On his first tour for three years, the one and only Scottish- born singer/ songwriter/ guitarist John Martyn will be paying Dublin's Vicar Street, April 25. This should be a genuinely fantastic live event, as Martyn will be performing songs that span his entire career.
Until recently, Scottish jazz/folk legend john martyn was almost as renowned for his hard-living consumption of booze as he was for his marvellous records. But, he tells colm o hare, these days he s on the wagon, and operating on full horsepower for the first time in years.
As her first ever solo greatest hits is released, Annie Lennox contemplates the ways in which parenthood has shaped her work – and explains why the past 15 years have passed in a flash.
When Iain Archer decided to get away from it all for the making of his latest album, he didn’t settle for half measures. He packed up his guitars and vanished for several months into the depths of Germany’s Black Forest. But can the resulting record transform the career of a singer still best known for helping write Snow Patrol’s ‘Run’?
Liverpool-born Wilkes has acquired a growing internet-following, thanks in no small part to world of mouth acclaim on several Irish music forums. Backed by Mersey band Ella Guru, 'They’ve Got Nothing On You' is a fine suite of of rootsy folk, in the vein of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Opener ‘Your Face It Cracks’ demonstrates to good effect Wilkes gravel-toned voice and Ashcroft swagger. However, it’s the sparse and haunting title track which impresses the most. We may have a young John Martyn in the making.
The Eclipse Music Festival in Waterville didn t exactly go according to plan but, as ADRIENNE MURPHY reports, out of the chaos came a day and night to remember.
This Hawaiian-born former surf-movie maker might have divided the critics but there’s no denying the instant appeal of his feelgood, acoustically-strummed ditties.
Since opening its doors five years ago, Galway's Róisín dubh has established itself as a superb live music venue that's a firm favourite with performers and punters alike. colm o'hare reports.
Such is the close proximity of most of the well-known pubs to each other and to other central locations that Galway could quite conceivably have been designed with the pub crawler in mind. The sheer abundance and variety of pubs that Galway has to offer the thirsty reveller is one of the big attractions of the City of The Tribes. Galway pubs are renowned for their unique and friendly atmosphere, mighty craic and impromptu traditional music sessions.
Now that the word 'eclectic' has been devalued to the extent that any DJ who plays Orbital back-to-back with Funkadelic is seen as some kind of radical selecta savant, it's good to be reminded that there's at least one person out there who actually deserves the label.
In 1980, with the various Irish bands who have taken the easy road in terms of rock'n'roll fashion, it is easy to overlook the emergence and development of other groups. Scullion are a good example, every bit as committed and interesting as others, yet adopting a form that is at divergence with much of what's going down in pop music at the moment.
As the founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell can claim a unique role in the evolution of popular music. He pulls up a chair and shoots the breeze about his Jamaican heritage, his relationship with Bob Marley and taking power-lunches with U2.
He’s the joker in the Irish music pack, a working class hero who has at once conquered and subverted the mainstream. For his first album in six years JERRY FISH and his MUDBUG CLUB have also roped in some top-tier collaborators including rockabilly queen Imelda May and Carol Keogh.
The Annual appears at this end, thankfully, to have been one without any movements, bandwagons or charabancs, with Frankie carrying that can for everyone.
The organisers of the Dysart Festival have announced a major rejig of the August 9 and 10 event, with a venue change, cancellations and lineup amendments.
THESE TWO compilations have been released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of promoter Vince Power's hugely successful annual celebration of Irish music.
On the first listen, Paddy Casey’s debut album Amen (So Be It) stands out as top quality singer/songwriter material. On the second, you hear intimations of the kind of subtle complexity which insists that you listen again. And again. And again.
Ultimately though, Tyrrell's voice, like his music, defies all easy classification bar the only one that matters - like the Glaswegian and the Dubliner, this man's got soul
The line-up has been revealed for ‘An Fiach Dubh’ – Fingal Songwriter's Weekend. The first in an annual series, the weekend will bring Irish and international songwriters together to provide master classes in the art.
Meteor Music Award nominee Maria Doyle Kennedy is finally giving a full release to her 2005 Skullcover album, which has previously only been available through her website.
PAUL RODGERS is real special. You can name the duff albums since Free split up, you can say he's old hat, or a hanger on from the days of Deep Purple, Led Zep, and dinosaur rock.
27% | 27 May 2004
Stuart Clark
Stuart Clark rounds up the best music CDs, DVDs and books of the fortnight...
ACCORDING to All Eyes and Ears, they are a band that create atmosphere but don’t sond like Phil Coulter! The opening track ‘Wishing Your Life Away’ maps out the route that follows.
