Watching Steve Earle and The Dukes is like rooting for a nag you know has a shot at the cup if it would only get the lead out. I’ve seen this lot a few times over the last 15 years, and tonight was possibly the closest they’ve come to an all-out tour de force, yet there’s always the sense that they’re holding out on that extra ten per cent.
NIALL STANAGE reports on a series of Irish gigs, headlined by STEVE EARLE, which will help the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty internationally.
It was a night of songs about drugs, guns, murder and love, rendered on acoustic, national steel guitar, decks, mandolin, and “the kind of banjo that scares the sheep in Donegal.”
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.
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.
Dundalk’s Spirit Store is one of the leading folk venues in the country. On evidence of its inaugural night, The Tall Poppy Club sees looks set to be the jewel in the crown. Also: Steve Earle and Billy Bragg, old dogs with new tricks.
Veteran agitprop folk-rocker Steve Earle talks to Peter Murphy about kicking against George Dubya, jamming in Galway and revamping Shakespeare for the 21st century.
The Magnetic Fields' Stephin (sic) Merritt was of course simply havin' a larf when he wrote those lines but he put his finger on something here all the same.
The thirteen tracks herein can be split roughly into two camps - the originals penned quick and recorded even quicker for soundtracks, and the covers dashed off as extra incentives on special edition albums, or just for pig iron
Citing influences from The Beatles and the Beach Boys to Steve Earle and Ron Sexsmith, Sundrive combine the best of their favorite bands to create their own brand of guitar pop. This subdued single is a departure from their previous upbeat release, ‘A Day Like Today,’ but the result is successful and proves that they’re a versatile outfit.
Though they are on his label, Marah don’t sound a whole lot like Steve Earle. He has described them as “a literate AC/DC” but that only partly touches on the truth.
Though they are on his label, Marah don’t sound a whole lot like Steve Earle. He has described them as “a literate AC/DC” but that only partly touches on the truth.
Earle commands protest chops that go back to Guthrie, but he also has the smarts to examine the allure of war, both as boys’ own glamour and last-ditch career option. Most of the songs study the anatomy of soldiery.
Akron singer-songwriter Tim Easton has just settled in Alaska, a place where people “go mad or die”. Thankfully, he’s still alive and sane enough to tell the tale.
From 15-28 July 2002 Galway city hosts one of the most comprehensive of this year's arts festivals with esoteric offerings from the genres of visual art, music, theatre, comedy and lots, lots more
In a surprise change of direction, Green Day’s latest album American Idiot sees the punk three-piece coming out fighting against a certain George W. Bush.
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Josh Ritter. Against the dramatic backdrop of the Swiss Alps, he talks about his number one fan Stephen King, recalls the day he met Bob Dylan and explains why it’s never a good idea to drink before a show
The new album from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (pictured) is one of the folk records of the year. As is Steve Earle’s remarkable ode to his adopted New York.
Since its premiere back in 2002, HBO’s The Wire has, over the course of five years, garnered a reputation as the only serious contender for The Sopranos’ title of greatest TV show of all time.
Home-grown acts more than held their own over the weekend, with the big names Christy Moore, Paul Brady, Hothouse Flowers and the ever-popular Mundy proving just as popular as the visitors.
RON SEXSMITH ARRIVES in next month for shows at Dolan’s, Limerick (July 19th); Roisin Dubh, Galway (20th); Savoy, Cork (21st); Olympia, Dublin (22nd); and McGrory’s, Culdaff, Co. Donegal (23rd).
He may have turned the volume down a bit, but Ricky Warwick‘s Tatoos & Alibis album still rocks like a bastard. Stuart Clark meets him and his multi-platinum mate Joe Elliott.
Steve Cummins meets Philip King, the man behind Other Voices: Songs From A Room, the acclaimed music show which has provided an invaluable platform for Irish musicians – and which has now expanded its remit to include international artists as well.
Steve Cummins meets Philip King, the man behind Other Voices: Songs From A Room, the acclaimed music show which has provided an invaluable platform for Irish musicians – and which has now expanded its remit to include international artists as well.
A new compilation album charts DONAL LUNNY s extraordinary musical journey to date but Colm O'Hare finds that the COOLFIN founder still has his eye fixed firmly on challenges to come
Not content to let other country stars record her songs and keep her in massive cheques for the rest of her life, gretchen peters has decided to do a little performing and touring of her own. Interview: colm o'hare.
