News Update Dec 25 th 2003
Hi All,
Paul Brady here. I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year and to thank you for all the good wishes and support throughout 2003, especially all those who made it to the gigs all over the globe. I’ve had a wonderful time this year am looking forward to 2004 and all that it brings.
Jan 4th I head back to Nashville to hopefully complete the album of new songs I started in November.. the first since ‘Oh What A World’. Then it’s back to Dublin’s Olympia for another week of shows from 2nd through 8th Feb.
Later throughout Feb March and early April I’ll be in UK and around Ireland for more gigs (see tour dates) . I’m also working on a few Aussie dates in early May to be followed by a holiday in that fair land.
After that, who knows? ? In the meantime that’s me below checking out for Christmas on my tropical island off the coast of Mayo! Have a great one!!
Paul
News Update Nov 16 th 2003
Well the Olympia Theatre solo gigs in Dublin have come and gone and were an unqualified success. All six nights sold out and six more have been added next February. Playing for slightly over two hours with no support, Paul introduced three new songs, Living for the Corporation, Locked Up in Heaven and Sail, Sail On. A highlight was the ‘unplugged’ seated area in front of the piano where Paul played laidback reworkings of some of his classics as Hard Station, Luck of the Draw and Not The Only One and the original acoustic version of his summer hit The Hawana Way as well as a mandolin/ fiddle duet with Ciaran Tourish and a duet on two nights with Donegal born songwriter Kevin Doherty on a song called ‘I Don’t Want What You Say I Need’ written a few days before the Olympia
by Paul and Kevin.
Tickets are now on sale for the February 2004 gigs at the same venue ( see tour dates page).
Just before the end of October Paul went to Nashville for a number of reasons. The first was to accept an ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) award as co-writer of The Long Goodbye which reached the No 1 spot in the US Country charts for the celebrated duo Brooks & Dunn. He also attended the annual Nashville Songwriters’ Association night where he saw John Prine and Rodney Crowell inducted into the hall of fame with performances from Kris Kristofferson ,Jack Clements, Cowboy band The Ghost Riders in the Sky, EmmyLou Harris, Beth Nielsen-Chapman and Bonnie Raitt. A magical night.
Later in the week he went into Sound Emporium studio for a couple of days to see how some of the new songs would work out in a different situation. Singing and playing live with legendary drummer/ percussionist Kenny Malone, Upright bassist Danny Thompson and piano player John R Burr he cut seven songs in the two day period, much to his and everyone’s surprise. It is clear that Paul has now begun recording a new album as the tracks turned out great and he is delighted with the feel and sound of the new songs. Songs cut include Sail Sail On, Don’t Try To Please Me ( just written the day before with Sharon Vaughn), Living For The Corporation, Love In A Bubble, Smile, Locked Up In Heaven and Johnny Cash’s The 40 Shades of Green.
Back from Nashville Paul is now doing some more Irish gigs at the moment, having just played two nights at Derry’s Millennium Forum plus an afternoon gig on the second day for the prisoners in Magilligan prison. Arty McGlynn and Ciaran Tourish were on hand as surprise guests which made the second night in particular one for the memory banks.
Tonight Paul is in the west in Castlebar, County Mayo for two nights in the new Theatre Royal there. Matt Molloy, flute player from the Chieftains, of course is from Westport just down the road and is set to come and play a few tunes, the first time he and Paul will have played in many a year. Fans will remember the album Matt cut with Paul and Tommy Peoples back in the 70s.
On Monday Nov 24th Paul begins a four day visit to Germany to promote the PB Songbook album and DVD just released there on the Hypertension label. While there, he visits Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne and Frankfurt doing radio and press. The Hawana Way single is getting good airplay on radio esp on WDR. At the moment he is considering doing his first German dates for many years in June 2004. More on this as it develops
Paul is at the moment planning to go back to Nashville in early January to hopefully complete the new album. At this stage there is no projected release date but as that materialises you will be the first to know.
Finally don’t forget the UK and Irish shows in Feb Mar April 2004 (see the tour dates page).
That’s it for now. Paul wishes all his fans a restful peaceful and happy holiday over the Christmas and New Year.
2004! Is it that already?
Site Update October 15 th 2003
Paul is now back from his latest solo USA tour. In most cases doing the entire evening himself with no support…. first half of around 45 – 50 mins and second half at least an hour… it gave him the opportunity to try new songs and one or two unusual pieces. Typical set list was
Sail, Sail On (new song )
Busted Loose
Blue World
Luck of The Draw
Locked Up In Heaven (new song)
The 40 Shades of Green (in memory of Johnny Cash, who died at start of the tour)
I Want You To Want Me
The Hawana Way
Nothing But The Same Old Story
Crazy Dreams
Dancer In The Fire
Hard Station
Arthur McBride
The Lakes of Pontchartrain
The Island
Travelling Light
Stand out shows were the Barre Opera House in Barre, Vermont, Westport Arts Centre in Connecticut, Woodstock NY Guild Hall and the two sold out Bottom Line Shows in NYC. The final gig was the Boston Folk Festival at University of Massachusetts, also a great day. Thanks to all who bought tickets and contributed to the success of this latest visit. Paul is now putting together some US festival appearances for next year. We will let you know details as they materialise.
While in Woodstock NY, Paul filmed for Homespun Tapes www.homespuntapes.com an educational video called,
‘THE GUITAR OF PAUL BRADY –
PLAYING TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY IRISH SONGS’
The video shows Paul playing many of his guitar based songs, with detailed descriptions of his tunings and technique…a must for all those guitarists wanting to understand the unique style of Paul Brady. Set for release in January 2004 it will also be available from this website.
Meanwhile the 6 Dublin Olympia Shows in October are upon us.. Sold out for weeks now, this is the high point of the performing year for Paul. Due to the demand, six more shows have been added in February of next year(Feb 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th & 8th.)
Some more Irish dates have also just been added.
