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The next single "Dust on the Wall," released on May 17th, is one of the songs where he is really working through the grief. His son's ashes sat in the room where his piano was. He would sit and play when he wanted to talk to him, which helped him work through the idea that he was gone, knowing that he was talking to "Dust on the Wall."
Brian, who is very active in the realm of supporting mental health partnered with MusiCares®, the Recording Academy's charity, to donate 100% of the proceeds from the track, “Saturday Night Sleeping.”
ABOUT THE ALBUM
The songs that would make up Good Morning Ireland, come after a period of pre-covid touring with Kate Voegele + Tyler Hilton on their joint European tour, Howie Day, Tyler Hilton, and American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks. The tours supported a collection of singles, "Promise Me", "Don't Own Much", "Underwater" and "Learn to Be" produced in Los Angeles by Jon Levine (Rachel Platten, Andy Grammer). "Learn to Be" charted #1 most added for 3 weeks in a row tied with John Mayer on the US FMQB A/C Charts. The music video for "Underwater" premiered on the Huffington Post, boasting the headline "Sublimely Gorgeous Music From Brian Mackey". It was also officially nominated for an HMMA award for "Best Independent Music Video”, along with his video for, “Don’t Own Much. During this timeframe, he has also toured with David Bromberg in the US, Ron Pope in Europe, and Jon McLaughlin for select dates.
ABOUT BRIAN MACKEY
From a very early age, the youngest of three had an ear for music. His grandmother played piano, sitting in at local clubs, and his mother dabbled in songwriting. There was nothing Brian liked more than music. “I used to ‘steal’ albums from my brothers and parents. I remember listening to Queen’s “Night at the Opera” over and over and over. I never got sick of it, never got sick of listening to the radio or hearing new music. I liked everything, it didn’t matter what it was as long as the musicians played instruments!”
The next single "Dust on the Wall," released on May 17th, is one of the songs where he is really working through the grief. His son's ashes sat in the room where his piano was. He would sit and play when he wanted to talk to him, which helped him work through the idea that he was gone, knowing that he was talking to "Dust on the Wall."
Brian, who is very active in the realm of supporting mental health partnered with MusiCares®, the Recording Academy's charity, to donate 100% of the proceeds from the track, “Saturday Night Sleeping.”
ABOUT THE ALBUM
The songs that would make up Good Morning Ireland, come after a period of pre-covid touring with Kate Voegele + Tyler Hilton on their joint European tour, Howie Day, Tyler Hilton, and American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks. The tours supported a collection of singles, "Promise Me", "Don't Own Much", "Underwater" and "Learn to Be" produced in Los Angeles by Jon Levine (Rachel Platten, Andy Grammer). "Learn to Be" charted #1 most added for 3 weeks in a row tied with John Mayer on the US FMQB A/C Charts. The music video for "Underwater" premiered on the Huffington Post, boasting the headline "Sublimely Gorgeous Music From Brian Mackey". It was also officially nominated for an HMMA award for "Best Independent Music Video”, along with his video for, “Don’t Own Much. During this timeframe, he has also toured with David Bromberg in the US, Ron Pope in Europe, and Jon McLaughlin for select dates.
ABOUT BRIAN MACKEY
From a very early age, the youngest of three had an ear for music. His grandmother played piano, sitting in at local clubs, and his mother dabbled in songwriting. There was nothing Brian liked more than music. “I used to ‘steal’ albums from my brothers and parents. I remember listening to Queen’s “Night at the Opera” over and over and over. I never got sick of it, never got sick of listening to the radio or hearing new music. I liked everything, it didn’t matter what it was as long as the musicians played instruments!”
While schoolwork didn’t really grab Brian, the attention he got from being good at music did. “When I was 7, my music teacher asked me to sing the 'Star Spangled Banner' for the class. Everyone was so complimentary that it left me inspired and confident. I then went on to sing in church, plays and the school choir.” Having learned piano from his grandmother, and guitar from just a few lessons, Brian was really eager to challenge himself by playing music he heard on the radio rather than what was assigned during lessons. “I would find excuses to stay home from school so I could sit in my room and play the guitar. Something inside me was confident that I was on the right path. I didn’t follow the road that I was encouraged to take, but at the same time, the direction I was heading in felt natural to me.”