GILLIAN WELCH s most recent album Hell Among The Yearlings has underlined her position as one of the most important of New Country artists. With an Irish visit pending she spoke to STEPHEN RAPID.
No, they’re not Jack White’s extra-curricular band. Rather, The Racketeers are long time veterans of the Irish scene with shades of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in their darkly fascinating sound.
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.
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.
Rounder, the well respected Cambridge, Massachusetts label has, of late, been picking up on acts who have left major label deals. Not long back it was Jimmie Dale Gilmore, now it’s the turn of fellow Flatlander Joe Ely.
During the heady days of Italia ’90, The Stunning provided the unofficial soundtrack to the nation’s summer-long party, playing a series of uproarious shows around the country and treating the top-ten like their local. thirteen years later, having just re-released their classic album, Paradise In The Picturehouse, the group reflect on what a long, strange trip it’s been and why they’re not ready to hang up their guitars just yet.
With a guest list worthy of a Paddy Moloney project, this is an album which, on the face of it, could have sunk beneath the pressure of too many big names, too many egos jostling for position.
Shot back in the days when the participants were more familiar with malt whiskey than alt country, this new release of a rough and ready early 70s documentary offers a wonderfully intimate view of the fertile Texas music scene
...So said David St. Hubbins 20 years ago in Marti DiBergi’s seminal documentary or, if you will, rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. In the time that’s elapsed since then, the Tap have become synonymous with all manner of excess, on the road hi-jinx and bizarre gardening accidents. In a special hotpress tribute, we ask a plethora of their admirers for their own Spinal Tap-style stories. And remember, it’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.
This third volume in a series of multi-artist homages to über-folkie Pete Seeger differs from its predecessors in that it includes new work by the man himself.
They may be novices in the beer-swilling, coke-snorting and babe-pulling stakes but if it's killer tunes you're after, THE JAYHAWKS leave the competition standing.
STUART CLARK gets a crash-course in country living from MARK OLSON.
And that s just the band! Galway s finest, The Stunning, take time out from sticking pins in themselves as their debut album Paradise In The Picturehouse finds itself perched atop the Irish charts to explain the secret of their success to an attentive Michael O Hara, who undergoes a road to Damascus experience en route.
Singer, guitarist and bouzouki player Cyril O’Donoghue has taken his time getting round to making his debut solo album, having been touring with one band or another since the late 1970s.
Roisin Dwyer catches up with electropop duo MGMT to discuss their greatest rock 'n' roll moment, Jools Holland and their growing reputation as popular music's new trouble-makers.
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?
Michael Ondaatje wrote The English Patient, and is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language – but his latest tome, Divisadero, has confounded and impressed critics in equal measure.
CHRIS BARRY's attempts to free himself from his FM104 contract have resulted in one of the messiest and most ill-tempered court battles seen in Ireland for a long time. STUART CLARK analyses the proceedings so far and profiles some of Barry's shock-jock contemporaries across the water.
With Hello Starling Josh Ritter has emerged as one of the finest songwriters who's operating today. John Walshe meets the reluctant hero who's storming the Irish charts.
His career was almost over before it began. But hard work - and a surprise hit - have turned Edmund 'Mundy' Enright into one of Ireland's most widely adored stars. Here he reflects on some of the high points of what has been an amazing journey, during the course of which he has rubbed shoulders with some of the greats.
He believes that country music can make people "turn their hearts away from sin." He also believes that Jerry Lee, Elvis and The Beatles failed to answer the call of Jesus and that many rock groups - U2 consPICUOUSLY not included - are now doing the devil's work. JOE JACKSON hears the gospel according to Ricky Skaggs.
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
In the past, many Irish people suffered from an inferiority complex about their own culture – about the language, music, film and literature of this island. But music is one arena where things have changed dramatically. Report: Jackie Hayden
THERE CAN’T be that many people, of a certain age, who don’t know the music of Kris Kristofferson in one form or another.
His early songs were covered by a wide variety of performers, from Janis Joplin to Johnny Cash, and this collection, which revisits and reworks many of those hits, confirms his status as a writer.
The Kooks' first album was a million-selling sensation. As they unleash the long-awaited sequel, frontman Luke Pritchard talks about the death of his father, his feud with television presenter Simon Amstell and much more...
