Spain is a saviour for Irish singers says Gerry
Music holidays in Spain and Portugal are massively successful for Irish Country singers, such as Gerry Guthrie, who told The Tuam Herald that he spends almost as much time playing there as at home.
“Most years now I spend seven or eight weeks over there and it doesn’t matter where the fans want to see us because wherever that is it’s all good.
“This year seems to be bigger than ever for the music holidays abroad and I’ve been out there almost every weeknight for the past five or six weeks and going home doing my own gigs in Ireland at the weekend,” he says.
Gerry did this interview on the phone from Spain and the previous two weeks when trying to contact him he was either playing over there or else on a plane going back or over to the sunshine.
“For the past few trips, I was lucky enough to be able to fly via Knock for one trip and via Shannon for another but the rest were using Dublin Airport which isn’t as handy.
“Knock is a Godsend for us in the West. It’s always busy but it’s still so easy to get through it. We are well served in the West now and the late Fr Horan was the man for us with Knock Airport and how he got that over the line back in the 80s I’ll never know but it’s such a benefit to us all,” added Gerry.
It’s been a great year in his home county too for Gerry especially with Mayo winning the All-Ireland football final and the Ballina singer is already well-known for one of his earlier hits Mayo Will Always Be Home.
“The football lads are still on tour with the cup, last week they were in the USA and rightly so. Their tour is ongoing and will be for another while this year and into next year which is great,” he laughed.
His own tours back home will also be ongoing for the winter and into next year before the Spanish trips start again.
“Yea, I’ve also got a concert tour going on around the country as well as the dances and we have had a few music weekends ourselves with special guests. We only finished ones in Enniscrone and Letterkenny and we’ve another one coming up in Trim this month of November. Then, sure we’ll be into the Christmas season before we know it,” he mused.
Discount stores replacing record shops
His new album is also just released at a time when new albums by any artist, especially Irish Country stars are few and far between.
Once upon a time, and not too long ago, there would already be a deluge of albums and books on the market at this time of year. But, while there is an overwhelming number of new books in the shops, Irish Country albums are almost a thing of the past with the only one released last month being Gerry’s Monday Night Club.
But while record shops are almost a thing of the past too, Gerry says that it is his experience that there are other shops in almost every major town that still sell Irish records.
Some of those are discount stores similar to Padraig’s in Tuam which still do a good trade in Irish Country CDs in particular.
“There is one such shop in Donegal which was formerly a Pound Shop but the owner has a big section now dedicated to Irish Country music and he tells me that it’s the busiest section in the shop.
“Shoppers still like to go home with a CD in their hands, but I miss the joy of going into record shops myself and browsing through the discs as in the past,” added Gerry.
The Country singer who can do anything from Status Quo to TR Dallas at the live gigs says that artists have to try harder to diversify at their live shows even if their albums are more reflective of their own favourite mainstream music. He also sells his songs now either online or on USB sticks.
“That’s the way it’s gone for us as everything is on Spotify and iTunes as well as on USB. I’ve made a point of having all my albums available in this format too which people can simply plug into the USB connection in their cars or on TV sets at home”.
Monday Night Club
His new album, Monday Night Club, has a mix of American Country songs such as the bouncy brass-infused backing on The Jukebox Played Along to the equally danceable I Couldn’t Get You Off My Mind or the slow Country love song in the George Jones style I Can’t Even Walk Without You Holding my Hand.
Then there is one for the Folk fans with his lovely interpretation of the Johnny McEvoy composition As We Danced to an Old Fashioned Tune which will have many fans dancing even around their own front rooms!
His recent duet with TR Dallas, Everybody wants to be 21, which wasn’t as big a hit as expected is now on this album but there is no Status Quo track!
The title song The Monday Night Club was also a recent single for Gerry and is all about the one night each week that singers “usually” can take off and relax with their contemporaries and maybe chill out over a few drinks or a few coffees!
But with all the flying off to Spain that Gerry is now doing to sing in the sun he might not have as many Monday nights free at home in the future to join his pals and for a knees-up and for once a week forget about work with his guitar and microphone!