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Sunday, 18 May, 2008 10:16 PM
CMA New Artist Spotlight: Cody
McCarver
Photo
by Myriam Santos-Kayda
PLC
recording artist Cody McCarver
| By
Bob Doerschuk |
| ©
2008 CMA Close Up News Service |
In some ways, Cody McCarver's
story isn't so different from those of other up-and-coming Country
artists. He's a Southerner, born and raised in Dunlap, Tenn., near
Chattanooga. He began playing piano in church at age 9 and by 17
had graduated to doing shows in honky tonks.
His path began to separate
from the norm when he parlayed his self-taught instrumental skills
into a two-year run on bass with Lynn Anderson's band. He stayed
on the road after that, playing piano with Confederate Railroad.
And now, with his self-titled debut album, produced by Csaba Petocz,
released on PLC Records and distributed through Navarre, McCarver
charts his own refreshing course.
His sense of humor is
one thing that stands him out from the crowd. Some of the covers
on Cody McCarver suggest a playful irreverence. This quality emerges
in the straight-faced irony of his performance on "Red Flag,"
a guide to early warning signs in new relationships, the mock-epic
"Redneck Love Gone Bad," his descent from "cocaine"
to "Rogaine" on "Sunset Boulevard" and "Country
Badass," whose deconstruction of macho stereotypes is familiar,
hilarious and endearing.
But another side surfaces
on "Through God's Eyes," co-written by McCarver. This
meditation on the lives of the disadvantaged, conveyed with an almost
conversational delivery that draws the audience into the heart of
the story, reveals a narrative gift whose cultivation might be the
next step in McCarver's ascension. The point being made here is
that he's nowhere near the end of the journey he began back at the
piano in that small-town church.
Q&A:
INFLUENCES
"Waylon Jennings, Johnny Paycheck, David Allan Coe, Johnny
Cash and Jerry Reed."
MUSICAL HERO
"Waylon Jennings."
HOMETOWN
"Dunlap, Tenn."
DREAM DUET PARTNER
"Stevie Nicks."
SONG YOU SING IN
THE SHOWER
"I don't sing in the shower, as I'm afraid I will drown."
SONG YOU'D SECRETLY
LIKE TO COVER
"'If That Ain't Country,' by David Allan Coe."
SONG YOU WISH YOU'D
WRITTEN
"'Live Like You Were Dying.'"
BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
"Bedside Blessings, by Charles R. Swindoll."
CD ON YOUR STEREO
"The Band's The Last Waltz."
WORD OR PHRASE YOU
SAY OVER AND OVER
"Help me Country radio."
MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
YOU PREFER
"Tour bus or a Ford pickup."
ACTOR TO PORTRAY
YOU IN YOUR BIOPIC
"Billy Bob Thornton or Matthew McConaughey. These are two actors
I can think of that speak almost as Southern as I do."
PET PEEVE
"Hypocrisy."
YOUR LUCKY CHARM
"A leather bracelet my father made."
TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
"If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough."
WHEN THEY LOOK BACK
ON YOUR LIFE IN 50 YEARS, WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE SAY ABOUT YOU?
"He was a good father, a good son, brother, friend and an all
around good man. He was just who he was, there was nothing fake
or egotistical about him. He loved Country Music more than anything
and gave all to anyone who would listen to his music. But as important
as his career was, family and friends we're the most important thing
to Cody."
On the Web: www.codymccarver.com
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