John McTigue III Shows It’s Never Too Late on July 11
“McTigue cross-pollinates genre with ease and daring” – Goldmine Magazine
Teams up with Kenny Vaughan, Chris Scruggs and Raul Malo
Nashville, TN – MC3 Records proudly announces the release of drummer/percussionist/composer John McTigue’s second album, Never Too Late, on July 11. This is the follow-up to his 2021 critically acclaimed debut, It’s About Time, which Barry Mazor of The Wall Street Journal described as “imaginative and it could change minds.”
Never Too Late is a stylistically diverse collection of duets that rise to an all-new level of mastery and prowess with world-class players and artists. Co-produced with Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart) and recorded in Nashville at LOUD studios, McTigue was joined by Kenny (guitar and vocals), Raul Malo (The Mavericks, electric guitars and bass), Chris Scruggs (steel guitar, bass), Al Hill (vocals/piano), Ray Neighbors (electric guitar/vocals), Alicia Enstrom (Nashville Symphony, viola/violins), Billy Contreras (violin), Steve Herman (trumpet), Betsy Lamb, Nick Gold and Emily Rodgers (viola, cello).
There are 12 tracks on the album, and it opens with the classic “Down The Road A Piece” sung by the award-winning Nashville-based singer, pianist, and guitar player Al Hill, who does an old school blues version with just piano and John on drums. Other vocal tunes include a straight-up gospel number, “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus,” sung by the incredibly soulful Ray Neighbors, on guitar, put to a rhythmically infectious funk groove with John on brushes.
“I felt so much soul coming from Ray and the presence of the Holy Spirit when we did this song live at Roberts Western World (Nashville Legendary Honky Tonk), that I got inspired to ask him if he would play the song with me on the new record.”
The classic “Route 66” swings with Kenny Vaughan on vocals and guitar and John’s vocal debut on “Broadway Blues,” an original song he wrote about the history of music in Nashville and today’s working musicians on the iconic strip “Lower Broadway.”
There are also seven instrumentals ranging from the rocking, funky strut of “Falling In Time” (co-written with KV) to “Ghost Riders In The Sky,” a guitar odyssey of the western favorite set to a Samba groove with a Latin drum solo finish, the premiere of a Chris Scruggs original rocker titled “Landslide” to the haunting, poignant and soul stirring original composed by McTigue for string quartet and drum kit “Hope Within Us” to the romantic yet heartbreaking Rhumba, “The Last Goodbye” written by Raul Malo and McTigue to the progressive rock instrumental Treading The Lion and Cobra with Father Ron Blakely. It closes with McTigue’s 20th-century piece for a string trio titled “String Trio #2.
And how does a musician like John create such moving music and emotional rhythms? Depending on the scenario, John will compose on drum set, keyboards, or guitar as he flushes out his musical ideas, whether it’s for a string arrangement or an improvisational setting live in the studio with other players.“ I really do believe that it’s never too late (in our life‘s journey) and it’s all about the journey.”
“Love to hear the passion in the music, truly inspiring, thanks for your gift, John!” -Wille Cantu, from (Buck Owens and The Buckaroos)
Originally from the State College, PA, area, John McTigue III began making noise very young. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, he earned a degree in 20th-century Composition and headed off to Nashville, Tennessee, in the summer of 1988, where he quickly made his mark on the local music scene. A founding member of the well-respected Nashville band “Brazilbilly”, John was instrumental in putting the “Latin beats” behind the band’s traditional country and rockabilly sound. Brazilbilly spent a year opening for the internationally popular BR-549 at Robert’s Western World. (McTigue and Brazilbilly were profiled in US News and World Report for their part in revitalizing Nashville’s historic Lower Broadway music scene in the early-mid ’90s.
During his time with Brazilbilly, McTigue developed a special type of brush with which he could play very quietly while doing jazz and traditional country, but also loud rock and roll. This innovative design caught the attention of the renowned drummer and innovator Johnny Rabb. Soon, the brush was being produced and marketed worldwide through the Johnny RaBB Drumstick Company. John’s “Webs,” as they’re called, were accorded the honor of an outstanding new musical product by the International Music Press Awards at NAMM in 2001. They were also marketed and distributed by The ProMark Drumstick Company.
John’s musical resume reads like a who’s who from rock to country music and everything in between. He is currently a full-time member of Don McLean’s touring band, continues to play with The Cowpokes – a local Nashville favorite band who created and have been hosting for the last 10 years the iconic “Honky Tonk Tuesday Nights” in East Nashville, Emmylou Harris, Raul Malo, Jim Lauderdale, Sierra Ferrel and many more as well as doing sessions making him one of the most in-demand drummers in Music City.
John McTigue endorses Evans Drumheads, Innovative Percussion and Pure Snare Wires.