2003
November 17th & 18th Derry City, Forum Millennium Hall
November 20th & 21st Castlebar, Theatre Royal
2004
February 29th Cork Opera House
March 1st Cork Opera House
March 2nd Cork Opera House
March 4th Galway Radisson Hotel Conference Centre
March 5th Limerick University Concert Hall
March 6th Killarney NEC
For the many UK fans who have been patiently waiting for ages for a UK tour we can now say that it’s on next year! Dates so far confirmed are below.
2004
Feb 16th London Royal Festival Hall
March 23rd Edinburgh Usher Hall
March 25th Sheffield Memorial Hall
March 26th Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
March 27th Newcastle Opera House
April 1st Manchester Bridgewater Hall.
More dates are being finalised and will be announced as confirmed.
Paul is also planning a short return to Australia in May 2004 for shows in Sydney and Melbourne with a possible further visit there later in the year to cover more ground. May dates soon to be announced.
Finally, we would like to announce that Paul’s record label PeeBee Music has just completed a license deal for European distribution with the Hamburg, Germany based label Hypertension This will mean the release of Paul’s CDs and DVDs in all of Europe in the near future.
Thank you for your continued interest in all things Paul Brady!
Site Update August 15 th 2003
Paul Brady Irish Shows in 2003/2004
Hello again all. Some more news in from the Paul Brady camp. Paul is set to play six shows in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre in October 2003. Dates are 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th 18th & 19th. As these are his first hometown shows since his marathon series of gigs in October 2001 at Vicar Street, they are eagerly awaited by fans. Paul has been writing again so expect to hear some brand new songs as well as classics from the recent past and old favourites. The format is ‘An evening with’, an intimate solo concert with Paul on acoustic guitars, piano and keyboards with perhaps the occasional surprise guest.
Paul’s solo shows are, if anything even more dynamic and spontaneous than those with his band, as they allow him the freedom to experiment with his past repertoire and come up with some never-before-heard material, with even the occasional cover thrown in for good measure.
Two solo shows in Derry are also planned for 17th & 18th November 2003 in the new Millenium Theatre there.
In late February, early March 2004, further dates are planned for Cork’s Opera House, The Radisson Hotel in Galway ,The University in Limerick and a possible NEC in Killarney. Again dates will appear on the website tour dates page asap.
UK shows 2004
For his many UK fans who have been patiently waiting since October 2000 for another tour, we can now say that Paul is planning a series of shows in late March, early April 2004. Dates in the planning stages are in Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Cheltenham, Milton Keynes and Liverpool with a London show in mid February. In addition shows in Glasgow, Bristol and Edinburgh are being considered at the moment. As soon as they dates are finalized we will announce them on the tour dates page of the website. We’d like to thank all UK fans for continuing to support Paul. The website guestbook is full of requests for UK shows. We’re on our way!
The Paul Brady Songbook ( Book)
Finally and at long last the new songbook is printed and on sale on the website . A combination of the previous two books, Nobody Knows and Songs And Crazy Dreams (now out of print), the new book contains piano and guitar arrangements plus lyrics to the following songs.
Crazy Dreams
Dancer In The Fire
Follow On
The Hawana Way
Helpless Heart
The Homes of Donegal
I Believe in Magic
The Island
I Will Be There
The Long Goodbye
Nobody Knows
Nothing But The Same Old Story
Oh What A World
Paradise Is Here
Steal Your Heart Away
The World Is What You Make it
You’re The One.
Again thanks to all those fans out there who have written in requesting a new songbook for their patience.
Don’t forget also that guitar tablature arrangements for The Lakes of Pontchartrain and Arthur McBride are already available on the website on the tablature page
The Paul Brady Songbook (CD and DVD)
Finally, the CD released on foot of Paul’s Irish TV series last autumn is now available in UK on the PeeBee label distributed by Universal (PBMCD7) with the new hit song ‘The Hawana Way’ included as a bonus track . The original 12 track version of the album (PBMCD4) is still available in Ireland but now with the actual single version of ‘The Hawana Way’ included in the package (shrink-wrapped). Also on this single are acoustic solo versions of ‘Don’t keep Pretending’ (originally on the Trick or Treat album) and ‘I Want You To Want Me’ (originally on Spirits Colliding).
The DVD of his 2002 TV series is unfortunately only available in Ireland on the PeeBee label. Fans outside Ireland can of course get it on the website shop at http://sierrab.wpengine.com/discog/default.asp
USA & Canada residents can find Paul’s CDs and DVDs on the Compass Records label while the PB Songbook CD in its original 12 track form is available in Australia New Zealand on the Little Big Music label.
Finally thanks to all the people who wrote in saying they enjoyed Paul and the band on Top of The Pops 2 last Tuesday July 29th on BBC 2TV. Paul had a lot of fun doing this.
Site Update July 22 nd 2003
This is to let you know that the new version of ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’ cd, featuring the bonus track ‘The Hawana Way’ is available in UK stores from July 21st (on the PeeBee label distributed by Universal) and will be by mail order from the Paul Brady website . The DVD of the TV series is of course also available at the same link but so far not for sale at retail in UK.
Also, Paul and his band are set to play live on ‘Top of the Pops 2’, the BBC2 nationwide television show on July 29th at 6.20 pm. For exact time check your TV guide closer to the date. Shown also in Germany and other European countries this is the introduction that ‘The Hawana Way’ needs and Paul is really looking forward to doing the show.
