Marshall McLean: Press

Singer-songwriter Marshall McLean wins Gibson New Musician Award
10/10/2006


At the 3rd Annual HATCHfest—held this past weekend in the heart of the Rocky Mountains in Bozeman, Montana—Marshall McLean took home the Gibson New Musician Award and a beautiful new Songwriter Deluxe Cutaway. The 21-year-old Spokane, Washington, guitarist was chosen after a four-month online search through various websites, including MySpace, Gibson.com, and Hatchfest.com.

With competitions in music, as well as film, fine art, photography, writing, dance, fashion, and architecture, HATCHfest brings together students, selected from hundreds of schools and colleges around the world, and seasoned professionals, who become their mentors. It is a festival like no other, hatching creative talent within the arts. Gibson, a major sponsor of HATCHfest, awards the Gibson New Musician with a new flat-top acoustic, handcrafted in the Montana factory.


Marshall McLean and J.D. Souther


“Gibson is proud to sponsor the New Musician Award at this year’s HATCHfest,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, the company’s Chairman and CEO. “HATCHfest signifies the spirit of the true musician, and, like Gibson Guitar, recognizes the individual achievements of those performers who continue to give music a voice throughout the world.”

In a ceremony at Bozeman’s historic Ellen Theater, McLean received his award and guitar from J.D. Souther, the gifted songwriter who penned such Eagles hits as “Best of My Love,” “Heartache Tonight,” “Victim of Love,” and “New Kid in Town.” Souther also gave a songwriting master class to selected HATCHfest attendees.

“In my opinion, to embrace art is to embrace humanity,” says Souther. “I’m proud to be a part of Gibson’s effort to acknowledge and encourage the pursuit of art.” His new album—and first solo recording in years—is slated for a fall release.

Spin cycle

Left-of-center reflections shape folk rocker's music
Upcoming album explores Christianity, modern world
By Isamu Jordan • Staff writer • AUGUST 3, 2007

ID: Singer-songwriter Marshall McLean is a transplant from Montana.



Style: Left-of-center Christian folk-rock

"When you think of Christian music, it's definitely not traditional. But being a Christian artist, just the way I write lyrics and the way I look at songwriting is filtered through that. It doesn't reflect Christian music in a genre sense, but the spirit of the lyrics is there," McLean said.

Solo artist: "I wasn't exactly what you would call a cool kid. A lot of that social time that most high schoolers would be having, I was just the kid playing guitar alone. I took a few lessons here and there, but a lot of it was birthed out of loneliness. I submerged myself into trying to have an outlet for just being lonely."

Lyrics: "The album I have out now is called 'Heaven's Grey.' It's eclectic. Those songs were written while I was going to school in Missoula. I had just got married, and there were lots of songs about that. The new one coming out in September is called 'The Road to Antioch.' It's more of a concept album inspired by the 'Sermon on the Mount.' So the lyrical content is a little more disciplined, focused."

Marshall McLean's 7 essential albums
"Ten Thousand Days," Bebo Norman

"Rockin' the Suburbs," Ben Folds

"Caught by the Window," Pilate

"I See Things Upside Down," Derek Webb

"I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning," Bright Eyes

"40 Acres," Caedmon's Call

"Room for Squares," John Mayer

Props: McLean won the 2006 Gibson New Musician Award at Hatchfest in Bozeman.

Next gigs: McLean plays 7 's Acoustic Explosion 2007 kick-off podcast concert tonight at 8 at Caterina Winery, 905 N. Washington St., with Melody Moore, Mordekye Layman and Kevin Long. Cover is $5.

McLean also appears on Saturday at the Acoustic Explosion all-day festival at Empyrean Coffee House, 154 S. Madison St. The event starts at 1 p.m.
More: www.myspace.com/marshallmclean

Marshall McLean

Heaven’s Grey


By: Jonas Ehudin
Posted: 05/03/2007


Marshall McLean is an alluring performer with a voice just this side of scratchy and a gift for capturing tiny, elusive moments in song. The singer-songwriter’s slow, intimate lyrical presentation envelops the listener in the kind of cottony embrace that’s stitched into the fabric of a cool, rainy day wiled away in a coffee shop.

To be sure, McLean is a bean-house performer, though one whose words are just as carefully crafted as the delicate picking patterns on his self-described “movement” song, “Ten Thousand Ways To Fly.” The subtly grateful “Eve,” one of several Missoula-inspired tunes, offers the impressions of McLean—who now lives north of Spokane, Wash.—on his first year of married life, spent in the Garden City. In a tender confession, he sings, “Hey Eve, I think we made it / I think we found our piece of Eden / and the fruit of our silence / is the things we’re barely speaking.”

Playful banjo, grounding bass lines and somber choral backing provide proof McLean is not just an able composer of instrumental music, but also of the emotional content it can be coaxed into containing.

Marshall McLean performs with David Boone Friday, May 4, at 7 PM at Liquid Planet. $5 suggested donation.

