Reentering the Spotlight: Tami Mulcahy [VIDEO]

Tami Mulcahy is a Los Altos resident and a singer-songwriter. When Patch met her at the Main Street Cafe, she had come to contribute a song to the Los Altos Women Rising gathering—and was a hit.

She's the past president of the West Coast Song Writers, which holds a very well respected conference each year, but is not widely known in the wider population. 

Some former Santa Rita School families may remember her as the musician mom who led the Kids Rock Project, teaching songwriting and recording a CD with the enthusiastic support of the PTA. One of the songs, "Welcome to the World," went on to be used in an independent video that won the Panasonic New Vision Award, she writes on her website, TamiMulcahy.com. 

And then, as it often does, life intervened. She got busier with her growing kids, her volunteering (Los Altos is that kind of town), and an aging parent. She was project manager for her husband's new dental office in Palo Alto.

The Texas native is now returning to the active musician life. She has a new CD recorded, "Lucky Forward," about her uncle's experiences in World War II and her personal tribute to the Greatest Generation."  She'll be a presenter during Los Altos High School's "Writers Week" March 5-8. 

Los Altos Patch: What are you doing now?

Tami Mulcahy: Finishing my CD, which finally got done at end of the summer was huge. I'm working on finishing a video. 

Patch: What's it like being a singer-songwriter in suburban Los Altos? 

Mulcahy: I've been writing since I've been 15. I've also been physical therapist and a mom. Writing songs always my first love. I sing well, but I'm always spread a little thin. I did my first CD (White Wall, 1999) many years ago, and went out and performed and it went from my doing a few house concerts to performing at the Mountain Winery.

Patch: How was that? 

Mulcahy: I was fortunate. I did a few farmers markets, a few house concerts, an through serendipity, I met program director at Mountain Winery. I was asked to open for Sandra Bernhardt. I've done some smaller things. but I'm one of one of the people who over-volunteeered, and my first focus was my kids. 

Patch: What was the Kids Rock Project?

At the same time my first CD came out about 10 years ago, my kids were at Santa Rita School and the principal was an amazingly enlightened man. He wanted music in the school, and a few of the teachers let me come in. We had amazing result. We wrote a whole bunch of songs from the 2nd to 6th grade. The PTA offered to pay for getting them recorded. I agreed to do that. Eventually it was all repaid. My kids are now in college. Then I just basically took a little break. 

Patch: And now?

Mulcahy: I've always been writing. Two years, ago met a Grammy producer and he recorded some new material for me, and that became "Lucky Forward." It's very much a true story of my uncle and his journey through WWII and his recovery.

Patch: What are you going to say to high school kids during Writers Week?

It's about your passion. There's an ad that the NCAA is running now, "“There are over 400,000 NCAA student athletes, and almost all of them will go pro in something other than sports.” Like those NCAA athletes, if you write songs you will most likely go pro in something other than song writing. 

Most musicians I know are having a difficult time making a living. It's so hard now. I just want to share my music in respectable places. I am a lyricist and I slave on every word to make them fun, profound.  

Patch: What's next for performing? 

Mulcahy: I'm sending things to Bread & Roses. I want to do small-house venues. What I really want to do is build the house concert venue. What is the future of music for musicians? It's house concerts. We're bringing the music back to people who come to hear the music. You can buy a ticket someplace like the Mountain Winery or Villa Montalvo. But for more and more young musicians, it's very difficult and competitive to get into those venues, and there's a lot of touring.

I want to do Rotary clubs, author's luncheons, private parties. You may not make much money at it, but you've grown by doing the things in the community you enjoy, and hopefully get exposure.

Patch: What's a house concert?

Mulcahy: With a house concert, if you have five people, you can bring in 20-30 of your friends and they can pay $5 and hear really amazing artists right in the living room. It's a very do-able evening. It's fun, intimate. Sure musicians make more money outside. This way you can stay close to home. I'm a house-concert kind of girl, where people go to enjoy the music.