Mags McCarthy (born 1989/1990) is an Irish country singer.

Early life

McCarthy grew up on a family farm in Dripsey, County Cork, Ireland, where she milked cows and tended to cattle. Her grandfather (who died when she was two years old) played the fiddle. She uses his fiddle, reported to be 134 years old in 2020, when playing music. Her interest in performing began at age four, where she started Irish dancing classes and began playing the fiddle. McCarthy lived in

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for a short time in 2010. She spent three years as a lead with ''Rhythm of the Dance'' and completed post-graduate studies in

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

at University College Cork. McCarthy taught music at the Terence MacSwiney Community College in Knocknaheeny, Cork. As of 2020, she was 30 years of age.

Music career

In 2016, during a two-week holiday, McCarthy initially travelled to Nashville to record 16 of her original songs. Later, in 2017, McCarthy moved fulltime to Nashville where she met

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

and Parton's management team. McCarthy was given the chance to play at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

and later played at the

Wildhorse Saloon The Wildhorse Saloon was a country and western-themed restaurant which offers live music in addition to a Nightclub, dance club in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Grand Ole Opry, Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Ho ...

and Country Music Association Festival. She was also invited to perform for U.S President

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in the

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on St Patrick’s Day, which she counted as the "highlight of her career". She has received invitations to perform before other dignitaries such as the President of Ireland, the Mayor of Shanghai, members of the British Royal family and the European Parliament in Brussels. In 2020, her single, a cover of Dolly Parton’s ''Light of a Clear Blue Morning'', reached number 37 in the US country charts, and number 1 on the Hot Disc European Top 40 chart. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was back home at her family farm in Dripsey and said that she was delighted to drive around in her Massey Ferguson 35.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Mags Living people 1980s births 21st-century Irish singers People from Dripsey Musicians from County Cork 21st-century Irish women singers Irish country musicians