This story originally aired January 11, 2019.
Florida-born singer-songwriter and musician Michael McArthur joins Intersection to discuss his first full-length album, Ever Green, Ever Rain
The Lakeland-based performer says he created the album after a difficult year of touring and feeling creatively stuck.
“[The year] 2017 was sort of probably the most difficult 12 months of my life. It’s all relative to your perspective situation, but everybody’s had a most difficult 12 months. 2017 was mine,” McArthur says.
McArthur says he decided to take a break from being on the road. He wrote about 50 songs, then drove cross-country from Florida to California, to record the album in four days with Grammy-winning producer Ryan Freeland.
“I took a step back, and that was the best thing I could’ve done because now I feel more clear about what I’m doing than I ever have,” McArthur says.
The performer points to singer-songwriters like James Taylor, Bill Withers and Bruce Springsteen as inspirations for his own career.
“Those are huge shoes to fill, but if I could even just get a small percentage of what they have in terms of what they’ve accomplished with their art then that would be a success for me,” McArthur says.
Michael McArthur performs at the Polk Theater in Lakeland on Jan. 26.