The new version of the CD and the DVD is also out now in USA and Canada on the Compass Records label. North American radio stations so far playing ‘The Hawana Way’ as of end of June are
KGSR – Austin
WVIA – Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA
KUWR – Laramie, WY (17 repeaters throughout Wyoming, Montana)
KAXE – Grand Rapids, MN
WUMB – Boston
KRCL – Salt Lake City
WEBK – Rutland, VT (Burlington)
TheQ.fm Victoria BC Canada
WEBK – Killington VT
WTMD – Towson, MD/Baltimore
WEFT – Champaign, IL
KVNF – Paonia, Co
KRCL – Salt Lake City
KBAC – Santa Fe
KLCC – Eugene, OR
KTAO – Taos, NM
WMWV – Conway, NH
KNBA – Anchorage, AK
WRSI Springfield MA
WERU Bangor ME
MPR Bangor ME
WNCW Spindale NC
WMNF Tampa FL
WBSD Milwaukee WI
KAXE Grand Rapids MN
KSPN Aspen CO
KVNF Paonia CO
KUWR Laramie
KRCL Salt Lake City
KBAC Santa Fe
KRSH Santa Rosa
KMXT Kodiak AK
Check out these stations in you area and call in! More stations are coming on board each week.
Booking details of Paul’s upcoming US shows in September are below. We look forward to seeing you there!
09/12 Seabury Center
Westport Arts Center
51 Riverside Avenue
Westport, CT 06880
Ticket Prices are $25
www.westportartscenter.org
call 203.222.7070 for tickets and information
9/13 Barre Opera House
6 N Main Street
Barre, VT
Ticket Prices are $25, $22, $18
http://www.barreoperahouse.org/
call 802-476-8188 for tickets and information
9/14 Woodstock Guild Hall
34 Tinker Street
Woodstock, NY 12498
Tickets are $20 for members and $25 for the general public
www.woodstockguild.org
9/16 Iron Horse
20 Centre Street
Northampton, MA 01060
Ticket Prices: $23.00 Day of and $20.00 Advanced
http://www.iheg.com/index.asp
9/18 +19 The Bottom Line
15 West Fourth Street
New York, NY 10012
Tickets are $30
9/20 Irish 2000 Music and Arts Festival
Albany Fairgrounds
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 Day of
www.irish2000fest.com
9/21 Boston Folk Festival
UMASS Boston
100 Morrisey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
Cap: 5000
No ticket prices yet
http://www.wumb.org/folkfest/
Site Update June 2 nd 2003
It’s been a hectic time in the past few months getting ready to release Paul’s new single, ‘The Hawana Way’ and the new version of the Paul Brady Songbook CD which includes ‘The Hawana Way’ as a bonus track and Quicktime video of Paul and his band performing the song.
The single also contains previously unheard solo acoustic versions of Paul’s songs, ‘I Want You To Want Me’ and a new take on ‘Don’t Keep Pretending’ as a country waltz!
Released in Ireland today May 30th it has been getting great airplay for the past two weeks, A-listed on all the major daytime music stations.
Also in UK, the song is getting national airplay, play-listed on BBC Radio 2 and several other stations. Release is due there shortly while the new version of the album hits the streets June 26th.
In USA, meanwhile, on the Compass Records label, the album plus bonus track and the DVD of the Paul Brady TV series are just out. Reaction in US radio to the Hawana Way (not released as a separate single, but a featured album track) has been fast and furious..
“The Hawana Way” is the perfect summer song.
It jumps off the airwaves like a diver into a cool refreshing pool…spark a Cohiba!”
Jody Denberg, KGSR Program Director/Austin
“Man, after just a handful of spins the Paul Brady is BLOWIN’ UP here!”
Ira Gordon , KBAC General Manager/Program Director /Santa Fe
with the song being added in the first week to the playlists of
WEBK – Killington VT
WTMD – Towson, MD/Baltimore
WEFT – Champaign, IL
KVNF – Paonia, Co
KRCL – Salt Lake City U
KBAC – Santa Fe
KRCL – Salt Lake CityKLCC – Eugene, OR
WEBK – Rutland, VT (Burlington)
KGSR – Austin TX
WVIA – Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA
KUWR – Laramie, WY (17 repeaters throughout Wyoming, Montana)
KAXE – Grand Rapids, MN
WUMB – Boston
Early days but very exciting!
Paul plans another visit Stateside in September of this year with dates below:
( remember these dates are in European format….day/month/year!!)
12/09/03 Westport Connecticut Westport County Arts Center,
13/09/03 Barre Vermont Barre Opera House
14/09/03 Woodstock NY Woodstock Guild Hall
16/09/03 Northampton Mass The Iron Horse
18/09/03 New York City The Bottom Line
19/09/03 New York City The Bottom Line
20/09/03 Albany NY The Albany Irish Festival
21/09/03 Boston Mass. The Boston Folk Festival
We look forward to seeing some of you at the shows!
Of course the new version of the album will be available from our website by the end of the first week in June. The single unfortunately is presently not available on the site.
Finally, for all those who requested songbooks, the new Paul Brady Songbook which is an amalgam of the now out of print ‘Songs and Crazy Dreams’ and ‘Nobody Knows’ plus some extra songs is in the final stages of design and manufacture and will be available soon. We will let you know exactly when.
Thanks again for all your letters and emails. Paul really appreciates the feedback!
Site Update Apr 8 th 2003
Has it been Jan 10th since the last update?! Time flies. Sorry it’s taken so long..The last few months have been the busiest period in years for Paul with 2 tours of USA, east and west coast and a three week Australian tour in March. We’ve been snowed under just holding things together.
Thanks, first, to all the fans who came to Paul’s US shows in Jan/ Feb. Highlights were Seattle, the two Bay Area shows, The Pepperdine, Malibu show where Bonnie Raitt made a surprise appearance and Austin TX. where Paul and again surprise guest, Shawn Colvin, had fun on ‘Not The Only One’ and ‘Walk The White Line’, a song Paul hadn’t sung in years! Paul would like to thank Anne-Marie Martins (who put these shows together) for all her hard work and dedication. Also Paul would like to welcome in David Lloyd from International Music Network, who will take over now that Anne Marie has moved on.
