The Braintree Farmers Market is a community-run event that is hosted at the Braintree Town Hall every Saturday from 9:00AM to 1:00PM. The market’s objective is to support MA farmers and local businesses by giving them the opportunity to sell their produce, and to focus on creating community engagement in Braintree. On these occasions, musicians are scheduled to play for the duration of the market. The thanksgiving-themed Farmers Market on November 23rd scheduled the McCarthy trio to play music, composed of leader James McCarthy and members Jack Griffin and Yuval Rosen. But this wasn’t the first time that James McCarthy played at the Braintree Farmers Market.
“I’ve been playing here since I was seventeen or eighteen, a couple times a year,” he says.
McCarthy’s love for music started young with his parents as music enthusiasts, singer and guitar player. McCarthy then decided to take lessons at the South Shore Music & DiCenso’s Drum Shop in Weymouth, encouraging him further to play music.
“It’s always been a thing I liked doing, and have always fell in back on in hard times, good times, it’s always been there for me,” McCarthy adds.
Soon after graduating from Braintree High School in 2014, he went to UMass Amherst to study jazz. James McCarthy would also meet Jack Griffin and Yuval Rosen, and the three later decided to band together into the McCarthy trio, officially starting their music careers. However, becoming a band brings many things to manage.
“I mean, you’re pretty much on your own– you’re promoting yourself, you’re doing your own taxes, you’re practicing the music, you make your own content– you have to wear many hats… It’s just, not always the easiest,” McCarthy explains.
After having a few music gigs early-on as a band, they were eventually requested to play at the Braintree Farmers Market for the first time. Unlike the smaller music gigs they did before, this required more thorough planning.
“[This was] a four hour gig, so I didn’t know if I knew many songs,” McCarthy clarifies.
Music gigs require a setlist, or a playlist of songs, and the longer occasion of the Farmers Market would mean that the band would need to play more songs than they were used to. Despite the circumstances, the trio managed to play through the four hours of the Farmers Market.
“…It was kind of daunting and we made it through, and I don’t know if that was my first professional gig, but it was my first professional gig as a band leader,” McCarthy concludes.
James McCarthy
“Yeah, so I went to college at UMass Amherst– I met these guys there, we’re all from Massachusetts, they’re from Newton and Wellesley respectively, I’m from Braintree, a Braintree High grad. Graduated in 2014, been a while ago, but– we studied jazz in school and we were all music miners, and we’ve been playing together in different arrangements ever since.”
“My parents were both kind-of musicians, my mom is a singer, my dad is a guitar player, so it’s always been in the house growing up. There was always concert videos on, bands like Brush and Oasis, and like– classic rock bands and stuff. Music was always on in the house and the radios in the car, so I kind of– was interested in it, and then I started– I took lessons at the South Shore Music & DiCenso’s Drum Shop down Weymouth Mass. Fell in with a nice teacher, Dick DiCenso, and ever since then, he inspired a lot of my love in jazz and different music styles and stuff.”
“It’s like, most of what I do, most of what I think about, and– it’s definitely my interest are pretty dominated by music. Most of my friends have made through music, it’s kind of like a dominating force through my life– even the jobs I pick, like my day job, I try to make it work with music– it’s kind of a force that’s controlling my life, for better or worse. But, yeah it’s always been a thing I liked doing, and have always fell in back on in hard times, good times, it’s always been there for me.”
“I’d say one of the biggest problems is scheduling. I play gigs most weekends, so Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and those are social days, those are days to kind of– a lot of people hang out or meet up with friends– so I feel like you have to miss a lot, you have to travel a lot– you’re away from family and friends. I was just playing in Colorado and Wyoming for like three weeks, and just– you’re away and traveling, you’re eating bad food, it’s not the healthiest situation sometimes. So yeah a lot of bad stuff you don’t think about, financially it’s not easy either. I mean, you’re pretty much on your own– you’re promoting yourself, you’re doing your own taxes, you’re practicing the music, you make your own content– you have to wear many hats. Which is why I have a day job as well, because it doesn’t always– we’re heading into the slow season of winter months, so it’s good to have a little bit of income. It’s just, not always the easiest.”
“So the guy who books it, Jonathan [Stidman], was my best friends’ dad growing up, and so I’ve been playing here since I was seventeen or eighteen, a couple times a year, and that’s just most of my contributions is through music, coming here, taking requests, and catering to what their needs are– I mean their needs aren’t a ton, it’s just ‘Don’t get too loud so the vendors can’t communicate back and forth to each other,’ or ‘Don’t play anything obscene,’ but yeah– most of my contributions are through music.”
“Yeah I was like seventeen or eighteen, I was a senior at Braintree High, it was kind of intimidating at the time, because a four hour gig, typically gigs in this area are three hours– so I didn’t know if I knew many songs, I didn’t know if I had enough people I knew to call, I ended up calling my brother who also went to Braintree High, and then Yuval, a guitarist from Braintree High. We kind of made it work, we played some songs and it lasted an hour, and the people at the start weren’t there anymore. But yeah, it was kind of daunting and we made it through, and I don’t know if that was my first professional gig, but it was my first professional gig as a band leader.”
