Megan Dooley: Taichung folk music's
newest face
By Derek Kensinger
Translated by Angel Pu
Folk music has a new voice in Taichung. Like Bob Dylan for Greenwich Village in 1961 or Joni Mitchell for LA in 1965, Megan Dooley brings her guitar, lyrics and sound to Taichung for 2013.
Megan hails from England and Wales, having spent the last seven years in Liverpool where she first started writing and performing music. She moved to Taiwan less than a year ago and has already played a number of gigs around Taichung, including ones at Salut, Soho 7, The Refuge, and Freedom Ocean. She has also played at Titty Tea in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung's DC Stage.
Coming from a very creative family of artists, Megan has been interested in music since she was a child. She learned to play the piano at a very young age, taught herself to play guitar in university, and began writing her own music at the age of 21. Her songs begin as personal poems after which she tinkers with these words and musical chords to form a song. She is also influenced by other folk musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Eric Bibb, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan and the John Butler Trio.
Megan likes to perform with a backing vocalist as most of her songs were written with harmonies. Currently, her back-up is longtime Taichung resident Rachel McPhail, who has performed spoken word in the past and has a very impressive, powerful voice. Megan says that she also hopes to perhaps work with a band in the future and experiment with other musical genres.
Until then, look for Megan's name at musical events around Taichung, and expect to hear a very talented folk musician. She is playing at Taichung's Retro Cafe on Feb. 3 and at Revolver Bar in Taipei on Feb. 7. (Check her Facebook page for more information: http://www.facebook.com/Megandooleysongs.) As she reminds everyone, "We are lucky to be able to hear musicians put their soul into their music live, so take advantage of the opportunity to support live music in Taichung." |
February 2013