Thanks also to all who facilitated Paul’s visit to the ASCAP showcase at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in January, especially Loretta Munoz and Ralph Murphy from ASCAP. Paul really enjoyed his two showcase spots. Great to meet again with other participants, Emmylou Harris and Beth Nielsen-Chapman and for the first time, Alejandro Lerner, Bic Runga, Alexei Murdoch, Judith Owen..(the she-wolf!! GGrrrr!! Yes! Yes!) and her partner Harry Shearer, among many other things the voice of Principal Skinner in the Simpsons. You have no idea how many Paul has impressed with this, especially Colm Brady, his son, who is an out & out ‘Simpsons’ aficionado. Ol’ dad isn’t so stupid after all!
Paul is at this moment planning yet another visit to USA in September 2003. Predominantly in New England, dates will include Barre, Vermont 13th, Woodstock NY 14th, Northampton, Mass. on 16th , Bottom Line NY, 18th and 19 th , Albany NY 20 th and Boston Folk Festival 21st. More dates to be added as confirmed.
The Australian tour in March was a blast, with sold out shows the rule, especially in Sydney’s ‘The Basement’, the acoustic music club in the city where he played for three nights, one of which was web-cast live. Other shows at The National Theatre in Melbourne (good to meet again with singer songwriter Paul Kelly who first brought Paul to Australia back in 1996), The Port Fairy Festival, the Blue Mountains festival in Katoomba, Tilley’s in Canberra, The ‘Gov’ in Adelaide and ‘The Civic’ in Perth showed Paul what a strong and dedicated following he has down under. Long one of his favourite places on the planet, he is determined to come back in 2004 and build from here. Once again, thanks to all the fans who made the shows so enjoyable. Thanks also to Gaynor Crawford, Grant Thomas and Moira Bennett of Little Big Music/Touring and Glenn Helmot who tour-managed and did front-of-house sound and generally looked after Paul while he was there. Thanks, all!
An exciting interlude lately was a quick visit to NYC from March 29th through April 2nd, a week after returning from his Australian tour, to appear as part of ‘Works & Process’ in the Guggenheim Museum theatre. Devoted to Jonathan Bepler’s music from the Matthew Barney film cycle, Cremaster (Paul had a part in Cremaster 3), Paul sang some of the music from that film. Definitely a departure from his usual style, but hugely enjoyable. You can hear that music in its entirety on the Cremaster 3 CD.
Next up is the release in UK and Ireland of a single ‘The Hawana Way’. Written in Cuba on his first visit there a while back, it’s a fun account of the music he came in contact with and the general vibe, set to a great summer groove. Going to radio on the Tuesday after Easter the Cd single will hit the shops three to four weeks later. B-sides are two acoustic solo recordings of Paul’s songs. ‘I Want You To Want Me’ and ‘Don’t Keep Pretending’. To follow will come the release of the ‘CD ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’ (with bonus track the ‘Hawana Way’ added) around the middle of June in UK on the PeeBee Music label distributed by Universal, while in May the CD, again with bonus track, will come out in USA and Canada on the Compass Label, who release all of Paul’s catalogue there.
Finally, ‘The Long Goodbye’, already a hit for Paul from his album ‘Oh What A World’ and subsequently Number 1 for Brooks & Dunn in the US Country charts is set for further exposure when it is released as the new worldwide single from Ronan Keating (who co-wrote it with Paul) at the end of April coming. Word is that it is set to be a smash. Watch this space!
Site Update Jan 10 th 2003
Happy 2003 to all our correspondents. Hope
you all had a great Christmas!
After a short New Year break in Prague in
the Czech republic, Paul is off to Sundance, Utah, on Jan 18th at
the invitation of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
for a couple of showcase gigs at the Sundance Film Festival, the largest
independent film-makers‘ festival in the US calendar. Other artists appearing
over the week are Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Alejandro Lerner, Beth Nielsen-Chapman,
Johnny Lang and many more. Songs are playing an ever increasingly important
part in the success of films these days. ASCAP feels that Paul‘s music is
totally suited to contemporary film. Who are we to disagree! Check it out at href=”http://www.ascap.com/playback/2003/sundance/sundance2003.html”>http://www.ascap.com/playback/2003/sundance/sundance2003.html
After Sundance, the 2nd leg of
Paul‘s US tour proper starts in Seattle WA
at the Tractor Tavern href=”http://sierrab.wpengine.com/tourdates/default.asp”>http://sierrab.wpengine.com/tourdates/default.asp
. Then it‘s down to San Fransisco to the Great American Music Hall where he has
played several times before throughout the 90s. Traveling light, as his song
says, Paul is appearing solo on acoustic guitar and piano. Don‘t expect a laid
back confessional however. These solo shows are full-on performances, if
anything more dynamic than those with his band!
Treading through Malibu, Santa Cruz,
Sacramento, Berkeley, Boulder, Houston, Austin and ending up in Nashville at
the Folk Alliance Convention on Feb 7th, Paul is covering the US
like never before and he‘s really looking forward to seeing some old friends
and meeting new fans.
Back in Ireland on Feb 8th, it‘s
a short turnaround before it’s off to Australia for his March tour.
More news as it comes!
Site Update Jan 10 th 2003
Many apologies for the delay in sending out the orders from the web site store, due to circumstances beyond our control.
Shipping started today on the outstanding orders and should be complete within a week at the most.
Please note that there are no songbooks for sale at the moment. Paul is currently completing work on a new book of his songs which will include many of those in the 2 old books plus 6 songs previously not available.
Once again many apologies and thank you for your patience
Site Update Dec 19 th 2002
Happy Christmas to allhref=”http://sierrab.wpengine.com/”>www.paulbrady.comorhref=”mailto:info@paulbrady.com”>info@paulbrady.comcorrespondents.
We wish you all a great
2003
Firstly we would like to apologise for the
delay in releasing the DVD of the TV series The Paul Brady Songbook. (Featuring
six half hour TV shows recently shown on RTE Irish television, Paul performs 37
songs live with his band, solo and with guests. Extensive interview and archive
footage is included plus some extra bonus tracks not included in the TV
series).