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.
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
Honorary Irishman Josh Ritter is still pinching himself after getting to play with Brooooce at the massive Springsteen tribute gig in New York’s Carnegie Hall.
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.
Bronagh Gallagher, Autamata, The Radio and The Divine Comedy are among the artists that will be performing as part of RTE's new season of Other Voices, Songs From A Room
Not quite what the world needs right now you might be forgiven for thinking – yet another instalment from the erstwhile Sultan of Swing. But to be fair to Mr Knopfler he has hardly been ingratiating himself into our lives since the demise of the colossus that was Dire Straits over eight years ago. Movie soundtracks aside, this (astonishingly) is only Knopfler’s second solo album.
Ex-Almighty man and sometime Dublin resident (he now spends most of his time in LA) Warwick has an impressive pedigree. Apart from his time with the Scottish punk-metallers, he’s played with New Model Army and even guested with his earliest inspiration, Stiff Little Fingers.
Now 43, the former Michael Jackson backing singer shows little sign of giving up the territory she’s so successfully staked out for herself over the last decade.
Now 43, the former Michael Jackson backing singer shows little sign of giving up the territory she’s so successfully staked out for herself over the last decade.
Shock horror! No elvis Costello album! … In certain circles 1988 will be best remembered for the King’s lack of vinyl. His soundtrack for ‘The Courier’ was all well and good and ‘Out Of Our Idiot’ filled in a few of this particular household …
Having been in a car with a man who opened fire and killed two police officers Sunny Jacobs was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. She lived to tell the extraordinary tale.
While 1987 will of course be recognised as the year U2 conquered the world, spare a thought for those whose careers begin beneath the shadow of ‘The Joshua Tree’.
The songwriter’s oldest friends – Don Henley, Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Jackson Browne – occasionally seem hamstrung by too much respect for the material, although Bob Dylan does essay a decent ‘Mutineer’, and you can hear Bruce Springsteen’s mouth water as he gets his chops around the East Texas testament of ‘My Ride’s Here’.
THIS SOUNDS like a good deal: two long-established and much revered artists both releasing albums on the equally respected Sugerhill label. Guy Clark’s album is going to be no surprise to his fans, and he’s too long in the tooth now to expect to attract a whole bunch of new converts to the cause.
The second volume of the groundbreaking A Town South Of Bakerfield compilation opened with the Jim Lauderdale song 'What Am I Waiting For'. It was enough to make me a fan.
Maybe the best way to get a handle on Devils & Dust is by process of elimination. In other words, it’s not a big band extravaganza with sax and piano fanfares for the common man. It’s not Human Touch or Lucky Town, both of which suffered from pick-up pros trying to play E Street shuffles, and as any fool knows, the only ones who can do that are the original Jersey shower. Nor is it the bleak and beautiful lunar landscape of America under the Republican gun a la Nebraska. It’s not Tom Joad either, although it does share some of those album’s attributes, namely a writerly rigour with regard to research and character development, plus a slew of wetback protagonists inhabiting southerly borders both geographical and moral.
At some point Sharon Shannon realised that being one of the most highly-regarded instrumentalists in Irish music doesn’t make you the kind of dynamic performer that pulls huge crowds, so she has evolved a stage show where she gets to do what she’s best at and steps back enough to let her motley assortment of rabble-rousing yahoos do their thing as well.
Parades, parties and green stout are all very well. But there’s so much more to St Patrick’s Day. Fans of traditional music, in particular, have good reason to be cheerful as the national feast day comes around once more.
As the Northern Irish nights draw in, the gigs get better. Coldplay, Ryan Adams, Beverly Knight and Teenage Fanclub are just some of the acts who are flying North in the coming months
Amanda Byram was today unveiled as the host of this year’s Meteors Awards and nominees for 2009 were revealed - as well as the fact that Sharon Shannon would receive a lifetime achievement award.
Budget cuts almost spelled the end of Other Voices. But the team behind the Dingle music institution rallied around – with the result that this year’s line-up is arguably among the strongest in the history of the show
The relationship between drugs and creativity has always been a hotly debated subject. But narcotic indulgence has proven to be the downfall of many a gifted artist.
That’s the philosophy behind Cross Border Media, a label which has had a remarkable impact on Irish music since its foundation just three years ago. A special report by Colm O’Hare and Jackie Hayden
