Stephen Smyth is an unsung Country star here

IN Northern Ireland he has enjoyed a measured amount of success over the past five years but in the South Stephen Smyth is still an unsung Country entertainer and good though it may be, it is hard to see his latest album Classic Country giving him that elusive best seller down here. Apart from being a good vocalist Stephen is also a fine musician and a man who has worked as a record producer on many albums for other Country singers and so, as one would expect, he is the producer of this new album of his own. The classic songs on it include Hello Darlin', Merle Haggard's hit The Fightin' Side of Me, Behind Closed Doors, Some Broken Hearts Never Mend and Pure Love which is a song written by the late Eddie Rabbitt who also wrote Kentucky Rain for Elvis and made the British charts himself with another of his compositions I Love A Rainy Night. Apart from the well known songs on this set, Stephen has also recorded two of his own compositions on this album I'm The Lucky One and Here at Home In Ireland. The Co Down singer says that as a fan of American stars such as Glen Campbell, Charlie Rich, Ronnie Millsap and many others he always wanted to record an album of his favourites by those singers. Stephen is busy on the dancing circuit in Northern Ireland fronting his own band and while he has played in this area on a number of occasions the big breakthrough on the live scene down here has eluded him. But he continues to work away on his career on the live scene under the watchful eyes of Eamon Keane who is also bandleader with The Indians and the father of TV personality Lorraine Keane. Over the years Eamon has toured extensively with The Indians and he is still their bandleader and keyboards player as well as managing the affairs of Stephen Smyth and his band for the past few years. No doubt with such an experienced manager looking after his affairs Stephen Smyth will continue to try and make a greater impression down south and emulate some of the success that he has been enjoying North of the border. Classic Country should help his cause, it will be a good seller, and deservedly so, but I doubt if it will be the big breakthrough album for Stephen in the South. â€â€ TG.