LONELY STREET is the latest album from former Energy Orchard frontman Bap Kennedy, quickly following on from his Hank Williams tribute album, Hillbilly Shakespeare, released a few months back.
Artists of all musical hues are invited to apply for a place on the latest IMRO Songwriter Retreat, which takes place from February 12 to 15 in The Sandhouse Hotel & Marine Spa, Rossnowlagh, Donegal Bay, Co. Donegal
Taking time out from his stag weekend, baroque retro-rocker The Mighty Stef talks about the influence of film on his writing, his enduring love for Nick Cave and his friendship with Shane MacGowan
The outlaw loved by the in-law, Willie Nelson can draw 4,000 people outside Dublin virtually by word of mouth. But it ain't all middle of the road: as befits a veteran of the honky-tonks who had done battle with the IRS and the law, the country music legend can still get in touch with the dark side of Hank
Van Morrison and Linda Gail Lewis
What next for Van Morrison? Already this year he's gone back to his skiffle roots with The Skiffle Sessions, hauling on board for that project the great Lonnie Donegan. And now Van-the-man returns to a time when he was Van-the-boy, digging the kind of pure country music made by Hank Williams and the frenetic rock 'n' roll sounds fashioned by Jerry Lee Lewis.
"Power certainly has an incredibly beautiful and expressive voice, it’s just that covering big band classics isn’t necessarily putting it to its best use."
Since men first emerged from the water, they have written psalms in praise of the river. Old Man River. The River of Jordan. The Rivers of Babylon. Moon River. Shenandoah...
Mick Harvey always had a reputation as the backbone of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, whose headlining slot at the Electric Picnic coincides with the release of the multi-instrumentalist’s new album One Man’s Treasure (Mute)
She first caught our ears as the breathy vocalist covering ‘Let’s Dance’ on the Ballygowan ad, but Miss Paula Flynn now has her own album of original songs on release.
Having shifted from playing drums in “loud, noisy rock bands” to becoming a Hot Press contributor in 1996, Peter Murphy has fast gained a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading journalists.
A full 17 years after their acclaimed eponymous debut exploded onto the American alt-rock landscape, Milwaukee malcontents The Violent Femmes are back with a new album (Freak MAgnet) and the same old typically off-kilter worldview. Interview: PETER MURPHY.
Craig Fitzsimons meets Jimmie Dale Gilmore, possessor of a unique high ’n’ lonesome voice and yet another great product of the Lone Star State who, belatedly, is
experiencing a modicum of stardom himself.
With her superb new album Kelly’s Heroes, SANDY KELLY has established herself as Ireland’s undisputed Queen of Country Music. She has also consolidated her status as an international star of the highest calibre. Report: COLM O’HARE
JOHNNY DOWD is a 50-year-old Oklahoman who runs a haulage company. He is also a singer-songwriter who explores life s deepest, darkest sides. Interview: Peter Murphy
Declan Lynch's acclaimed account of an alcoholic coming to terms with his self-destructive past has been adapted for the stage and is proving to be a hit all over again.
Having already played high-profile support slots with the likes of Joe Strummer and John Squire, Omagh folk-rockers The Basement are aiming to go overground in 2003.
Frazer Guided Melodies
TARNATION may make soundtracks to cinematic desert scenes but there s more to Paula Frazer s beautiful songs than a fistful of spaghetti western themes. Interview: Nick Kelly.
The task of exhuming a number of folk legend Woody Guthrie’s unused lyrics and setting them to music would be a daunting prospect for most artists – but not Billy Bragg, the self-styled Bard of Barking. The guitar-slinging socialist has teamed up with acclaimed US country-rockers Wilco to do just that. Interview: Colm O’Hare.
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY is the new moniker of cult hero WILL OLDHAM. NICK KELLY spoke to him about his album I See A Darkness. And received a lot of curt replies.
The songs of Laura Cantrell are steeped in the timeless values of American country rock. But Cantrell, a former Wall Street banker, is a thoroughly modern artist.
American Psycho star Christian Bale dropped sixty pounds to play the lead role in the eerie new psychological thriller, The Machinist. Just as well the film has resuscitated his career, then. Interview by Tara Brady.
One of favourite alt.country bands, Richmond Fontaine, return from a long lay-off with perhaps their finest album yet. Plus, the original ‘Galway Girl’ (who is actually from Clare), has just released a fantastic new record.
Steve Earle is known for his passionate political views. But never mind standing firm in the face of conservative America. The hardest thing he ever did was follow Christy Moore onstage.
Patti Smith has been an avant-garde icon and punk poet idol for more than two decades. We thought it would be interesting to see what Cathy Jordan, the stylish singer with folk supergroup Dervish, would make of her recent performance in Jordan's hometown of Sligo.
