Best Local Solo Artist

Mike Duffy

The winner of our Best Local Solo Act is often mistaken for a folk performer -- a thought that makes Mike Duffy bristle, and for good reason. Though many in the New England folk scene sing about frosty winter mornings when the car won't start as a metaphor for a failing relationship, Duffy pens tunes about his pregnant goldfish. He also peppers his carefree set with an ode to dirty diapers; he laments the plight of hot-headed pipe fitters; and he's the unwitting king of what we've come to coin as "Ordinary Folk" folk. Not at all like the soft-hearted (and sometimes soft-headed) mush churned out by his coffeehouse contemporaries, Duffy's musical musings are a result of being cooped-up in his rural home with a napping baby, a load of laundry, and an over-active imagination. Ordinary Folk is the everyday banalities of life that Duffy observes; and he's somehow able to capture and make them seem, if not important, at least entertaining. It's a rhyme, a chord, a wink, and a nudge whenever Duffy's in the house. The only things separating him from the madman rambling on the street corner are his guitar, his fairly decent grooming habits, some finely crafted tunes, and a wife who apparently loves him. There are true originals, and then there's Mike Duffy. Sometimes you just deserve your own special niche.

-- John O'Neill