Bill McGraw - Singer-Songwriter
I have been writing songs on and off for 25 years. I play many instruments, my favorite being the alto sax. Musical styles range from Traditional Irish to Hard Rock. In the vocal of the music your can hear the influences of Bono Vox, Springsteen, CCR and ACDC. Although music often took a backseat to family and academics over the years, the desire to create and perform never left me alone.
I began playing music in rock bands as a teenager in Scranton, Pennsylvania. From there, I went on to jam with friends in Clarion Pa, while studying for a graduate degree in 1994. I found myself in Alabama in 1996 playing in a band called "The Applicants" in Gulf Shores. This band played many bars and went on to record my first CD called "Ride" around 1998. Shortly after, I recorded one on my own called "For the Poets Drama".
It was around this time that I read a book while in New Orleans about vampires and haunted history tours of the city. I bought the book in a gift shop in an Irish Pub. Inspired by the stories I read, I wrote a song about them and sent them into the owners of the tour group. They liked the song well enough to include it on a video they were working on at the time: Haunted History Tours of New Orleans, "Journey into Darkness..The Trilogy". It is available to buy at their internet site.
In 2000, I moved once again to Florida and began listening and playing traditional Irish music. There I met fellow musician, Kevin Brown, who wound up singing and playing tin whistle on two CDs called "Off the Wagon" and "Goin Down Swingin".
I started playing music in bars in New Zealand as a solo artist. Some of my best times as a musician were had at a bar called "Billy Burkes" in Taradale, There I played over 100 gigs over 2 and 1/2 years, some of that time with friend and drummer, Pierce Jenkinson. Friend and bar manager of Billy Burkes, Andi Kennard, gave me an appreciation for "The Pogues". Other bars I played were "The Criterion Hotel", "Rosie O'Grady's", "The Brazen Head", and "O'Flahety's" in downtown Napier. In July, 2004 I moved to Auckland but did not find as many good places to play as the Napier, Taradale region. It basically sucked musically.
I moved back on March 15th of 2005 and had a few of the most memorable gigs of my life playing St. Pats day at Billy Burkes and O'Grady's. I played these two places three years in a row, they were always rockers!
September 2005 I spent 6 months in Sydney and once again could not find work in music. After 3 months in the US with a job in Academics, I am now still in South Africa working in Science. Music is limited to writing, recording and mixing on my own. It has been many years since I have done any serious public performances.