Modern singer-songwriter with a classic touchBy: Andrea Royals
– News Editor –
Social networking has become a worldwide phenomenon. From posting opinionated blogs to advertising photos of friends and watching videos on YouTube, social media has connected individuals around the globe. STLCC-Meramec student and singer-songwriter Casey Joan Marie McDonough uses social networking for a much different purpose: to jump-start her career in music.
“Going to school and pursuing a musical career is very difficult to juggle,” McDonough posted as her status update on Facebook on March 31, the night before her performance at the Sci-Fi Lounge in University City.
The performance attracted friends, family and neighborhood fans as she crooned, guitar in hand to the tunes of Jimmie Davis’ “You Are My Sunshine,” Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” and a few of McDonough’s original pieces.
“I’ve always loved singing. I’ve been putting [songs] on the Internet and doing shows since I was 16,” McDonough said.
With the stage name of C.J. Marie, McDonough began promoting her music through the help of MySpace, where she has attracted a following of more than 700 fans.
She said her musical taste is inspired by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, American blues and jazz artists who have sparked her style of vocal performance.
McDonough said she used MySpace to promote her music on the local level through profile searches.
“I would search through St. Louis artists, and I would add them if their music taste was something that I was into,” McDonough said.
McDonough said she met several people through local searches on the Internet, including The Mussy Cluves, a band from North County with whom McDonough shared a stage last month.
McDonough said she has also used MySpace to create music with people from not only St. Louis, but other states and countries as well.
“I was working with someone from Sweden for a while. He would send me music, and I would write the lyrics,” McDonough said.
While McDonough said she enjoys singing with other bands, she has been teaching herself to play guitar for the past year to accompany her voice for solo performances.
“I like working with other people because it’s more of a challenge, and you can create something more interesting together,” McDonough said. “But I feel the music more when I am playing by myself because then I can mix things up however I want. Nothing is set in stone.”
Although confident in her abilities as a soloist, McDonough said that she fears her audiences may relate her style of music to other female singer-songwriters-an image that she said is sometimes underestimated. McDonough said that one of the biggest struggles is not being able to ensure that her music is interpreted the way she wants people to see it.
Despite the setbacks of genre distinction, McDonough said she receives support from her friends and family, including her brother, who attends her performances, and her father, who she said encourages her to broaden her horizons and expand her instrumental skills.
McDonough said that her boyfriend, Kenny Alonzo, is also encouraging and consistently serves as inspiration for the lyrics of many of her romantic songs.
“Most of my songs are romantic songs, either about heartbreak or hating someone,” McDonough said.
McDonough said she plans to transfer to Webster University to pursue a degree in vocal performance, but that she struggles balancing her career and her education.
“Most of the time, I end up writing songs at two and three in the morning because I don’t have any other time to,” McDonough said, while also acknowledging the need for late-night lyric excursions. “Songs wouldn’t come to me the same if I didn’t write them at two and three in the morning.”
McDonough’s next performance is scheduled for 8 p.m. on May 6 at the Sci-Fi Lounge, 6010 Kingsbury Ave.
