LEGENDARY Irish guitarist Johnny Gallagher is not only revered in Ireland like his namesake Rory, but he is also considered blues royalty in the international musical community, regularly rubbing shoulders with the likes of Led Zeppelin’s John-Paul Jones, Seasick Steve and ZZ Top. The esteem in which he is held by his peers stems from [...]
GALWAY’S latest big band The Cabin Collective has been added to the fantastic line-up for the weekend music festival in Westport next month. The band, which features many familiar faces such as Leo Moran, Noelie McDonnell and Anthony Thistlethwaite, will perform on Sunday, June 30. They join a line-up of Christy Moore, Elvis Costello, Imelda [...]
TO say that George Strait Country is straight Country is almost an understatement and the tall Texan stays true to his Traditional roots on his new album Love is Everything. What it says on the tin is what you get inside. Love Is Everything is his eagerly anticipated 40th studio album and if you are [...]
APART from having a massive Pop and Country hit with her own song I Hope You Dance Lee Ann Womack is one of the women who has enjoyed the privilege of singing duets with Willie Nelson. Two of them are on her current album The Definitive Collection. Lee Ann Womack possesses a pure, beautiful, aching [...]
MANY Pop fans this side of the Atlantic will have known young black Country singer Darius Rucker as somebody else: he was Hootie of The Blowfish of Rear View Mirror fame, who sold 16 million albums before returning to his Country roots. He is the first African-American to break into the country charts since Charlie [...]
GALWAY Transition Year student Laoise Nolan will launch her debut charity CD In The Pink on Saturday, May 25 at Monroe’s Live on Dominick St, Galway. Featuring Steve Wall and Jimmy Higgins from The Stunning, local singer-songwriter Stephen James, and Frank Kilkelly, this seven-track CD is a mixture of Laoise’s original compositions and unique interpretations [...]
BORN into a large family of musicians outside Creggs in North-East Galway, Colm Naughton is a banjo and mandolin player who now lives near Cong and is married into a famous Folk and Trad family, as he is husband of singer Orlaith Keane from Caherlistrane. So it is no surprise that his debut album The [...]
GLASGOW-BORN but Donegal-based singer-songwriter Jacqui Sharkey has a voice that is Country, but with a difference, as there is a blend of Jazz and Folk added to it for flavour. Her current single Pretty Words allows Jacqui’s voice ample opportunity to soar above a suitably sparse but very melodic backing, which has the piano playing [...]
AUSTRALIAN fans have turned their backs on The Boomtown Rats, with their reunion tour Down Under for this month cancelled due to poor ticket sales. But (Bottler) Brendan Grace’s tour sold out in advance, with additional concerts having to be added in Perth and Sydney. A headline in one Australian publication read “Rats sent back [...]
CAHERLISTRANE singer Sean Keane will be presenting his unique style of Traditional Irish Folk singing laced with more than a hint of Country at a concert in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre on this Friday May 17. Since childhood, as a member of the famous musical family, the Keanes of Caherlistrane, Sean has been widely recognised [...]