On a fleeting visit to Dublin the legendary Jack White sat down with Hot Press' Stuart Clark to discuss his past life as an upholsterer, jamming with Bob Dylan. Jimmy Page and The Edge and going for dinner with Loretta Lynne.
Although arguably the outstanding female country artist of her generation, Emmylou Harris has always distanced herself from the Nashville
mainstream. From early recordings with Gram Parsons and Bob Dylan through to her most recent Daniel Lanois-produced album Wrecking Ball, her work has been characterised by a maverick spirit and real fire in the belly.
PETER MURPHY caught up with her in Dublin.
As obscure projects go, a solo album from a member of Lambchop released on the ofshoot of an independent label from Glasgow has got to rank pretty highly.
As Beck contemplates a belated sequel to Odelay, feel free to ask him any old question you like – just as long as it isn’t about that recent break-up with his long-time girlfriend. Oh, and make sure you don’t have the sniffles. Nadine O’Regan packs a hankie
For many years a 'musician's musician', TOM PACHECO is now enjoying the commercial recognition he deserves thanks to a collaboration with Steiner Albrigtsen that's stormed its way to the top of the Norwegian charts. Here, the American singer-songwriter reflects on a remarkable career which has seen him hanging out with Jimi Hendrix and The Doors in New York, taking on the Nashville establishment and finally settling in Ireland where his star is also firmly in the ascendent. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG.
Carl Perkins, the rock pioneer who wrote Blue Suede Shoes and no less than four songs for the Beatles, is dead. ANDY DARLINGTON remembers his career from Sun Records and the legendary Million Dollar Quartet , through to Johnny Cash s Live At San Quentin . . . and a movie knife-fight with David Bowie
The godfather of the modern Irish gothic tradition, Patrick McCabe, has released what critics are hailing as his darkest, and arguably finest, novel yet, Winterwood.
In a Hot Press exclusive brian kennedy is interviewed by his friend Pat McCABE. On the agenda: Belfast, religion, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and the current state of popular music. Pics: Cathal Dawson
BIG IN BRITAIN! BIG ON THE CONTINENT! BIG IN THE STATES! YET IRELAND STILL HAS TO FULLY SUCCUMB TO THE DELIGHTS OF FOUR MEN AND A DOG. HERE, THE TRAD SUPERGROUP EXPLAIN THEIR CURRENT SITUATION TO COLM O'HARE AS THEIR SECOND ALBUM *SHIFTING GRAVEL* HITS THE SHOPS.
With his new album The Mountain, STEVE EARLE has turned his hand to bluegrass. He talks to SIOBHAN LONG about the record, his colourful past and his love of Irish music.
Denounced by the Christian right in America and the Catholic church in Italy but championed by rockers as diverse as Marilyn Manson and Led Zep’s John Paul Jones, Diamanda Galas is unlikely to be hollywood’s flavour of the month as she rips into the oscar-winning Monster
Credited with being a pioneer in the field of confessional singer-songwriting, it is only now, at the age of 55, that JONI MITCHELL is able to talk openly about the private trauma behind the songs on such classic albums as Blue. On the occasion of the release of a new album Both Sides Now, that sees her revisit some former glories, the legendary Mitchell takes JOE JACKSON on a journey through her personal, and professional history.
This is part one of an exclusive two-part interview
With the final countdown to Christmas already well underway, what’s on offer by way of music-related presents is on every rock’n’roll fan’s mind. We took Jerry Fish into HMV in Grafton St. and asked him to pick out the most desirable items on offer – including, of course, his own wonderful new record Live At The Spiegeltent.
With the final countdown to Christmas already well underway, what’s on offer by way of music-related presents is on every rock’n’roll fan’s mind. We took Jerry Fish into HMV in Grafton St. and asked him to pick out the most desirable items on offer – including, of course, his own wonderful new record Live At The Spiegeltent.
Fifteen years since they first topped the Irish charts, The Saw Doctors remain one of this country’s most successful bands. So why do so many people still consider them a novelty act?
No mere actor boy moonlighting as a rock star, Billy Bob Thornton is steeped in music and also in the kind of brooding Southern gothic aesthetic which informs his compelling album of song and story, Private Radio. Peter Murphy meets a singular man of stage and screen
Peter Murphy takes a train to the wild west (Galway that is) with the original Texas Jewboy, crime writer and legendary stardust cowboy Kinky Friedman. Peter Matthews has the negatives.
As the son of horror writer Stephen King, Joe Hill has a great deal to live up to. Far from being over-shadowed by his father, however, Hill has crafted a chilling and original debut novel.
