Who is Kyle McArdell?
Kyle grew up in the small town of Gridley, Illinois, singing and playing music from a very young age. His first recorded performance was playing a toy guitar and dancing along to "Chug-A-Lug" by Roger Miller in the family room at the age of five.
At age 11, he and his father started watching the live performance of Rush's 1981 tour "Exit...Stage Left" when Kyle had a revelation. Watching Alex Lifeson play the guitar solo to Limelight, he told himself "I want to do that". His musical journey started right then, and wanted nothing more than to play the electric guitar. Although his birthday is in August, he didn't receive his first guitar until mid-September due to a mix-up of who actually wanted to play the guitar -- him, or his brother Ryan -- whose birthday isn't until October!
Mostly learning by ear, he began to take private lessons to focus his attention on some of the fundamentals. This only lasted a couple of months before saying goodbye, although his teacher was very influential to his learning from then on. Kyle would begin to learn strictly by ear, picking out he notes on the guitar as he heard them and developed his own unique style of playing this way.
He had began to further his taste in music by digging through a cabinet full of CDs his father had collected over the years, choosing a variety of albums from artists he had heard of before, and by the album covers that most caught his eye. Having amassed a collection from various artists -- Led Zeppelin, Rush, Kansas, Electric Light Orchestra, Styx, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Who, Cheap Trick, too name a few -- Kyle would be busy ripping CD after CD to his computer, listen to album after album from start to finish, and go to the next one. After school, during a shower, long car rides, and anywhere else that provided an opportunity to listen, he would.
His fascination not with listening to as many artists as he could, but with fully investing in their catalogues of music to appreciate their full body of work and enjoy the deep cuts they released that did not receive the same admiration as a casual fan. This deep dive for several years has allowed Kyle to produce a massive body of work when covering material, you will hear songs performed you probably won't hear anywhere else. As a middle school choir teacher, Kyle is very inquisitive and will test you knowledge of music as you listen. Do you know the original artist? What year was it released? What was the name of the album it was on? ("Greatest Hits" will result in a deduction of 1,000 points). Check out the "Testimonials" page for direct fan feedback on Kyle's performance before you come to see him yourself.
Kyle currently resides in Terre Haute, Indiana and is about to begin his 7th year of teaching middle school choir. You can catch Kyle as a soloist or with his band The McArdell Express, be sure to check out the website for more information on scheduling and booking: mcardellexpress.com
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