might have been” twist on recent history. She served for several years as the voice of Ancestry.com, and she has voiced biographies of Joni Mitchell, Pussy Riot, and Jack Kerouac.
Nevertheless, music is her true passion, and throughout her unique and multi-faceted career she has honed her innate gift for musicality, lyricism and performance.
After growing up in New York, Carrington went on to study in Baltimore and New England, and lived beachside in Los Angeles for a decade. Currently, she divides her time between Austin and Seattle. Austin, Texas proved to be that special community where music is ubiquitous, and it drew her in. It was in the Americana scene that she felt her spirit come alive.
It might be good at this time to define Americana music. Understanding the genre might help truly understand why Carrington MacDuffie was drawn to the musical style. Americana, as defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA), is “contemporary music that incorporates elements of various mostly acoustic American roots music styles, including country, roots rock, folk, gospel and bluegrass resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band.”
The South by Southwest Music Festival and the Austin City Limits television show are just two examples of the eclectic nature of music fans found in the city of Austin, Texas. This also helps to explain why Carrington MacDuffie appreciates the city. It most likely helps in her creative endeavors to be surrounded by such an open environment.
Recently, Carrington has devoted much of her time to touring. In 2018, she began the year with a trio of shows at the Sundance Film Festival showcase, then set out on an ambitious two-month tour of Europe including the United Kingdom through spring and summer, with radio shows along the way. Along with British musician and composer Adam Blake, she performed to a wide range of audiences in Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France, where she played at the popular club Belushi’s in Paris. Highlights in the UK included shows in Bristol, Bath, Brighton, Glasgow, and Inverness.
Without a doubt, the pièce de résistance of that year was a visit to the pristine Isle of Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Colonsay is the ancestral home of the MacDuffie clan, where they lived for centuries before heading to the American colonies in the early 1600s. Carrington had the thrill of performing in a church on the site where her ancestors worshipped. The experience deepened her connection to her Scottish roots, and to the country itself. “As soon as we crossed the border from England into Scotland, I felt an energy shift. I felt free,” she says.
Carrington released her latest EP ‘I’m The One’ in April 2020, and currently has recording projects going in Glasgow, Austin, Nashville and Seattle. It is rare for an album to be introduced to the world that captures such a distinctive combination of dreams and realism but as MacDuffie delivered single after single, it was evident that this release would change how all viewed reality. After months of anticipation, fans can finally get caught up in the story Carrington has crafted throughout the EP. With an open mind and a diamond intellect, MacDuffie provides lyrical medicine to troubled hearts with the release of ‘I’m The One.’
“There isn’t a single one of us who isn’t the center of the universe, and the claim made by the title track “I’m The One” goes for everybody,” says Carrington.
I listened to the entire EP, as well as her previously released music. I wanted to get an idea of the style of music Carrington MacDuffie creates. Well, I was drawn into listening to much more of her music than I first intended. If someone asked me about Carrington MacDuffie’s music, I would tell them to just take some time and start listening. Like me, you might find that music that you really like.