Unfortunately there was a fault in the
first pressing and we were forced to withdraw them and press up a new batch.
Good news is it is now available at retail in Ireland and on this website via
mail order for orders from outside Ireland at href=”http://sierrab.wpengine.com/discog/default.asp”>http://sierrab.wpengine.com/discog/default.asp
. We regret that immediate orders will probably not now arrive until shortly
after Christmas due to the postal rush. But we can assure you we will do our
best to get them to you as soon as possible and are confident you will find it
was worth the wait! A video featuring the same footage as the dvd is also
available but in PAL European system only, whilst the DVD is globally compatible
Finally, also available is a CD of twelve
of the standout songs from the series, again called ’The Paul Brady Songbook‘.
This features special re-mixes for CD which differ from the mixes on the DVD
and Video. Tracks are below:
Oh What A World
The Long Goodbye
I Will Be There (with Mary Black)
Nobody Knows
I Believe In magic
Blue World (with Curtis Stigers)
Crazy Dreams
Nothing But The Same Old Story
Helpless Heart
Follow On
The World Is What You Make It
The Homes of Donegal.
Paul has had a very busy and productive year and hugely enjoyed the gigs. He would love to wish all those who came to see him in USA last November and Japan in September a very happy Christmas holiday and a great 2003. Also we would like to remind fans of his upcoming US west coast tour starting Jan 25th in Seattle WA (see http://sierrab.wpengine.com/tourdates/default.asp for full dates).
Before that however, you can hear Paul live on the World Café internet radio program http://worldcafe.org/ on Tuesday January 7th (2 pm and 1 am US Eastern Standard Time) in a session done in New York while on tour last November.
Finally, the long awaited Australian visit goes ahead in March (Again see tour dates) after which Paul intends to take a few months off to write. That‘s it for now!
Once again, have a great end of year holiday and keep in touch with us here either at
info@paulbrady.com or, if you don‘t mind the rest of the world seeing your message, at the website guestbook http://sierrab.wpengine.com/guestbook/default.asp
Liz Devlin
Site Update Nov 28 th 2002
Well, the US East Coast tour has come and gone and was a real success. Planned as an exploratory outing in selected areas to ascertain the support for an artist who has spent very little time in North America over the last decade compared to his contemporaries, it showed Paul that there is a solid dedicated fan base both at gigs, radio and in the press (see Earle Hitchner’s review of Paul’s New York show below).
The tour really got going by the second gig in Northampton, Mass. at the Iron Horse, a venue Paul last played in the early 90s. Boston’s Somerville Theatre was next up and a full house cheered Paul through a vibrant performance marred only by one or two on-stage ‘sound gremlins’ attributed by those in the know to the Somerville Theatre ghost!
New York City was next with two sold out nights at the Village Underground on W 3rd St and a performance and interview on the World Café PBS radio show due for broadcast in January.
Chicago’s show sold out weeks in advance and was a real high point with Niamh Parsons opening. As this was the last of five gigs in a row with a day off next up a few celebratory drafts were had at the Abbey Tavern with Niamh, Her guitarist Graham Dunne and local Chicagoan Denis Cahill known for his sterling guitar work with Martin Hayes. Paul joined in the session with Denis and the other musicians bringing him back to his days when he recorded with Andy McGann, Paddy Reynolds and John Vesey on the Shanachie label back in the seventies. A great night.
Off to Ann Arbor for a night off, and a gig and radio the following day. The Ark is a club famous for many years. It was great to play it for the first time. People came from as far as Cambridge, Ontario in Canada. In fact one of the hallmarks of this tour was the distance many people travelled to catch Paul on stage and how often they said they had waited for years to see him play….People who couldn’t get in to the Chicago show turned up in Milwaukee the night after Ann Arbor! Others had driven from Florida to Washington DC.. At Chicago some fans from Germany turned up in full voice. And everywhere were the Irish who have followed Paul’s career over the past three decades.
The US mid west is an area Paul has never been except for a Guinness Fleadh appearance at Chicago in the late 90s and a club appearance back around 1991. Though not quite as well know there as he is on the East and West coasts, the audience reaction was just as full-on even if they take a little longer to get going than their coastal counterparts.
Minneapolis was the last night at the Cedar Cultural centre. A mighty end to a new beginning for Paul Brady in North America. Roll On January! West coast and Southern dates will soon appear on the tour page.
Review of Paul’s Second night at New York City’s ‘Village Underground’
Welcome Here, Paul Brady
CEOL
By Earle Hitchner
[Published in the IRISH ECHO newspaper in New York City on November 20,
2002. Copyright Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by
author’s permission.]
With two acoustic guitars, a Rhodes electric keyboard, and a tin
whistle at his disposal, Tyrone-born Paul Brady walked out onto the
stage at lower Manhattan’s Village Underground this past Saturday night
and gave one of the best concerts I’ve seen this year. It was an ideal
balance between relaxed confidence and disciplined expertise, and Brady
was emboldened by the standing-room-only crowd, who often responded
viscerally to his songs.
No one missed the presence of a backing band, and going strictly solo
had the advantage of keeping the spotlight, literally and figuratively,
on him as a singer, composer, and instrumentalist. The sometimes
oversweet pop veneer of his recordings was stripped from the songs,
making even the most familiar seem like fresh, taut dispatches from the
soul.
Brady began not with his “hits” but with three songs that have fallen
below many critics’ radar. In “Blue World,” a song from his 1991 album
“Trick or Treat,” he sang with blunt, self-preserving resolve, “I don’t
want to paint your picture / I don’t want to write your dreams / I ain’t
here to sing your sorrows / Your blue world is not my scene.”
In “I Want You to Want Me,” from his 1995 album “Spirits Colliding,”
Brady sang of the physical ache of love exacerbated by games of the
heart. It’s no surprise, then, why “spirits colliding” have trouble
connecting.
