SPRINGFIELD — Buddy McEarns first became interested in songwriting for several reasons, the first one being pretty common among young men.
“Besides trying to impress a girl — now my wife by the way, so it worked — the songwriters that got me really focused on the craft were John Prine, Gillian Welch, Big Bill Broonzy, Paul Simon, and Robbie Robertson.”
McEarns, who originally hails from Springfield but now lives in Southampton, will bring his band to Theodores’ on Aug. 22.
The singer-songwriter and guitarist started out humbly but quickly honed his craft from numerous local luminaries.
“I started playing the guitar with high school friends in the late ‘90s, played rhythm guitar in a bar band called The Swift in the early 2000s. In 2012, I started to attend Eva Cappelli’s open mics and also Wildcat O’Halloran’s blues jams. There I met many local musicians like Wally Greaney, Johnny Marino, Janet Ryan, Ray Chaput,” he said. “Along with Wildcat, they taught me a lot about delivering a performance, leading a band, and working for opportunities.”
Ultimately, he formed The Buddy McEarns Band, which features Jeff Turcotte on drums and backing vocals, Tommy McCarthy on bass and backing vocals, and Bob Toriani on keyboards. The band occasionally is joined by Wally Greaney (harmonica, sax), Justin Monah (sax), or Johnny Marino (harmonica, guitar). McEarns describes their sound as “a roots rock-based band that’s a blender of early rock ‘n’ roll, blues, funk, and soul.”
As far as his guitar style, McEarns had trouble narrowing his influences down to just a few players, rattling off names such as John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Ani Difranco, Leo Nocentelli of The Meters, R.L. Burnside, Robbie Robertson, Eric Krasno of Soulive, and Lowell George, among others.
“But it’s funny how you unconsciously find your voice with an instrument, and how bits and pieces of influences make it into that voice,” he said. “I could go on and on, as it’s a tough question. If your ears remain open and prejudice remains low, influences will keep flowing in.”
McEarns writes the band’s original material but allows his band’s members a lot of freedom for their parts of a song’s arrangement.
“I write the songs alone, and I usually have the skeleton of melody and structure. Then I release it to the other members where they add their own feel to it,” he said. “From there it gets morphed into what it currently is. I never tell my musicians to follow strict orders when creating.”
The band also covers material by well-known artists, ranging from The Beatles to Prince to Queen to Alice Cooper — and even Sia. But the band always tries to put a new spin on any cover song they play.
“Rarely do we play a cover that is a note-for-note copy. There is a freedom in doing it your own way, but there is also a responsibility to deliver something that is authentic to the listener,” he said. “You can’t be discouraged throwing an idea in the trash because it seems forced. So, when we take Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ and deliver it like an early ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll tune, it needs to be believable in both delivery and subject matter.”
McEarns gave the example of how the band plays “No More Mr. Nice Guy” by Alice Cooper.
“We do it in a honky-tonk style,” he said. “If you read the lyrics, his friends leave him, his dog bites him, his reverend punches him in the nose – it’s a low-down country song!”
Read the original article on MassLive.
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