ROBERT EARL KEEN

ROBERT EARL KEEN (Whelan's, Dublin)

"I know this football thing is really important," Robert Earl Keen said by way of reference to the All-Ireland final earlier that afternoon "but thanks a bunch for coming out."

Keen is one of the new brand of songwriters mining the country vein - literate and witty, his songs, which have been recorded by the likes of Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, and Lyle Lovett, are devoid of the saccharined emotionalism which still taints much of Nashville's output today.

And what songs! Work like 'Someone's Death Row', 'The Road Goes On Forever' and the classic 'Whenever Kindness Fails' - recently recorded by Joe Ely - is given a new and more intimate setting when, as here, there's just guitar and voice, and the basswork and backing vocals of David Heath to sustain the images and the message. No question about it, this is acoustic music at its most powerful.

Next time around, be there.

• Oliver P. Sweeney