Sexual Politics and Pixies, P.J. Harvey and the Marquis de Sade, Sexism and self-loathing, Black Sabbath and Doris Day. THE BREEDERS aren't always quite what you'd expect them to be. Interview: ANDY DARLINGTON
From A to Z, Paul Nolan and Ronan Fitzgerald introduce all the runners and riders for Punchestown – throwing in a baker’s dozen of acts who are not to be missed* along the way
While Johnny Cash held what Nick Tosches called the “imprimatur of ageless cool” among the young punks, his repertoire, like that of Hank Williams, provided staples for the country ‘n’ Irish and showband canon, from the slickest old pros down to the most inept of part-time bar bands.
It's head-scratching, nail-biting, on-the-tip-of-your-tongue time again, as GEORGE BYRNE presides over our renowned annual music quiz [this is for the year 2000]
The miniscule number of you who bought their last album, La Peste, will know that the Alabama 3 have decided to tone down the Southern preacher bit and concentrate on the tunes. It's an attempt to get away from the "novelty band" image, which has resulted in savage critical maulings in the UK, and collective head scratching on the other side of the Atlantic.
Now that he's discovered the joys of the Dobro, are Frankie Lane's madcap, balcony-scaling days over for good? Not a bit of it. *It's all really just about finding a new way of being nasty.* He tells Siobhan Long.
In the second part of his examination of the cult of CHARLES MANSON, PETER MURPHY looks at the cult leader s trial, his continuing influence of left-field heroes and the controversy over his recordings. Also: BONO on U2 s decision to include Helter Skelter in their Rattle And Hum set.
Actor, writer, musician, director, and husband of Angelina Jolie, BILLY BOB THORNTON is currently a very busy man, with one album on release and no less than three movies queueing up at the box-office. All this and he’s constantly on his guard against germs
Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden? It doesn t get much
better than this. JOE JACKSON goes
backstage for a brief but revealing encounter with Joni and, from a vantage point to die for, finds two 60s legends who can still send shivers up the spine at the end of the millennium.
the frank and walters are back addressing the nation. Our man on the inside, Peter Murphy, shares a day in the life of the Cork threesome as they record a radio session for RTE.
By his own admission, Oklahoma-born Johnny Dowd lived the textbook American childhood, “driving in Daddy’s car, falling in love and listening to the radio”
By his own admission, Oklahoma-born Johnny Dowd lived the textbook American childhood, “driving in Daddy’s car, falling in love and listening to the radio”
Sci-fi revolutionary and reluctant cyberpunk, William Gibson marks the publication of his new novel pattern recognition by offering Peter Murphy a peek into the present and a brief history of the future.
She might be seen in some quarters as the Brittany Spears of country music but there's no denying that this seventeen-year-old prodigy has an impressive vocal range and an instinctive feel for mainstream country material.
An icy welcome is swiftly thawed by laughter and vodka as the legendary Townes Van Zandt briefly retreats from the endless tyranny of road and stage to discuss his life and times in a darkened Dublin hotel room with Patrick Brennan.
With a new tribute album to Gram Parsons on release, PETER MURPHY enlists the help of co-executive producer EMMYLOU HARRIS to recreate the tale of Southern Gothic that was the late singer s life.
NIALL STOKES takes a very personal journey back through the music and memories of a friendship with a man he was proud to have known
THE DRIVE to Cork was a lonely one. Ry Cooder on the deck, that sweet slide guitar shooting off tracers: the memories, stacked up like a vast
rack of on-line CDs, kept slipping in and out of the engagement slot. No need ever to press the play button. Now and then I had to hold back the
tears as the music of past friendship flooded the car and, with it, a terrible awareness of all the things that might have, but hadn't, been done.
The news of Rory Gallagher s tragic death has sent seismic shock waves through the music world. Here was a man who managed to combine the gift of being an authentic creative genius with the even rarer gift of being a genuinely decent, honourable human being. Over the next six pages, Hot Press pays tribute to both the legend and the person, with contributions from the stars, friends, fans and colleagues who were touched by the Gallagher magic, and takes a trip through the backpages of an extraordinary career.
Imagine the scene. It is August 15th, 1977. Joe Jackson of Hot Press arrives at Graceland, to do the ultimate interview with Elvis Presley. Elvis is in the music room,seated at the piano and singing 'Blue
Eyes Cryin In The Rain'. They sit down across the table, Jackson pushes the record button - and so begins the final interview with the greatest rock'n'roll star of them all
By all accounts, Willy Mason lives out of a van, which is currently stationed in California while he embarks on his European tour. Listening to his minimalist set packed with worldly, well-travelled gems, it certainly shows. It being his first Irish show, Mason is predictably a little tipsy (“Hell, I even drink like an American,” he drawls). Although he has become something of a media darling of late, he seems slightly disoriented by tonight’s rapturous reception.
