Women Making Music Cynthia McDermott By Peggy Ratusz
I
ve wanted to interview masterful mandolin player, accomplished singer-songwriter Cynthia McDermott since 2018 when I first met and heard her play. The time has finally come! Juggling three pre-pandemic music projects, she focuses these days on booking her trio, Pimps of Pompe. It’s a band that specializes in jazzedup covers of hip-hop and R&B. Cynthia describes it as “swing with swag.” She reflects on her bandmates saying of Garron Chesson, “he’s a groovy, well-educated upright bass player with a solid sense of time and the ability to float back and forth between hip-hop and jazz voicings.” 6
thesofiamagazine.com | October 2021
And of guitarist Duane Simpson, “he’s a unicorn, and his style, his fills help drive that R&B vibe I’m going for.” Where were you born and raised? I was born in Phoenixville, PA in July of 1985 and when I was four, my mom, stepdad and I took a trip down the east coast in our Toyota Tercel with a pop-up camper towed behind. We traveled to the Florida Keys and back up the Gulf coast. When we got to Panama City Beach, they decided to stay and build their new life together there. Thirty-three years later, they’re still in the house where my younger brother, Nate and I grew up!
Did someone suggest you learn to play & sing? I was surrounded by music even before the day I was born. Mom was playing guitar for my dad in an old-time fiddle contest when she was 8 months pregnant with me, so the guitar was very close to my tiny baby self! My mom has a beautiful voice and when I was young, I would harmonize with her when I wasn’t feeling too shy. When I discovered Nickel Creek, their mandolin player Chris Thile totally blew me away. I started college that year and bought my first mandolin and started taking lessons.
