Welcome To The Songs Of Joe McMahon Jr.

Dreams Lost & Found Again

    Joe McMahon, Jr. spent his childhood and teenage years in beautiful Berkshire county in western Massachusetts where he was born in the town of Pittsfield. His interest in music began early when he started playing the mandolin and banjo. Eventually he also learned to play saxophone. He formed his first dance band at the age of 15. They were called "The Blue Rhythm Boys". After graduation from Phillips Andover Academy, he spent time with his widowed mother in New York City prior to starting college at Wisconsin University. He lived at the Beaux Arts Apts. on East 44th Street, where his neighbors included Kenny Baker, who preceded Dennis Day on the Jack Benny Radio Program. Joe, who started writing songs during his teenage years, began walking the halls of the famous Brill Building on Broadway, seeing the various music publishers, but to no avail.
   His dream was to be a successful song writer like Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. That dream was not to be...at least then. In college, he wrote for the musical shows that were done there by the Haresfoot Club, a campus group that regularly put on shows. While on summer vacation in northern Wisconsin, he met Albert Cole, a first cousin of Cole Porter. The cousin arranged for Joe to meet Cole Porter at his Waldorf Astoria apartment in New York City. Joe showed his songs to Porter and asked him to give it to him straight...pull no punches. Porter said, "Joe, you keep writing, young man. You have good stuff and I particularly like your lyrics." Porter sent him to his publisher...Chappell Music, where he received kind treatment...but no publishing contract. Sometime later, Joe graduated from Wisconsin and received three job offers in the corporate world. He put aside the dream and took one of the offers. A decision that he still regrets. He had wanted to roll the dice and try to make it then and there as a songwriter. But life got in the way. Joe spent some time in the Army, got married, had four daughters and lived in places such as Chicago, Dubuque, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. 
  He eventually ended up in New York City as an advertising executive and then completed his career as an executive recruiter with Korn Ferry, the world's largest executive recruiting firm. Joe was forced to stop working in 1996 due to some complex medical problems, one of which was  treatment for cancer. In the summer of 1999, two significant things happened. First, he completed a song that had been in his head for a long time. The title, "Secondhand Heart for Sale", had been suggested by an old Wisconsin friend, Chick Balcoff, and is included in this CD. After that, Barbara Assante, a longtime friend, introduced him to Ann Ruckert, who in turn introduced him to Jimmy Wisner. Together, they listened to Joe's demos that were done by Johnny Morris, a well-known jazz pianist and a friend of Joe's for 25 years. From that came this CD. 
  Joe puts it this way: "Ann and Jimmy turned my life around and gave me the courage and inspiration to follow my dream...finally. I can't say enough about what those two have done in terms of finding the studios, the musicians, the singers and the producing of this CD. In addition, Jimmy Wisner did all of the musical arrangements and even co-wrote with me the song, 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind,' which is on the CD. 
  Lastly, an anecdote about one of the songs. When Joe was still in college, his best friend was and still is Art Nielsen, Jr. Art went on to succeed his father as CEO of the famous AC Nielsen Co. One Christmas vacation, Art and Joe went to Sarasota to spend time with Joe's mother. While there, they saw oleander trees for the first time. They marveled at them. Art thought Joe should write a song about those beautiful trees. That song, "By an Oleander Tree" is heard on this CD with a beautiful ballad rendition performed by singer Paul Evans. Dreams get lost and sometimes, when we're lucky, they are found again. In Joe's case, the completion of his dream is the greatest reality that one can experience...knowing that you did the one thing you wanted to do all your life.