Then he shifted into a deceptively breezy “Sea of Love,” a song from
his 2001 album “Oh What a World.” Love’s dilemma reared up again, making
the narrator “frightened to go, frightened to stay.”
The first “hit” Brady sang was “Nobody Knows,” a brooding, bluesy
meditation on expectations never realized. Part of the song’s power
flows from his perfectly modulated inflection and from a
thought-provoking chorus that begins, “Nobody knows why Elvis threw it
all away / Nobody knows what Ruby had to hide.”
Switching from guitar to keyboards, Brady admitted that a book on
Indian mysticism was a spark for “Paradise Is Here.” He sang it with a
simmering fervor not quite at the R&B-burning level of Tina Turner’s
popular cover but enough to erase Cher’s pop-tripe rendition from
memory. Even “The Long Goodbye,” an unabashed pop song he wrote with
Ronan Keating, became something leaner this night, confection melting
away to confession.
Back on acoustic guitar, an instrument on which he still has few peers
in Irish music, Brady tore a page from his own history of living as an
Irishman in London during the early 1970s. That song, “Nothing But the
Same Old Story,” has lost none of its bite since he first recorded it 21
years ago. It deserves its status as a classic, with lines like “In
their eyes, we’re nothing but a bunch of murderers” slicing straight to
the bone.
“The Island” has been covered by a slew of other artists, including
Caherlistrane’s Dolores Keane, but Brady put his own indelible stamp on
it and offered a deeper layer of emotion. The song’s melodic beauty and
the Edenic getaway he describes in it intentionally clash with the stark
harshness of other imagery (“trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone,”
“twisted wreckage down on Main Street”), leaving the listener all the
more haunted by the disparity between what is and what could be.
The success of Brady’s pop-rock songwriting since his “Hard Station”
recording in 1981 must be considered side by side with his prior
accomplishments as one of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians. He
reminded his audience of that period with the release this year of “The
Liberty Tapes,” a 1978 Dublin concert that launched his solo trad album,
“Welcome Here, Kind Stranger.”
At the Village Underground, even when he forgot a lyric in “Arthur
McBride,” a traditional song he’ll always be linked to, Brady could
laugh it off. He recovered with effortless poise, as if he were singing
in his living room, and in a sense, with the audience so firmly in his
pocket, he was.
His singing of “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” was stirring and spot-on,
and the improvised coda of “The Homes of Donegal,” where he rattles off
that county’s towns and villages in a Van Morrison-like riff, brought
hoots of acknowledgment from the crowd, who sang in roaring, sustained
unison the choral “Don-e-gal.”
In his verse, National Book Award-winning poet Alan Dugan touts the
ability to “walk out bravely into the daily accident.” In his own
verses, Paul Brady knows all too well what Dugan means, as this
memorable, retrospective solo performance–full of great songs, singing,
and guitar work–proved.
Site Update Nov 11 st 2002
Paul has just returned from a well earned break in Havana, visiting old friend, singer-songwriter Carlos Varela and his many compadres…and then in Mexico where he was indulging in his passion, scuba-diving, on the island Cozumel.
Latest news is that the first programme of Paul’s RTE TV series ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’ was aired on Irish television Sunday last (October 27th). Subtitled ‘Crazy Dreams’ it featured live performances, solo or with band, of ‘ Oh What A World’, ‘Dancer In The Fire’, ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’, ‘Crazy Dreams’ and a new song ‘The Hawana Way’. It also featured extensive interview footage and demonstrations by Paul of how he began writing individual songs etc.
OnSunday Nov 3rd, the second show, called ‘I Want You To Want Me’ and featuring the songs ‘Steel Claw’, ‘Well Worn Love’ (written and performed with Curtis Stigers), ‘Hi Heeled Sneakers’ and ‘You Win Again’ (a re-visiting of Paul’s early period in Blues, Soul and Country Music), ‘I Want You To Want Me’, rehearsal footage of ‘Blue World’ again with Curtis Stigers and finally ‘The World Is What You Make It’.
Next week shows Paul with The Liberty Belles (Liam O’Flynn, Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny and Paddy Glackin ) in new performances of songs from his traditional period which originally surfaced on last year’s PeeBee Music/ Compass Records release of ‘The Missing Liberty Tapes’ CD.
The transmissions will continue weekly until the beginning of December and are accompanied by a CD, DVD and video called ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’ released for the moment in Ireland only on Nov 22nd, but also available from that date from the storeon this website. The DVD and video feature all six half hour programmes including 32 songs plus 5 extra songs not included in the programmes and extra interview footage, a perfect Christmas gift for you and your friends!
US correspondents mustn’t forget Paul’s upcoming US East Coast tour starting Nov 11th in Arlington VA. Full date listings are on the website on thetour dates page. A further tour of West coast dates from mid Jan through early Feb 2003 is in the final stages of planning. Dates as confirmed will appear on the website.
Finally, welcome news for Paul’s many fans in Australia who have written again and again wondering when he’s coming out there. Paul will tour Australia from March 1st 2003 through March 19th. Again see tour dates for dates. Sorry it’s taken so long but Paul would like to say he’s really looking forward to playing down under again. Thanks for your patience and continuing enthusiasm.
4/03/03 SYDNEY The Basement
5/03/03 SYDNEY The Basement
8/03/03 PORT FAIRY Port Fairy Folk Festival
9/03/03 PORT FAIRY Port Fairy Folk Festival
12/03/03 MELBOURNE The Athenaeum
13/03/03 CANBERRA Tilley’s Devine Café
14/03/03 BLUE MOUNTAINS Blue Mountains Folk Festival
15/03/03 BLUE MOUNTAINS Blue Mountains Folk Festival
16/03/03 SYDNEY The Basement
18/03/03 ADELAIDE The Governor Hindmarsh
19/03/03 PERTH The Civic Hotel
Site Update Sept 15 th 2002
The Tokyo visit has come and gone and Paul really enjoyed the trip.As part of the ‘Altán Festival’ programme, his first event was to join Altán on their Sunday night concert at the Shibuya-Kokaido theatre. Sharon Shannon with her band and Four Men and A Dog made up the rest of the festival bill. Paul joined Mairéad on “Daily Growing’, their duet from the new Altán cd and sang his own song ‘You’re The One’, coming back later for ‘The Homes of Donegal’ and a blistering session with everyone. The party continued into the small hours!
