Bio
Music runs in my family. My Mother played the pipe organ at Church and regularly played piano in my childhood home. My Father played piano by ear. My Irish Grandmother loved to sing and would sing a note and say “Tom find the note”. There was always music in our home. My Dad had a HIFI and a large record collection ranging from Big Bands to Country and everything in between. My older brother also had a record collection and I’d wake up to Grateful Dead on the Quad stereo from the third floor bedrooms. It was my older brother who got a guitar for his birthday and I was forbidden to touch it. I always loved to sing and of course I sneaked into his room when he wasn’t there. At age 11, I read all his books and taught myself to play.
At 14, I joined the guitar mass at St Coleman’s Church. What a great experience that was! The guitar mass was held in the basement of the school and it was packed every Sunday. People would line to walls to come worship and sing. Wendy the leader used the mimeograph machine to make hundreds of books four songs to a page for everyone to sing along.
In junior high, I sang in the folk and blues shows and in 9th grade I got the lead female part in the school play. I also painted scenery and was voted most created by the 9th grade class.
Through my life I always had a guitar. Most of the time I just played covers and I have no clue how many songs I know. It wasn’t until the untimely death of my brother Michael that I decided to get serious and write songs. I found a songwriting partner for a while and a lot of songs came from that era that included some of the co-writes on the album. I ran an open mic at my rug store and that blossomed into the Patty McCabe band where we played small venues in the Philadelphia area. We were then joined by another songwriter Black Dress Jess, Jae Yi and we became Knox Bridge Band.
I suffered a fall and a “permanent” concussion in 2015. I lost memory and could not remember any of my songs. Through the Grace of God I have slowly regained most of my abilities. It’s been a hard road and fortunately some of my music was recorded. I would relearn a song and another would come. It was like connecting the dots. The same goes for other memories. The brain is amazing. I spend a couple of those years not socializing much as I would get overwhelmed. With the help of Bryn Mawr Rehab I was able to overcome the Cognitive speech disorder and the Post Concussive Syndrome. I still get overwhelmed at times but through prayer I am forever lifted and grateful.
In 2017 I happened to be coming through Tennessee. I messaged my PA friend Bill Di Luigi who had moved to Nashville some years earlier and became a successful songwriter. I asked him if he was playing out anywhere that I could come see him. He said “no but let’s do dinner.” It wasn’t an hour later that he said he thought he could get me on an open mic after a songwriter round at the Commodore Grill! I of course said “I’d love to but I didn’t have my guitar”. He said “That’s ok you can play my Martin!” What a night! As I sat there and listed to the songwriter rounds I got an overwhelming feeling that these were my People!!! I felt right at home! I decided to play “Fast Horse” and as I was leaving and thanking Debi Champion for allowing me to play she gave me her card. I thanked her again and as we were leaving, Bill said “ Patty she gave you her card” I said “I know” Bill said “You don’t understand, you can now play anywhere in Nashville as a songwriter you don’t need me.” When it hit me I got that same excited feeling like when you are 5 years old and you are waiting for Santa Clause! The rest is history, I finally sold my farm and moved to Nashville. I’m loving Tennessee! The people are wonderful and welcoming. Looks like I’m going to build a small house with an amazing view in the country.
More songs to come!!
Praise God and thank you Jesus!