Peter Doherty on Lisa O'Neill, Junior Brother, The Mary Wallopers and "the stories and the wisdom" of Irish folk music

Ahead of the release of his eagerly anticipated new album Felt Better Alive – out May 16 – Peter Doherty has shared his thoughts on Lisa O'Neill, Junior Brother, The Mary Wallopers, and other like-minded, folk-oriented Irish acts, as part of a new interview with Hot Press.

Doherty recalled the "glorious moment" when Lisa O'Neill joined himself and The Libertines onstage at the 3Olympia Theatre last year, for a rendition of 'Night Of The Hunter' – having first come across her music when she released her 2023 album, All Of This Is Chance.

The Cavan singer-songwriter also features on the Felt Better Alive track 'Poca Mahoney's'.

"The ‘My little soul was five-years old line’ line – which is really dark – comes from her telling me this horrible story about a priest and a girl," Doherty says of Lisa's influence on the song. "I did a little spoken word thing on her song, ‘Homeless In The Thousands (Dublin In The Digital Age)’ and she repaid the compliment on ‘Poca Mahoney’s’.”

Lisa O'Neill. Photo Credit: Jill Furmanovsky

He also claims that O'Neill pointed him in the direction of Kerry artist Junior Brother, who recently became the latest signing to Doherty's Strap Originals record label.

“She might see it differently, but I think we became firm friends and soulmates in a short space of time,” he resumed. “Trusting her musical taste implicitly, when Lisa said with some urgency, ‘Ya have to get on to this, boy, he’s the dog’s!’, I knew I had to check him out on his home soil.

"I forget the name of the pub [it was upstairs at The Hut in Phibsboro] but it’s the sort of place all Englishmen dream of visiting in Ireland. Y’know, loads of characters and road signs to Ballybunnion hanging on the wall. We walked in on this – how do I describe it? – landscape of pagan psychedelia with belts of Irish folk lyricism and yet a very modern, possibly post-modern sensibility. There’s something really fractured and itinerant about Ronan, AKA Junior Brother’s lyrics.

“That’s if you can work out what he’s saying,” he added with a grin. “One of the things I like about his live act, aside from the songs obviously and his musicianship, is the warm way he talks to the crowd. It’s not just, ‘Thank you, this next one’s called...’ I’ve no idea what he’s talking about half the time but you can tell it’s sincere. When he speaks to English crowds and they don’t reply it’s not ‘cause they’re being rude or ignorant, they just haven’t got a clue what he’s on about.”

Junior Brother. Live at St. Luke's Cork. 24 March 2024. Copyright Trevor McGrath

Doherty also claimed his dog Gladys – who often joins him on tour, watching the show from the side of the stage – is a fan of another Irish act.

"I tell you who she loved last year when they were playing some of their quieter songs – The Mary Wallopers," he said. "They were supporting The Libertines in Brighton and, fuck me, they were great. One of them broke a string but the guitar tech was too busy stroking Gladys to notice..."

The Mary Wallopers, Lisa O’Neill and Junior Brother join a long list of folk-oriented Irish artists – The Pogues and The Wolfe Tones being at the top of it – that Doherty greatly admires.

“I love the stories, the wisdom and the passing on of songs from one generation to the next,” he enthused. “They’re the chains that hold it all together. Everybody’s talking about AI but something that can’t be replicated digitally is the human soul and the warmth of human contact.”

Elsewhere in his Hot Press interview, Peter Doherty discusses his cracking new album, parenthood, religion, and The Libertines’ holographic adventures...

Read the full interview in the current issue of Hot Press – out now.