MCLEAN HATCHES

Attendees at last October's HATCHfest may have noticed a pretty sweet tour bus buzzing around town. Painted from stem to stern with references to Gibson guitars, and outfitted with a mini-recording studio, a big-screen TV, a huge rack of acoustic guitars, and every other toy that a musician could possibly want, the bus looked like the kind of rad rig that might serve as portable home to the rockin' famous.

In fact, it carried a soft-spoken Christian singer-songwriter from Spokane, a guy previously only recognizable to coffeehouse denizens of a few towns scattered across the inland northwest.

His name is Marshall McLean. If you've heard of him, it may be from his past gigs at Liquid Planet (where he returns this Friday) and Break Espresso. Now, you can call him something different: the Gibson New Musician of the Year.

McLean was actually nominated for the honor by Liquid Planet owner Scott Billadeau. Earlier this fall, McLean learned he'd won the competition. Gibson - which builds its acoustic guitars in Bozeman - sent the tour bus to pick up McLean in Spokane and bring him to HATCHfest, where he was feted at a ceremony at the Ellen Theater. J.D. Souther, the songwriter who penned “Victim of Love” and “New Kid in Town,” presented McLean with a brand new Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Cutaway acoustic guitar.

Ironically, McLean has long been a Taylor man. But, he says diplomatically, “they're both great guitars. I play the Gibson a lot now.”

Given the award, you might expect McLean to be some kind of fingerpicking dazzler. In fact, his music tends more toward plaintive folk-pop, in the vein of Jack Johnson or Tom Catmull. He clearly knows his way around a guitar; but he doesn't let that get in the way of a sweet song.

McLean will perform at Liquid Planet this Friday at 7 p.m. The show is free, with donations accepted.

Singer/songwriter Marshall McLean identifies his music as Christian although it's really hard to tell aside from the album title. This mostly acoustic record is something that can be easily filed with a number of introspective young artists today, a population that is certainly growing with the recording and manufacturing CDs so much easier and affordable now.

Poetic and moody, McLean seems to be writing diary entries and then singing them to relatively quiet folk music. The slow, melancholy "October Rain" is the perfect soundtrack to rainy seasons; you can imagine the overcast clouds looming over a broken-hearted couple. There is a sadness in McLean's voice that cannot be denied; his gravelly vocals carries the weight of the world or at least the troubles of everyday life.

The songs rarely pick up tempo. Only on "Hands" does McLean generate any sort of speed; otherwise, McLean looks inside himself, and the songs move at their own gradual pace. And that's what this record is for: Reflection. Contemplation. On "The Ordinary Things" and "Dandelion," McLean reels you into his world with impeccable guitar playing, and it's not a bad place to be in. Here's an album which doesn't ask you for much yet delivers more than it promises.

Marshall McLean - Heaven's Grey


'Marshall McLean'
'Heaven's Grey'


- Genre: 'Rock' - Release Date: '2006'


Everything, not just Heaven, is grey in the world of singer/songwriter Marshall McLean (http://marshallmcleanmusic.com). The cover depicts a coming storm attacking a barren tree, and the music inside has the same atmosphere of desolation. Much of that has to do with the sparseness of the arrangements. McLean aims for an intimate setting throughout the record, and the stripped-down approach gives it kind of a bleak mood.

This is one of those records that demands a lyric sheet because the dramatic impact of the songs is dependent upon the power of the words. For example, when Bob Dylan's brilliance is discussed it's usually not about the musicianship (and certainly Dylan's singing cannot hold a note) but his songwriting. Whatever insights that McLean has in lyrics is often lost because there are no printed words (at least in a completed form) to sing along with.

Nevertheless, the missing lyric sheet doesn't tarnish what is a fairly strong record. "Desiring Violet" is the most engaging tune on here, namely because McLean's vocals are in front of the mix; his words are clearly expressed, and his acoustic guitar picking is compelling and nearly hypnotic. McLean is a solid player; check out his mesmerizing riffs on "Dandelion."

McLean has a dry, raspy voice that distinguishes him from many of the pretty-boy male singer/songwriters today. It certainly won't make young girls swoon a la John Mayer. But that's not the audience that McLean seems to be courting. Somewhere between alternative rock and folk resides this promising new talent.

The music of Marshall McLean (http://www.marshallcmcleanmusic.com) is sometimes so quiet that you wonder if the CD is still playing. OK, perhaps that is somewhat of an exaggeration. But there's no denying that McLean's songs are mellow and relaxing, quite a contrast from the boisterous rock that is the trend these days among twentysomethings.

Applaud McLean then for taking the road less traveled. When one thinks of the singer/songwriter genre, names like Jack Johnson and John Mayer come to mind but McLean doesn't belong in that category. This is no teenybopper crooning. Compositions like "October Rain" and "The End of Me" have an intimate quality that is light years away from the stadium-filling pop muzik of those smash hitters.

McLean's record is best appreciated near a campfire, when these personal songs take a life of their own amidst the wilderness and starry skies