Mike McCarty: The Music Years

January 19 - June 30, 2018

Mike McCarty has worked with many music greats throughout his career, designing album art and illustrations for the music industry. In 1976, after freelancing album cover art for songwriter/producer Buddy Buie, McCarty and wife Sherri formed a design studio business, McCartyGraphics, where he worked with names such as Atlanta Rhythm Section, Jerry Lee Lewis, Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Patti Smith, KC and the Sunshine Band, Billy Joe Royal, Albert Coleman and The Atlanta Pops Orchestra, Bobby Brown/Whitney Houston, as well as writers Lewis Grizzard, Dave Barry, and President Jimmy Carter.

McCarty was a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), and served on the Board of Governors for nearly 20 years. He has also served as Chairman of the Album Packaging Committee for the Grammy Awards. He was appointed to the Senate Music Committee by Georgia Governor Zell Miller in 1980. In 2009, McCarty was selected as “Artist of the Year” for the beaches of South Walton.

Born in Dothan, Alabama, in 1946, Michael McCarty received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Auburn University. Originally enrolled in Pre-Veterinary Medicine, McCarty changed his major to Visual Design, after the musical group Steppenwolf used a reproduction of one of his pen and ink drawings of the band for a poster. He currently lives and work in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, with his wife Sherri.