Belfast songwriter Andy White will mark the release of his first spoken word album Good Luck I Hope You Make It, with a tour across the U.K and Ireland kicking off on the projects release date, 5 January.

On his upcoming project, White takes inspiration from Hip-Hop to deliver songs which ebb between the political and personal.

Before sharing his debut album, Rave on Andy White, the musician was a performance poet, reading poetry and gigging alongside a drum machine.

When writing his latest project, the artists returned to his roots, filtering it all through his songwriting and recording experience:

“On my last release This garden is only temporary, I started with poems,” says White.

“You can hear them in ‘Another Sunny Day’ and ‘Everything’s Turning White’, but these songs, and eventually that album, took a different path.

“When it was complete, I had one instrumental track in search of lyrics – ‘Bass Priority’. When the words came, it was a spoken word story about colonisation. I was sitting on ancient land, thinking about what happened in Ireland and then in the continent we now call Australia.

“I read ‘Book of Rhymes’ by Adam Bradley, listened to ‘Howl’, and watched Kerouac reading from ‘On the Road’. I played Gil Scott-Heron and Bob Dylan records loud like I did when I was 20.

“I wrote lyrics in notebooks and on my phone, and improvised rhymes on the mic. Played bass like when I was a teenager. I was talking to Belfast, texting a friend in Canada, watching the clown show of UK politics while checking Patti Smith’s Instagram.

“Walking half an hour a day, unaccompanied. Good luck, I hope you make it.”

White has previously written with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Allison Russell, and Liam Ó Maonlaí, and has recorded with Billy Bragg and Sinéad O'Connor.

Last November, he released a song about the ongoing conflict in Gaza titled ‘the time has come for love’, stating that “There is a humanitarian disaster happening right now. I couldn't not write this song.”

See the full list of dates for White’s January tour across the U.K and Ireland below. For ticket information visit www.andywhite.com.

Fri 5 BELFAST Crescent Arts Centre
Sun 7 DERRY Sandinos
Tue 9 DUBLIN Whelans Upstairs
Sat 13 HIGH WYCOMBE Kingsmead Concerts
Sun 14 BIRMINGHAM Kitchen Garden Café
Mon 15 BRIGHTON The Greys
Wed 17 LEYTONSTONE What’s Cookin’
Fri 19 COATBRIDGE Georgian Hotel
Sat 20 GLASGOW Partickhill Bowling Club
Sun 21 EDINBURGH Leith Depot
Mon 22 HAWICK Border Club
Tue 23 PENISTONE Cubley Hall
Wed 24 LEEDS Irish Centre
Fri 26 LONDON Dingwalls Canal Bar