This month’s IMRO supported ‘The Acoustic Yard’ on Tuesday 24th of June offers up the sublime songwriting talent of Four Men and a Dog frontman Kevin Doherty, the amazing vocals of Kathleen Turner and the fabulous tunesmith Jimi Cullen. The monthly sessions offers a perfect blend of singer/songwriting under the intimate setting and glass roof of Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar.
Kevin Doherty, fom Donegal, has recorded 5 albums with the hugely popular Four Men and a Dog and has appeared at many of the world’s major festivals and venues. Their performances and recordings include supreme examples of the playing of Irish traditional music and a mix of country, folk, blues and americana, including original songs by Kevin. Two of their albums were recorded at the studio of Levon Helm ‘The Band’ in Woodstock, New York.
Kevin has recorded 4 solo albums, ‘Strange Weather’, ‘Sweet Water’, ‘Telegraph’ and ‘Seeing Things’ as well as a limited edition EP called ‘Morocco’. He will be playing some new tracks especially for ‘The Acoustic Yard’ from his latest offering ‘Seeing Things’ a brilliantly constructed CD. Kevin is a true songwriter with lyrics and melodies immersed together in thought-provoking brilliance.
Kathleen Turner is a new name on the singer/songwriter scene and her latest EP release ‘Some Stories’ will surely catapult her into a household name. Coming from a good pedigree as sister of songwriter Juliet Turner, Kathleen has managed to blend contemporary melodies with a more traditional slant which is apparent in her fantastic song ‘Kenmare Bay’. As Juliet posted recently, “Sometimes I see Kathleen coming towards me and think “what am I doing over there?”
Now based in Limerick since 2006 the Tyrone-born singer is Education Outreach Officer with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the key manager of their ‘Sing Out With Strings’ programme.
Jimi Cullen is currently touring his third CD ‘Life’, a wonderful collection of songs played with his amicable carefree sound. Jimi hails from Wexford and started out ten years ago playing in every nook and cranny. As one of the hardest working musicians, it finally paid off when his cover of The Cranberries classic ‘Zombie’ reached number two in the Irish iTunes chart last year.
Recently he was nominated for Best Male, Best Acoustic/alternative and Best Unsigned artist in the Music Review Unsigned awards. As a songwriter, Jimi has written some of the catchiest melodies around and he is a perfect addition to this month’s ‘The Acoustic Yard’.
Gerry Creen is acknowledged as one of Belfast’s finest singer songwriters. Having lived all his life in the city Gerry emerged from it’s vibrant folk scene of the 1960s and 70s sharing stages and billings with some of the worlds finest songwriters including Nanci Griffith, Paul Brady, Ralph McTell and Tom Paxton. A great exponent in the art of finger picking with a voice and melodies to match. His classic song ‘A Rose By Any Other Name’ which was written in 1977 during the darkest days of the Troubles is considered by many as one of Irelands leading Peace Anthems. It has been recently re-released on CD along with his wonderful new CD ‘Hindsight’.
Mike Langley was recently proudly inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2012. A superb guitar player and evocative lyricist and the son of legendary country songwriter Jack Langley also a hall of fame inductee. Mike lived and toured in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, France and the UK in the mid-eighties playing at international jazz and folk festivals and recording movie soundtracks. He moved back to the USA in 1997 and formed his independent record label Orange Carpet Music whilst playing with his late brother Jon in The Langley Brothers Band. A regular visitor to these shores and has written a lot of great songs that invoke the spirit of the West of Ireland.
Siobhán O’Brien has a strong connection with Matt Molloy’s as she has performed as a guest vocalist with ‘The Chieftains’ at Boston Symphony Hall. Her third album ‘Songs I Grew Up To’ features Paddy Maloney (The Chieftains) on her versions of ‘Long Black Veil” and “Lakes of Ponchartrain. Siobhan from Limerick is also a niece of Brendan Bowyer of ‘The Royal Showband’ and has performed for Bob Dylan, Christy Moore, Donovan, The Cranberries, Damien Dempsey, Sharon Shannon and Paul Brady. Her solo work incorporates traditions of American song, including folk, blues, country and Irish traditional music. In recent years she has toured extensively in the USA performing with The San Diego Symphony in California and appearing recently on the popular ‘Ginger TV’ in New York City promoting her latest CD simply called ‘Siobhan O’Brien’.
Twenty years ago Charlie McGettigan won the Eurovision Song Contest when joining forces with Paul Harrington and Brendan Graham with the song ‘Rock and Roll kids’ and was catipulted into Irish Music folklore. In 1973 he formed the highly successful Jargon group, who won the prestigious Letterkenny Folk Festival and led to a recording contract with Polygram records. The band went on to record three singles before Charlie pursued a solo career. He worked with artists like Maura O Connell and Eleanor Shanley who both recorded many of Charlies songs including “I dont know how you do it”, “Feet of a dancer”, “A bed for the night” and “If anything happened to you”. Today Charlie still enjoys huge success as a singer/songwriter and as a presenter on “The Saturday Connection” on Shannonside/ Northern Sound Radio.
Kelley McRae is touring Europe for the first time and is playing only a handful of gigs in Ireland. ‘The Acoustic Yard’ is privileged to provide her only West of Ireland show and to witness her beautiful haunting voice that immediately catapults you into the indie Americana heartland. Songs like ‘Johnny Cash’ and the title track of her new CD ‘Brighter than the blues’ sets Kelley apart as one of the finest ‘New Country’ songwriters to come out of the USA.
The host of the evening David Dee Moore recently released his critically acclaimed CD ‘The sun, the moon, the stars…and other moving objects’. A stunning collection of country folk songs that have recently received a lot of airplay in Ireland and the UK culminating in recent appearances at the Westport Arts festival and the Belfast Nashville singer/songwriters festival. His discography includes two successful albums on the USA label ‘Green Linnet’ with Niamh Parsons with whom he toured with and played at some of the biggest folk festivals in the world.
Kate O’Callaghan’s recent CD ‘The Still Beyond’ manages to combine evocative melodies with intelligent considered lyrics. She has a very distinctive writing style that compliments her beautiful vocal delivery. She has sung at numerous festivals including the Galway Arts Festival and Glastonbury in the UK.
Another hidden gem is the multi talented Jim McKee whose new CD ‘Goodness comes from the heart’ is full of catchy tunes and emotive lyrics. Some of his songs appear in the award winning film ‘Songs for Amy’ which will be globally released this year. Jim is also an actor and a professional artist with his paintings displayed extensively in Ireland and France.
The first session in February will focus on the talented songwriters from Mayo with special guest Sinead Madden, originally a Claremorris native setting the standard. Sinead released her critically acclaimed solo CD ‘Honey Promises’ in 2010, with her voice and songs compared to that of Sarah McLachlan. She has worked with Maire Brennan penning two songs on her latest CD ‘Signature’ and has toured playing fiddle and singing with Clannad.
