Open Mic via Zoom: Marylyn Coffey

Marylyn Coffey came of age in the Folk era of the 1960s, performing with friends in cafés and coffee houses in and around Boston, but never thought of taking herself seriously in that milieu. Now in her Golden Years, as a former hippie, graphic artist, art publicist and university art department manager, she is doing all the things she didn’t have time for until now. Always a poet and writer, she started writing songs in 2020.

In the 1980s Marylyn moved to Huntsville, Alabama to finish college. Singing and playing harmonica in a local Americana cover band in the 1990s was fun, a new thing for Huntsville at the time. Marylyn first started solo performing on open mics online during COVID, while writing songs at a rapid clip. She switched to ukulele from guitar, which may have been a mistake, but it’s too late now! The four strings of a ukulele lend themselves to the strange chord progressions that Marylyn comes up with.

Marylyn performs at open mics in town and occasionally at farmers’ markets or during studio tour nights at the “alternative” arts center. In 2022 she released an all-originals CD called Can’t Feel a Thing, and is presently working on another one. She’s also written 20 plot-related songs for a musical called Muddleville, based on a short novel she “accidentally” wrote last year. How that project will be shared remains to be seen.

Contact: giraffe@hiwaay.net