Brian tooled around with some bands in Florida, where he admits the warm weather and party atmosphere made it easy to score gigs. Wanting to experience four seasons, he moved around the country and lived in a Volvo 240 wagon – washing dishes by day, bar gigging by night. He landed in New York, where he continued to play in bands until he had an epiphany: “It dawned on me that I would be better off –and would grow more as an artist – if I wrote my own songs and composed my own music. I wanted to live to my full potential and felt like being a solo artist was the best way for me to do that.”
That fateful decision opened many doors for Brian, some leading to great things, some leading to frustration, but always ending with a learning experience that helped him develop. One of the first in a series of steps to improve came when Brian flew to Nashville for a meeting with producer Sam Ashworth (The Civil Wars, Switchfoot, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith), where they recorded “Painted Red.” This track ended up on Brian’s first EP, Feng Shui for Slobs (whose title came from his landlady who wanted Brian’s small 1-bedroom apartment to have “feng-shui”), and became Brian’s very first commercial placement, turning up on the Disney Channel’s Naturally Sadie.
His second EP, Brian Mackey Red, was a very different period altogether. Brian was in a management contract with a successful producer, and although he flew Brian to Los Angeles to work with a lot of well-known musicians, Brian was ultimately unhappy with the music. He returned to Nashville, recording Honest Love, his third EP. It’s been described by Brian as “My breaking away album, my independence flag; I made the EP with my own money and did it exactly the way I wanted it.” The title track, “Honest Love,” as well as songs “Color Blue,” and “Out on the Road,” have garnered features in TV, Film, and National and International Branding Campaigns. A few among them are CMT Edge, A&E, Lifetime, Travel Channel, Arla Foods Demark, Unicef UK and Rebel One Pictures.
"Dust on the Wall" (out 5/17 )
GOOD MORNING IRELAND (Out June 21) : STREAM // DOWNLOAD
RIYL: Noah Kahan, Tyler Childers, David Kushner
Website // Instagram // YouTube // X // Facebook // Spotify
Brian tooled around with some bands in Florida, where he admits the warm weather and party atmosphere made it easy to score gigs. Wanting to experience four seasons, he moved around the country and lived in a Volvo 240 wagon – washing dishes by day, bar gigging by night. He landed in New York, where he continued to play in bands until he had an epiphany: “It dawned on me that I would be better off –and would grow more as an artist – if I wrote my own songs and composed my own music. I wanted to live to my full potential and felt like being a solo artist was the best way for me to do that.”
That fateful decision opened many doors for Brian, some leading to great things, some leading to frustration, but always ending with a learning experience that helped him develop. One of the first in a series of steps to improve came when Brian flew to Nashville for a meeting with producer Sam Ashworth (The Civil Wars, Switchfoot, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith), where they recorded “Painted Red.” This track ended up on Brian’s first EP, Feng Shui for Slobs (whose title came from his landlady who wanted Brian’s small 1-bedroom apartment to have “feng-shui”), and became Brian’s very first commercial placement, turning up on the Disney Channel’s Naturally Sadie.
His second EP, Brian Mackey Red, was a very different period altogether. Brian was in a management contract with a successful producer, and although he flew Brian to Los Angeles to work with a lot of well-known musicians, Brian was ultimately unhappy with the music. He returned to Nashville, recording Honest Love, his third EP. It’s been described by Brian as “My breaking away album, my independence flag; I made the EP with my own money and did it exactly the way I wanted it.” The title track, “Honest Love,” as well as songs “Color Blue,” and “Out on the Road,” have garnered features in TV, Film, and National and International Branding Campaigns. A few among them are CMT Edge, A&E, Lifetime, Travel Channel, Arla Foods Demark, Unicef UK and Rebel One Pictures.
"Dust on the Wall" (out 5/17 )
GOOD MORNING IRELAND (Out June 21) : STREAM // DOWNLOAD
RIYL: Noah Kahan, Tyler Childers, David Kushner
Website // Instagram // YouTube // X // Facebook // Spotify
