Ohio singer songwriter Michael Marcagi seems to have arrived from nowhere and won Ireland over with his heartland rock songs of escape and big dreams. He talks to Alan Corr
"I am completely humbled and blown away that Ireland likes what I do," says fast-rising US singer Michael Marcagi. "I never thought in a million years that someone outside of my own city would listen to my music, let alone a different country."
The 30-year-old singer songwriter is at home in his native city of Cincinnati, Ohio on the Zoom machine and as you might expect from a man who plays a very accessible style of heartland rock, he's a humble, modest and laid-back customer.
Over the past few months, Marcagi (it’s pronounced "mar-kay-jee") seems to have arrived from nowhere. Even by the modern music industry metrics of success, his heartache songs have created a blizzard of statistics and turned record execs starry-eyed.
It all began when the former frontman of Ohio act The Heavy Hours, who released two albums, uploaded his song Scared to Start onto the blipscreen hellscape that is TikTok last November.
The track promptly took off like a Fourth of July firecracker. The quivering country rock anthem was used in over 70,000 videos on the platform, reached the charts in Australia, Canada, and the UK, and Sweden and peaked at number three on something called the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
It's out. 3 new songs that mean so much to me. Hope you enjoy them. Thank you for all the support you have given me so far. This all feels like a dream and I’m scared I’m gonna wake up. 🫶 https://t.co/YNnxboqFqK pic.twitter.com/yh8decJinp
— Michael Marcagi (@Michaelmarcagi) February 9, 2024
In total, Scared to Start has now had an impressive 10.1 million global stream since the start of the year. No wonder Warner Music had him on speed dial and signed Marcagi up just a few weeks ago.
But it’s Ireland that really seems to get him. Irish streams of the song have shot up by 72.2%, he hit the top 11 Daily Top Songs on Irish Spotify, and No 45 Irish Shazam Chart.
Last Friday, he even cracked the top 10 in the Official Irish Charts. I’s quite a build-up to his debut Irish gig next April when he plays Liffeyside venue the Grand Social in Dublin.
Marcagi is genuinely excited at the prospect. "I have never been to Ireland and I feel like if I was put to the test I wouldn’t know much about Ireland . . . " he says. "Van Morrison is Irish, correct? I love him. I recorded all the songs on my new EP in Woodstock, upstate new York and Van recorded a lot of his albums up there. So, every time I’m up there I like to listen to Van."
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That new EP is entitled American Romance and its five tracks of aching trad rock are a good intro to the man.
Marcagi is pretty much an unknown quantity so far. He grew up in the suburban sprawl outside of Cincinnati with a blue-collar background and his upbringing inspired many of his songs.
"Growing up in a part of the country where I still live, there is a lot of love hate relationship with it," he says.
"You feel it’s very mundane but it’s also where a lot of the people you know and love are so these new songs are trying to capture those mixed feelings I have growing up here."
He adds, "Ohio is a very blue-collar place; I grew up in the suburbs so yeah, a lot of my friends and family are blue collar. Also, it also feels like Cincinnati has big city vibes to it. We have some popular sports teams here and I grew up with a love of sports like a very average normal childhood I would say."
He mentions John Mellencamp, John Prine and Jim Croce as key inspirations but Ohio itself does boast more than its fair share of rock `n’ roll stars. It’s the home state of Boz Scaggs, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Devo, Bootsy Collins, Dwight Yoakam, Pere Ubu, and Dave Grohl.
"The music scene here is pretty interesting. we’ve had some people who’ve made it pretty far like The Black Keys who were an inspiration to me so a lot of cool music coming out of Ohio," says Marcagi. "But I never really felt too connected to the music scene here growing up."
The simple and direct songs on American Dream hit home and Marcagi has zero airs and graces.
It’s easy to see why Ireland has taken to him and Noah Kahan with their songs of suburban/country ennui and dreams of escape to a world that maybe only exists in our imaginations.
"Being honest about the things you grew up and saw is important," he says. "Talking about the way you feel. People are attracted to honesty.
"I try to write about specific things and being specific about very personal things and experiences growing up is important to me. The audience is smarter than most people give them credit for. When you tend to get too vague, you lose a lot of listeners."
There’s more than a ring of John Mellencamp’s Jack and Diane to some of the songs on the EP - and that title, American romance, is pretty loaded.
"A little bit," Marcagi smiles. "I grew up in a religious part of the country, and a lot of people are pressurised to get married young, maybe to get married a little too quickly, and seeing those lives and relationships being hurt by that and failing . . .
"A lot of the relationships around me growing up, I saw confusing things about them. So, American Romance as a title is a little bit of a poking fun of the idea of an American romance. Relationships are definitely a theme of the EP."
With new music out and Marcagi continuing his very own Irish romance, he's now itching to get back into the studio and record his debut solo album.
"I can’t wait to make more songs," he says. "I’m excited that I have this EP but I can’t wait to get back into studio and then get to play these songs live. It’s really fun to play songs that mean so much to me in front of other people."
American Romance is out now. Michael Marcagi plays the Grand Social, Dublin on 17 April.