Tuesday night saw Paul’s own gig at Club Quattro in Shibuya and it was jammed full from an hour before the show. This was a solo gig, with Paul playing acoustic and electric piano and guitar and featuring a cross section of his songs from the 70s onwards. Mildly apprehensive before the show that Japanese audiences, in their new found love of ‘Celtic’ music, would be expecting him to sing exclusively traditional songs, Paul was left under no illusion as the audience enthusiastically responded to the full Paul Brady experience. Paul was joined on stage for the last song in the first half by Ciaran Tourish and Sharon Shannon and then again at the end. Set list appears below. Click on the small images for some shots surrounding the events. Paul would like to thank Keiko Kawashima and Yoko Nozaki and their assistants for their hard work and dedication in putting this festival together. A return trip for a nationwide tour is definitely on the cards.
Closer to home, after stopping off for a weekend in Moscow on his way home from Japan to watch Ireland play Russia in the opening rounds of the European Soccer Championship, Paul begins mixing the sound for his upcoming RTE TV series, ‘Paul Brady’s Songbook’ in Dublin on Tuesday Sept 10th. The six part series will air at 10.15pm on Sunday nights from mid October through mid November this year. A CD of the soundtrack will issue before Christmas and a DVD will follow early in the new year.
Finally, a change of plan regarding the release of the new studio recording of ‘The Hawana Way’. Originally penciled in for a late September release, this has now been put back to next February and will eventually find its way on to the next studio album of new songs which Paul hopes to have out by late spring early summer 2003. There will, however be a live version of the song on the TV series CD also called Paul Brady’s Songbook’.
Finally, finally….For USA fans, don’t forget Paul’s upcoming dates in November See you there!
Club Quattro, Shibuya, Tokyo September 3rd 2002
Set One
Marriage made in Hollywood
Nobody Knows
Nothing But the Same Old Story
Blue World
Helpless Heart
Paradise is Here
Mary & The Soldier
Arthur McBride
You’re the One ( w/ Ciaran T & Sharon S)
Set Two
I Want You To want Me
Follow on
Sea of love
Traveling light
The Long Goodbye
The Island
Steel claw
Crazy Dreams
The World is What you Make it ( W/ Ciaran T)
Encore
Minutes away, Miles apart
The Lakes of Pontchartrain
The Homes of Donegal
Lucy Campell & the Flogging reel (with Ciaran T & Sharon Shannon)
2nd encore
Busted Loose
Site Update Aug 21 st 2002
More USA dates added, see tour dates
Site Update July27 th 2002
After many requests from fans and abortive attempts to make it happen, Paul is at last touring in the USA. A new relationship with the International Music Network agency based in Gloucester Mass. has just kicked off and Paul is looking forward to building from here in an attempt to satisfying the growing demand for him to appear live in North America.
Starting off on the east coast in November 2002, he will then return in January 2003 to do some west coast dates surrounding a confirmed appearance at Pepperdine University in Malibu Ca. on January 31st. Further dates in San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, LA, Austin, Nevada City, Tuscon, Chico and Nashville are presently being considered for the new year. However these dates will appear as they are confirmed.
In the meantime, however, the November dates so far confirmed are below. More may be added as things develop.
Nov 11th Arlington Va. Iota club
13th Northampton, Mass. The Iron Horse
14th Boston ( Cambridge), Somerville Theatre
15th New York City, The Village Underground
16th New York City, The Village Underground
17th Chicago, The Old Town School of Folk Music
19th Ann Arbor, Mich. The Ark
Further US developments include the recent release on Compass Records of ‘The Missing Liberty Tapes’, the rediscovered live gem from 1978, a live concert by Paul in Dublin’s Liberty Hall featuring Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn, Matt Molloy, Paddy Glackin and Noel Hill. Lost in an attic for 23 years, the re-appearance of these tapes was described by the Irish Times as akin to the rediscovery of Tutenkamen’s tomb! A ‘must have’ for any aficionados of the golden age of the 1970s Irish music scene and also available mail order in the original PeeBee records version on this website.
Presently at home in Ireland, Paul is getting ready to shoot a six part TV series in August for the national television station RTE. Entitled ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’ after the hugely successful concert run at Dublin’s Vicar Street last year, the shows will feature Paul performing his songs solo and with his band. Guests so far confirmed to appear are Curtis Stigers, Mary Black and the Liberty Belles. The series will be shown weekly in Ireland from late Sept through early November. His band features Ian Maidman, Liam Genockey, Steve Fletcher, Richie Buckley, Linley Hamilton and Annie Whitehead.
To coincide with the series in Ireland Paul is releasing a new song called ‘The Hawana Way’. Written on his visit to Cuba with Bonnie Raitt a year or so ago, this is Paul’s first new studio recording since his recent album ‘Oh What A World’. Most likely to be backed up with new solo acoustic recordings of his songs ‘Luck of The Draw’ (the only recording of the song since Bonnie Raitt’s on her album of the same name) and ‘Stories’ (first recorded by Maura O’Connell), the single CD will be on sale soon (probably the middle of August) via mail order from Here
Immediately after filming the TV series, Paul makes a short visit to Japan to do two shows in Tokyo (see tour dates page).
That’s it for now! More to follow soon
Site Update June 6th 2002
I would like to acknowledge and pay tribute to my old friend and colleague Kenny Craddock who was tragically killed in a car crash in his newly adopted home, Portugal, last week.
