Garrett Wall has gone to the dogs. At first I thought the name change might have been some kind of oblique nod to a deep-seated love of the greyhounds. I stand corrected. After previously releasing two albums and touring together for four years, the acoustic four-piece known as the Garrett Wall Band have decided to rename themselves Track Dogs. They are back touring Ireland in March supporting their eponymous new album.

The name, in fact, comes from the crews who clean the tracks on the New York subways and are well known for looking out for each other. Having spent a while living in New York, the idea of switching monikers came from cajón player Robbie K Jones. Changing a name is a big step for any band, but as they’ve moved from the slick pop groove of Daylightnighttime through the increasingly rootsy Sky Pointing and Hands And Imperfections, it has become patently obvious that, even with Garrett still writing the bulk of the material, this music is rooted in the full-blown collaboration of four equals.
The current single ‘Move A Mountain’ is on the RTÉ Radio 1 playlist, and is also enjoying great airplay in Spain where the band are based. The new, eponymously named album is released digitally worldwide on March 25. It hits the shops in Ireland on April 8.
The album features 10 songs and two instrumentals, including a reworking of the Nick Drake classic ‘Hazey Jane II’, a track well-suited to the band’s unique line-up of trumpet, cajón, guitar and bass.
The video for ‘Move A Mountain’ was filmed in the west of Ireland around Lahinch and Clifden. It was shot by Irish photographer Ronan Kirby, who has also taken the photographs which accompany each song on the collection.
They will be in Ireland over the next few days for a lightning mini-tour which kicked off on Wednesday March 23 at Cork’s Crane Lane Theatre before hopping across to Galway where they play in Monroe’s on Thursday March 24. Friday March 25 finds them at the Backstage Theatre in Longford and there’s just time to tuck in a gig at the Harbour Bar in Bray on the night of Saturday March 26, before they head back into the thick of that Spanish road trip.
Sarah McQuaid lived here long enough to earn ‘honorary Irish’ status. If her soccer skills were any match for her guitar-playing then Trap would be beating a path to her door. Sadly she decided to up sticks and decamp to the south-west of England just before the Irish economy hit the skids (note to self – ask Sarah about her pyschic capabilities next time I’m talking to her). Since then she has been on what seems a never-ending tour. Missives arrive from the Scottish Highlands, the Netherlands, the US, I sometimes wonder if her family recognise her when she rolls through her front-door. In April she returns here for what will be a pretty extensive tour kicking off Friday April 8 in The Market House Theatre, Miltown Malbay. A long northward drive takes her to Crusoe’s Coffee Shop Castlerock for a show the following evening. On Sunday April 10, she plays at the Gonzo Theatre, upstairs at the Imperial in Cavan town. After a couple of free days she has a show at the Abbey Centre, Ballyshannon on Wednesday April 13 before travelling to Omagh for a gig in the Strule Arts Centre. Friday April 15 finds her in the atmospheric, if a little claustrophobic, confines of the No Alibis bookshop in Belfast. Next up is the Conary Community Hall in Avoca on Saturday April 16 where she stops off before heading further south for a show at Croc an Oir in Mullinahone, County Tipperary on the night of Sunday April 17. The only Dublin show on the tour takes place in the Mercantile on Tuesday April 19. Sarah will be joined for the occasion by Thom Moore, Seamie O’Dowd and Aminah Hughes. It promises to be a fantastic gig. By the following evening she’ll have been travelling on again, performing at Brazil’s Cafe Bar in Clonmel. The tour draws to a close on Thursday April 21 in McCarthy’s Bar in Dingle.
After the success of last year’s event, Friday April 8 has once again been set aside as Ireland’s national music day. Love:Live Music 2011 will feature performances in a diverse range of genres in venues all over the country. Once again it is coordinated by Music Network in association with RTÉ Lyric FM and supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport. To celebrate Love:Live music in Limerick, Music Network presents the brand new quartet, Gato Azul (Francesco Turrisi, accordion & percussion, Robbie Harris, bodhrán, Michael Coady, double bass, Lucas Gonzales, guitar), playing their unique blend of jazz and world music in an afternoon gig at Limerick’s Belltable.
The key Dublin event takes place in the Button Factory in the evening with singer-songwriter Mick Flannery, the Dublin Guitar Quartet, and The Listeners, led by multi-instrumentalist Emer Mayock and featuring Donal Siggins, Steve Larkin and singer Lasarfhiona Ní Chaonaola, flying the flag for the traditional community.
If you’re not in Dublin or Limerick, though, you’ll be able to tune in to the concerts on Lyric FM where they’ll be broadcast in the course of the John Kelly Ensemble and Blue Of The Night programmes.