Karl McHugh

Pop-folk songwriter Karl McHugh is the amalgamation of his upbringing in Donegal, Ireland and his current home in the San Francisco Bay Area. The retro-style folk music falls somewhere between the purview of Paul Simon and CCR, evoking a house party singalong vibe: fun, warm, inclusive, and good for a laugh!

His latest release, “Keep Dreamin,” was written as part of his Patreon Song Series in which patrons receive a new original song every month. It describes the thoughts going through a musician’s head when playing background music in a coffee shop, all the while yearning for some attention. The song’s inspiration comes from experience – for years Karl has played 4-hour sets at Farmers Markets throughout the Bay Area, summer stints in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square and busked in Shop Street, Galway; Grafton Street, Dublin; Kawasaki, Japan and countless other cities. “Keep Dreamin” received an “Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting” award from The Great American Songwriting Contest.

Karl’s previous release “Easy Life EP” contains songs written while deep into the US immigration process. “No One Told Me About You”, a song about leaving Ireland and finding love in the USA was recently placed on USA Network’s TV series “Temptation Island”.

Before undertaking his solo project, Karl was a founding member of the Irish-American rock group, “McHugh & Devine”. The band toured and released The Movie Blues EP in 2015 and the album “Emerald Hills” in 2016. Picking up several awards from Bay Area and international organisations for their songwriting including Adult contemporary song of the year by the West Coast Songwriter Association. Their song “Flame” was chosen from over 4000 songs to get place 2nd overall in the 2015 WCS international’s Song Contest.