by Paul Schneider
Just because they’ve been songwriting and musical partners for 35 years doesn’t mean that Brian FitzGerald and Marty McCormack think alike. In fact, talking to them recently about their New Year’s resolutions for Switchback for 2020, you’d think they’d never heard of each other.
“I think Switchback should re-establish themselves in 2020 as a rockin’ duo who can also provide the full spectrum of folk, jazz, blues, country and, of course, Celtic music,” Brian said.
“I think Marty and I should double down on our songwriting. Our musicianship flourishes when fueled with new melodies, harmonies and ideas to share with audiences.”
Brian added that his recovery from his broken leg is healing quickly, perhaps faster than he anticipated, and the band will be back on the road in a month. At the time of our conversation, he said he just finished doing some driving for the first time since the accident. He also added a little insight into a new way of making music. “We are in the process of trying to establish ‘New Tunes Tuesday,’ where we would work together on hatching new material in the same room or remotely.
“We have yet to Facetime each other in the songwriting process but we should do everything we can to further the nurturing of the new stuff.”
As for Marty, after spending the last three months of 2019 worrying about the future of the band, putting the finishing touches on a Airbnb space from a converted barn and schleping his 5-year old daughter around to school and extracurricular activities, his initial thought was, “First of all, I’m so grateful for the support for Brian and us in general; people say they miss our music. In the 35 years we’ve been together, this is the longest we’ve gone without working together.”
So, the next step is to reach out.
“I think we’re not that good at asking for support, “Marty said. “So for 2020 my goal is not to be so shy about asking for support. I feel like our fans, our followers, our friends, we need them to be good advocates for us.
“It’s really gotta be a group effort, and that means our friends, for them to introduce other people to our music. Something as simple as if you’ve got Pandora or Spotify at work, leave it on all day playing Switchback music.”
“I just want to invite people to get involved any way they can. Just remember, we’re two guys struggling against the world.”