He may indeed be from Limerick but if you think you’re going to get a subheadline that mentions bringing home the bacon, acting the ham or even being on the pig’s back, then you’re sadly mistaken. Instead we’re going to keep things simple. Mick Hanly has just released a new album entitled Happy Like This. What better occasion for Jackie Hayden to visit him in his Kilkenny home and look back over his career to date, and to remember the days when he hadn’t a sausage (would you cut the crap, please? – Ed)? Pix.: Brendan Fitzpatrick.
Headgear is the brainchild of Limerick studio rat Daragh Dukes – or perhaps brainstorm would be more apposite, given that this album teems with more ideas per second than Philip K Dick on a caffeine buzz.
The Waterboys are back, with arguably their most complete record yet, Book Of Lightning. In this remarkably open and honest interview, Mike Scott talks about his songwriting genius, about relationships, his family, his boozy years in Galway - and turning U2 onto Greenpeace.
Nirvana - Ten years after. Peter Murphy talks to producer Butch Vig, musician Mark Lanegan and critic Greil Marcus, and gets the inside story of the making of Nevermind, the classic album that changed the face of music, unveiled the anthem 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and brought the world face to face with a screaming soul called Kurt Cobain.
It's been a long strange trip and no mistake, one that describes a discernible line from
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music through to the Handsome Family.
But there's even more going on beneath the surface. GREIL MARCUS, the music critic's music critic,
is PETER MURPHY's guide on a mystery train whose other passengers include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mark Twain, Nick Cave, The Blair Witch, Bill Clinton, The Band, Siniad O'Connor, Beck, William Burroughs, William Faulkner and Bob Dylan. And that's just the first class carriage. All aboard
It's all changed for DAVID GRAY. Within the past month he has played a series of sell-out gigs across the US, gone top ten in the UK, and returned to this country to celebrate the release of Lost Songs. In a hotpress exclusive, NIALL STANAGE reports from New York, Boston, London and Dublin on the globalisation of Ireland's favourite Welshman. Hotshot hitman: STEVEN FISHER
After being a magnet for A&R men during the 80s, Dublin has recently developed into something of an underachiever. The city may have the second biggest growth-rate in Europe but there are a hell of a lot of gigs and records that simply aren t selling. peter murphy casts a critical ear over the capital s music scene and decides that what s required is a full-scale artistic enema.
Having provided background music for a gazillion middle-aged dinner parties the world over, it was always going to be interesting to see how Norah Jones’ particular brand of intimate, sittin’-on-the-dock-of-the-Starbucks music would fare in the vast expanse of the Point.
Since he announced himself to the world with the release of his debut album back in 1986 Dwight Yoakam has remained one of the most vital exponents of hi-octane hillbilly music.
His new record, his 18th, straddles the divide between rock and hardcore country. Eager and energetic, it marks a fresh phase for Yoakam’s music.
BEING ONE of the few grunge-free acts to hail from Seattle and hold down a deal with Sub Pop, The Walkabouts have oft been regarded as something of an anomaly, when in fact, their y’allternative yodel has always subtly shadowed the patricidal yowlings of Kurt ’n’ Eddie.
Music Review | Live
34% | 30 Sep 2003
Jackie Hayden
No fake American accents, no idiot yeehaws and no vulgar flash; just three skillied musicians perfectly at ease with the music they love.
"If rock 'n' roll was a religion, I'd be a preacher in need of a church."
AND YOU shall know him by his trail of dead.
Johnny Dowd is the middle aged co-owner of a New York-based haulage company.
One of the most influential trad bands of the past quarter century, De Dannan have set out on the comeback trail - and they’re kicking their resurrection off with a comeback show to remember.
There hasn’t been a debut this ominous and arresting from sleepy Lincolnshire since a radiant young Margaret Thatcher first addressed the Tory conference, and we all know how that one ended up.
For every macho posture, there are two images of Rock strumming an acoustic or blowing on a harmonica. Flip through the album credits and there are also indicators that there is more to Cocky than meets the eye.
Jackie Hayden travelled to Nashville, Tennessee for a once-off invitation-only gig starring Frank Black, Guy Garvey of Elbow and Richard Hawley at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery as part of the celebration for Mr Daniel’s birthday.
Jesus Christ And The Church Of Gnostic Rock. Peter Murphy on the good, clean, but mostly dirty, fight for the soul of the Devil s Music. Part One: The Old Testament.