A Geordie, born and bred, Kenny was one of the great musicians from that musical part of England. Equally at home on guitar, piano and Hammond organ, his music embraced Jazz, Soul, R’n’B, pop and classical music. Latterly he devoted his talents to writing music for many successful TV programmes.
Kenny played with me in the mid Eighties, touring in my band and contributing to my album ‘Back to the Centre’ (1985), most notably in as the piano player on the recording of The Island. His sensitivity and understanding of the emotional and musical space the song needed to inhabit was crucial to the recording’s success. A truly inspired and inspiring performance. I will always treasure the memory of that studio experience.
Kenny last played with me in the late ’90s on the BBC TV programme ‘Later with Jools Holland’ in a band that also featured Liam Genockey on drums and John Illsley on bass.
He will be fondly remembered by those whose path he crossed for his hugely acerbic wit and supreme musical talent. A great loss to the musical community. May he rest in peace.
With sincere condolences to his family..
Paul Brady
Site Update April 14th 2002
Paul is just back from Nashville where he was presented with the ‘Membership of the No 1 club’ award by ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) on foot of his song ‘The Long Goodbye’ (written with Ronan Keating) recently reaching the No 1 spot in the US Country charts for country superstar duo Brooks & Dunn.
While there, Paul also played his own show at the Station Inn on Friday April 5th as well as a guest spot along with Shawn Colvin and Gary Burr at the celebrated Bluebird on Saturday 6th. Paul also wrote a new song, ‘Really Gone’, with Gary earlier in the week.
Again it was a great opportunity to meet with his many friends in Nashville. First and foremost, long time resident Maura O’Connell who joined Gary to sing with Paul at the Station Inn. Dobro master Gerry Douglas, Gary Nicholson (co-writer of ‘I Believe In Magic’ from Paul’s ‘Oh What A World’ album), Nancy Griffith, Delbert McClinton, Beth Neilsen-Chapman and Mark Hudson (Aerosmith producer and Paul’s co-writer on ‘Try Me One More Time’), not forgetting the legendary Ralph Murphy, songwriter and roving ASCAP ambassador worldwide.
Paul was really pleased to discover a new version of ‘The World Is What You Make it , recorded by Nashville artiste Jen Cohen ( see discography page). Also on his return to Ireland to discover in his mailbox a new cd from Commitments singer Andrew Strong including a version of ‘Try Me One More Time’ from Paul’s ‘Oh What A World’ record.
Paul is off to New York City on April 28th for among things the premier of the artist Matthew Barney’s film ‘Cremaster 3′ in the Ziegfeld Theatre in which he has a cameo role as a maitre d’ in The Cloud Club, an exclusive 1930’s speakeasy on the 66th floor of the Chrysler Building. Paul sings some songs in Irish (he translated Matthew’s lyrics and put them to a sean- nós (old style) traditional air) arranged by Jonathan Bepler. Such is the transformation in Paul’s appearance that his mother didn’t recognise him in some stills from the set. Strange but true!
Latest gig being discussed is the London Fleadh with his band in Finsbury Park on June 8th. Watch the tour dates page over the next few weeks for confirmation.
Finally, Paul is almost finished listening to the tapes of the Vicar Street shows. It looks like a live record is on the cards. Again watch this space!
That’s it for now!
Keep those messages coming to the website guestbook!
Site Update March 14th 2002
Brooks & Dunn’s version of the Paul Brady/ Ronan Keating song ‘The Long Goodbye’ reaches No 1 in the Billboard Country charts!
Site Update March 7th 2002
Thank you for all your support and comments on our guest book and at info@paulbrady.com over the past few months. Paul really values this feedback. So, keep it coming!
The Paul Brady year is filling out rapidly so we thought we’d give you an update on activities. Most of February was spent in Los Angeles where Paul wrote three new songs and had some fun times with old friends. Highlights were the Sheryl Crow Birthday gig at the El Rey Theatre, Billy Connolly live at the Wilshire Ebel Theatre and the ‘Down from the Mountain’ gig (artists on the soundtrack of ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ film) at the Universal Amphitheatre.
Back in Ireland on Feb 23rd he went straight to London on 25th for the Irish World Newspaper awards where he performed ‘Nobody Knows’ and was presented with an award for his achievements to date.
On Monday March 4th the Meteor Awards ( The Irish Record Industry annual Awards) took place in Dublin where Paul was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, a popular decision on the night. Paul sang ‘Oh What A World’ with his band. Also taking part/ performing and/ or receiving awards were, The Cranberries, Samantha Mumba, U2, Westlife, Ronan Keating, Muse and Gabrielle.
Paul takes a well earned break ski-ing in France from March 9th through 16th and later in the month he heads back to USA to Nashville where Brooks & Dunn’s version of the Paul Brady/ Ronan Keating song ‘The Long Goodbye’ is currently No 2 in the Billboard Country charts and has just climbed into the top 40 in the Hot 100 USA singles. To celebrate, Paul does a solo gig at Nashville’s Station Inn on April 5th and appears at the Bluebird on April 6th.
Discussions are currently under way for Paul to do a six programme TV series later this year based around his music for the Irish national TV network RTE. Loosely based on the format of his successful run at Dublin’s Vicar Street last October he will perform both solo acoustic, with his band and with guests yet to be decided. Tentatively called ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’ this will likely run as a weekly half hour show through October and November 2002.
Other gigs at the moment include the Celtic Fusion festival on 10th August at Castlewellan in County Down, Northern Ireland and a short trip to Japan late August/ early September to do a solo show in Tokyo and guest with Altan at their concert in the same city.
Paul also hopes to record some of his new material over the next few months in his studio in Dublin and to start sifting through the recordings of last year’s Vicar Street shows for a possible release later in the year.
Meanwhile ‘The Missing Liberty Tapes’ cd continues on its merry way with plans afoot for US, Japan and continental Europe distribution at the moment. The record is of course currently available via mail order on this site. By clicking on the Discography
More news as it arrives!