Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Sings Johnny Cash

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley performs Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” at his inaugural party

How The Governor Got His Groove Back
O’Malley Puts On A Show at Jan. 19 Inaugural Celebration

(Prince George’s Suite Magazine, 1/19/2011)

The word was that Governor O’Malley’s inaugural would be a little less formal this year. Save money, provide canned goods for the less fortunate type of thing. Fine.

But none of the budget restraint expectations prepared guests for O’Malley himself standing in as the musical entertainment. But there he was—Martin O’Malley was center of the band, working the guitar, handling the microphone like a master of rock and moving in ways that that some governors would expect their teenagers to move. Starting with Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line,” the governor played a four-song set of Irish folk music with a heavy rock framework.

Continue reading “How The Governor Got His Groove Back” at Prince George’s Suite Magazine.

The iconic Johnny Cash photo by the late Jim Marshall

* * *

Marching Orders
The Mayor Keeps His Musical Irish Up

By Lee Gardner (Baltimore City Paper, 3/22/2000)

Martin O’Malley rocking the sleeveless tee-shirt look. Photo by Jefferson Jackson Steele

The lights go down and the smoke machine goes on, pfffting out fluffy clouds of artificial “rock club” atmosphere into Fletcher’s already smoky air. Acoustic guitar in hand, Martin O’Malley steps onstage with his Irish-music outfit, O’Malley’s March, and counts off “Native People,” a bristling rock tune from the band’s new self-released CD, Wait For Me, a song written and sung with gusto by Baltimore’s newest and youngest-ever chief executive.

Yes, that is our 36-year-old mayor up there in the sleeveless black O’MALLEY’S MARCH/ CELTIC FURY T-shirt, dancing, bantering with the substantial crowd, and leading clap-alongs, wreathed in smoke-machine vapor.

Continue reading “Marching Orders” at the Baltimore City Paper.

* * *

After A Break From Concerts, Governor Marches Again

By Dickson Mercer (Southern Maryland Newspapers Online, 6/19/2009)

“…A Washington Times reporter, as it happens, declared in 2000 that the buzz emanating from O’Malley’s March was “building as fast as the foam on a frosty pint.” And there was nary an article which forgot to mention a certain segment of the audience (all ages!) who were rather fond, shall we say, of the mayor’s biceps bursting like tree trunks out of sleeveless muscle shirts. The main draw wore tight jeans, played his guitar over his head and exercised the First Amendment between songs with a level of loquaciousness political advisers are wont to frown upon.”

Continue reading at Southern Maryland Newspapers Online.

* * *

It’s good he’s got that day job
Review: What it doesn’t have in musical skill, O’Malley’s March with you-know-who on acoustic guitar makes up for with enthusiasm.

By J.D. Considine (The Baltimore Sun, 3/13/2000)

During their heyday O’Malley’s March was nicknamed “O’Malley’s Muscles”

Highlights:

“It’s not that O’Malley’s March is bad, exactly. It’s just not very good. Your basic semi-pro, rebel song-singing, reel and jig-playing Celtic rock band, it’s the sort of act that has more enthusiasm than skill, more heart than polish.”

“…O’Malley — looking quite buff, thanks to a sleeveless T-shirt that showed off his muscular arms…”

“Were you to catch them at a local Irish bar, you’d probably think they’re grand after two or three pints of Guinness. Heck, after six or seven, you’d want to book them for your daughter’s wedding. But because the editors here take a dim view of drinking on the job, the Guinness Appreciation Route was not an option. Distressingly sober, it was hard not to note the fumbled licks, missed cues and occasional lack of cohesion that dotted the band’s two-hour, 20-minute set.”

“…Its version of Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army,” which excised the “N” word from the second verse, was admirably P.C. but annoyingly off-pitch…”

Continue reading “It’s good he’s got that day job” at The Baltimore Sun.

This entry was posted in 2000s, 2010s, Baltimorons, Music, Politics and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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