She certainly gave them what they’d come to hear and like her or not, Twain is a seasoned performer with more than enough hits to carry a major event like this.
Sweden’s premier female singer-songwriter, apparently, Miskovsky has already enjoyed success as co-writer of a Backstreet Boys hit. Here she demonstrates her talents on the breezy acoustic pop of ‘A Brand New Day’, the Shania Twain-like ‘You Dance Just Like Me’ and the melodramatic balladry of ‘Butterfly Man’.
One would believe it’s Neil Hogan's sworn duty to capture the aural affections of late 20s couples who own semi-detached houses and wear beige clothes. ‘Run Wild’, which features Shania Twain soundalike Alexandra Hemende on vox, is a purpose-written single with a silky, soaring chorus which tries so hard to be nice that its effect is the opposite. It’s terrible. Not the best example of his ingenuity.
Cork singer-songwriter NICOLE MAGUIRE is rapidly making a name for herself with her full-on pop-rock songs, swoonful voice and dogged determination. On the release of her debut album Fight The Score she talks to Jackie Hayden.
If last year’s line-up (Shania Twain, Pretenders), seemed a little below par following previous appearances by Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, the fourth Source Festival was very much back on track with a much stronger bill.
Shelby's got a brand new bag, okay. And look. And sales pitch. And slightly-altered style, being touted as the next Shania Twain, the new "wonder woman" out of Nashville. The truth is she's still the 'wonder woman' she was back in '93, when, with cropped hair French beret and her own big band, she released the smouldering Temptation album.
Renowned Irish recording engineer and producer Brian Masterson has been added to the line-up for Music Ireland 07, which takes place in the RDS from October 5 to 7.
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
If the music industry’s supposed to be in recession, no one’s bothered telling Polydor, who last November signed Limerick songstress Shonagh Daly to a massive £3.2 million, five-album deal.
The soundtrack to this, the latest vehicle for Hugh Grant to bumble his way into our affections, is just what you'd expect. The movie, from the Four Weddings . . . team, may well be funny but the soundtrack is anything but.
IF ANYONE deserves to be a fabulously wealthy rock star, it's Cathal Coughlan. For the past 15 years, he's churned out classic after classic, with nary a hint of a high-maintenance blonde, a spell in tax exile or a week in the Priory.
15-years after saying “no thanks” to the people who made a star out of LeeAnn Rimes, Luan Parle has made an album that should finally see her take her place among country’s elite.
Early this month Beat 102-103 opened for business as ireland's first regional radio broadcasting station covering Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and Tipperary. according to the beat manifesto the station is targeting the 15-34 year old age group with “an upbeat and entertaining programme schedule provided by young presenters, with the aim of giving the youth of the region a service to reflect their tastes and attitudes.
Jo Dee (great country music name, y’all?) has won awards, achieved double-platinum status and, according to the press release, “believes in the life-changing power of dreams”. Sadly, she obviously doesn’t believe in the life-changing power of originality.
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.
This is unlikely to trouble the Britneys and Celines of this world too much in terms of chart positioning, but in terms of quality, kd is always pushing for the top spot.
“All men are bastards” Country star trisha yearwood firmly believed – until she met the one who would become her husband. Here, she talks to Joe Jackson about how her marriage to Robert Reynolds of The Mavericks has changed the way she looks at the opposite sex. She also discusses her rivalry with LeAnn Rimes, and the darker side of the Nashville country ’n’ western scene.
Pix: Cathal Dawson
A BOLT from the blues alright. On this, their third album, Barefoot Contessa perfect a slow, narcotic and melancholic avant-country/blues out of the sparest, spaciest structures. The effect is Polly Jean Harvey jamming with Mazzy Star (or even David Roback's first band The Rain Parade) under direction from The Walkabouts.
The New Mexico-based Hazeldine are in the vanguard of the American alt (alternative) country movement. In real musical terms, that means they are doing what the country rock bands of the early seventies did, a little louder than Tammy Wynette and a little punkier than The Eagles and that's about all, y'all.
At 53, EMMYLOU HARRIS has finally taken up the pen and the result is one of her finest albums yet. SIOBHAN LONG journeys to New York to meet the reluctant songwriter.
Small Engine Repair may be Niall Heery’s first feature film, but having picked up an award for best first feature at Galway last year and several other shiny trinkets, it’s one of the most keenly anticipated Irish titles in years.
The inimitable Angie Stone arrived in pomp and bluster, along with her seven-member band, with various musical tasks fluidly exchanged between drummer, guitar-players and the classic soul triumvirate of Angie and her two Pips. The Gladys comparison is more than fair; indeed Stone draws on the pantheon of great soul artists like Aretha and Marvin to create her own brand of slick R‘n’B.
He began working in music as a drummer, but Dave Pennefather's greatest success has been as MD of Universal Music. Hot Press looks back over the life and times of a man with a larger than life reputation.
Having written his own obituary on his latest album, RANDY NEWMAN rises from the grave to discuss love, age, irony, honesty, the importance of melody and the tightrope act of being an idealist in pessimist's clothing. JOE JACKSON helps roll away the stone.
Is she a manufactured pop act made to look like a rock chick? is she a rock chick who sells records like a manufactured pop act? or is she something else entirely? Why’d Avril Lavigne have to go and make things so complicated?
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
You may love them or loathe them but we'll bet you never thought THE CORRS played "British regional music". Peter Murphy observes The Observer getting its nationalities in a twist
