Derek's DVD worth a look and a listen

YOUNG singer Derek Ryan seems to have made a seamless enough move from being in a boy band to becoming a solo Country singer and his debut DVD The Singles Collection is well worth a look and a listen if you are a fan of original Irish Country songs. Derek, who is currently in the Irish albums charts with his new CD, Dreamers and Believers, wrote the ten songs that he performs on his debut DVD and from both an audio and video perspective this is a very professional production. While I am not so sure if many of his fans from the boy band era, when he was in the British Pop charts as a member of D-Side, will follow him over to Country, he has the knack of writing a good Country song and the ability to seem comfortable in front of the cameras. There is plenty of confidence in evidence as he belts out his own song It's Friday, working with both Country and Traditional Irish musicians in a pub setting for this rollicking song, which is probably the best on the DVD. Another of his compositions The Belle of Liverpool is a close second when it comes to selecting the best tracks on this DVD and Irish Heart is not bad either. While some of the songs were filmed by TG4 in Connemara, most of them were shot on location in Derek's native Carlow by well-known camera man Michael Bracken and his film crew and others by Maurice Supple and his Blue Shed film production company. A few were filmed in Ballymena and in Moy, Co Tyrone. Despite using a number of camera crews there is a consistency about the quality of this production and as Derek continues to make inroads into the Country music scene here this DVD will probably give his career a further boost. â€â€œ TG.