SINGERS AND Their Songs - a celebration of songwriters, folk, roots, and acoustic blues - featuring acts from Ireland and the USA, takes place in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, from December 16 to 21.
Singers And Their Songs begins on Tuesday 16 with New York based Steve Waitt, whose voice has been compared to Bill Withers. His career in music began when he found himself in New Orleans, sitting in an empty bar asking the owner if he could play the piano. It turned into a nightly residency and allowed Waitt absorb the many musical sounds of New Orleans.
Steve now lives in NYC and become a favourite on the indie circuit of Manhattan. The Onion said of him: “Real song lyrics on top of music that goes somewhere seems to be his party line...Do yourself and your parents a favour. Go see a show.”
Bohermore’s Don Stiffe plays on Wednesday 17. A wonderfully sensitive interpreter of song, he is also a songwriter and his new single ‘Home On Time For Christmas’, includes Sharon Shannon and Lúnasa’s Kevin Crawford. Proceeds from the sale of the single will go to Croí. It can be bought via www.croi.ie Acclaimed Irish indie-folk duo The Guggenheim Grotto (Kevin May and Mick Lynch ) play on Thursday 18. The duo’s second album Happy The Men went straight to No 1 in the American iTunes Folk album chart. Come January, they will play New York, Philadelphia, and Cambridge, as part of a tour of the US.
Cork singer-songwriter Niall Connolly plays on Friday 19 and the show will also see the launch of his new live album which was recorded last June at The Crane. As Jackie Hayden wrote in Hotpress: “Connolly writes intelligent, literate songs rich in graphic detail...We don’t have enough like him.”
To finish up, New York’s Tom Badbelly Hanway and Limerick’s Martin Mungo O’Connor will deliver a night of Mississippi delta blues music on Sunday 21.
All shows start at 9pm. For more information and tickets contact The Crane on 091 - 587419 or go to www.thecranebar.com
