A Picture & Paragraph that showcase my wit & Charm:
Short Bio for event pages & such
Cuchulain is a low-voiced songwriter with a wry wit. The NPR Music-featured folk singer released an album of long distance pandemic collaborations called FEAT on Nov 5, 2021 that was called "an as-yet-unpublished portion of the Great American Songbook." Cuchulain's deep baritone and clever lyrics have drawn comparisons to Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, and Johnny Cash. From rooms as big as the Kennedy Center or as small as a friend's living room, Cuchulain's lyrics have brought laughs and tears to audiences across the US and beyond as he shared the stage with renowned folk acts including Ira Wolf, Jeffrey Lewis, Viv & Riley, Billy Keane, Upstate, and more. His Sing In The Shower single release tour took him to Europe in the summer of 2022, and his nationwide My Dog single release tour criss-crossed the US in summer 2023. His new album “Minute To Win It” - a visual album of 20 songs in 20 minutes - is out now and taking the world by storm.
Some Nice Things the Press Said About My Music
“Cuchulain and his mighty band performed among a ton of impressively healthy houseplants in Oregon.” - NPR Music, January 30, 2024
“…fresh and clean…” - NPR Music, February 22, 2022
“…gives ‘one-man-band’ a whole new meaning.” - NPR Music, June 23, 2021
“Charming and poignant americana.” - Glide Magazine
“[FEAT is] bubbly, colorful, and full of those moments of deep connection that have sustained us through this weird time.” - Oregon Arts Watch
“Cuchulain’ FEAT is timely and timeless. As I listened to the album, I felt like I was exploring an as-yet-unpublished portion of the Great American Songbook. Cuchulain clearly cares about the lyrics and narrative drive of each song as much as he cares about its musical structure and production (Paul Simon came to mind more than once as I listened).” - 25 Years Later Media
"The words transcended while encompassing a personal moment." - Matt Denis, Eugene Register Guard
"There’s a Leonard Cohen cadence and observational wit at play, filtered through Cuchulain‘s voice that recalls Evan Dando of The Lemonheads. It's a clever and lyrically impressive track that rolls along perfectly like a Randy Newman lost gem." - Post To Wire
“The cross country (and Atlantic) project therefore not only helped break the isolation of lockdown, but also reinforced the mutual relationship between creativity and human connection... What emerges is a track warm if somewhat wistful, the playful energy undercut by a lingering sadness. An awareness of time passing.” - Jon Doyle, Various Small Flames
Longer Bio
Cuchulain -- a low-voiced songsmith with a wry sense of humor – has a big name to fill. Cuchulain (pronounced “ka-hoo-lin”) was named (yes, by his parents) after the famous Irish mythological hero. As he explains, “Every Irish person knows this name, but no one is named it. It’s like naming your kid Hercules or Jesus.” The name is translated to “Hound of Chulainn” in Gaelic and inspired the name of his previous musical project Handsome Hound.
And like his mythological namesake, Cuchulain has journeyed far and wide, finding himself and his songs shaped by each place he stops. He has honed his genre-bending version of folk music by incorporating the sounds of his many hometowns.
Born and raised in rural South Carolina, Cuchulain has roots in a folksy sound with a hint of twang. He says, “My first musical memories were singing in the church choir and garage band rehearsals at my house.” That mix of musical styles contributes to his current genre-melding sound.
He says, “My life has taken me around the world and back, and those experiences, those places, and the people in those places have influenced the sound of my music.” When Cuchulain lived in Paris, his songs were homesick and sentimental. When he lived in DC through the 2016 election, he wrote political and protest songs on his debut solo album, Cuchulain. When he lived in the Bay Area, he wrote and recorded his recent album, Songs for Grownups, a rock opera filled with critique of late capitalism and tech. That album’s single “I Prefer My Phone” drew the attention of NPR Music, who said his Tiny Desk Contest performance “gave ‘one-man-band’ a whole new meaning,” referencing his performance of all instruments (guitar, bass, piano, and drums) in the video.
FEAT, Cuchulain’s third album, is a collaborative project in which every song features a guest artist, musical friends he has met through his wide-spanning travels. Cuchulain currently lives in Eugene, Oregon, which inspired the first tune on this album, “Good Morning, Eugene.” The full album arrived November 5th, 2021 with a regional Pacific Northwest tour in support. Recent singles “Sing In The Shower” and “That’s Right, I’m Millennial!” were met with resounding acclaim and international awe as Cuchulain globetrotted on a yearlong-tour.
Minute To Win It, released Nov 3rd, 2023, is a visual album of twenty minute-long songs that tell a loosely continuous story. Made over two years when time shrunk and expanded, this album is a mediation on art during a time of darkness. Each of the twenty songs has its own minute-long music video, catering to and poking fun at the wild online jungle of content creation. The second single Antidepressants was included in NPR Music’s Tiny Desk newsletter announcing Bob Boilen’s retirement.