Each week we will highlight one artist from Paddy McCarthy’s regular Music And Entertainment Guide for your reading pleasure. To read the full weekly guide, visit our ePaper.
Here is another great Irish singer/songwriter that is taking the music scene by storm and that is the one and only Damien Dempsey, an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social commentary on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland’s Celtic Tiger society. He sings in English, and to a lesser extent in Irish. His first commercial single “Dublin Town” was released in 1997, and reached number 18 in the Irish music charts. The Irish music magazine Hot Press praised the single, remarking that it was “an underground anthem for disaffected youth and closet balladeer alike”.
His first full-length album, titled “They Don’t Teach This Shit in School”, was released in 2000 and contained a re-recorded version of this song. Dempsey’s talent was beginning to be noticed, not least by Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, who invited him out on tour with her and championed him as one to watch. “I don’t think there’s ever been anyone like him. I think he represents the sort of voice in Ireland that is not allowed to be heard”, she said.
Dempsey later joked onstage that when he got the call from O’Connor to join the tour, he assumed it would be on the door as a bouncer.His next release, in 2002, the “Negative Vibes” EP, featured Sinéad O’Connor on the title track and led to an invitation to support her on her 2002/2003 Irish, UK, and European tour. Dempsey’s second full-length album, “Seize the Day”, was released in May 2003 in Ireland on Clear Records via Sony and entered the charts in its first week of release at No. 5. It has since achieved double-platinum sales. In 2004 Dempsey toured extensively headlining his own shows as well as supporting Bob Dylan during the Irish leg of his European tour and making his debut appearances at The Fleadh and Womad.
He has earned the support of his peers, particularly Morrissey, who invited Dempsey to support him on various UK and Irish dates as well as his autumn 2004 US tour. Morrissey went on to sign Dempsey to his label (Attack), and “Seize the Day” had its US release in October 2004. His third album, “Shots”, simultaneously released in Ireland and the UK in March 2005, entered the Irish album charts at No. 1. Dempsey’s first live album, “Live at the Olympia”, was released June 2006 in Ireland and the UK. The album was recorded at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on 15 December 2005. “Shots” was released in the US on the United For Opportunity label in June 2006 and Dempsey undertook a coast to coast tour.
On the Fleadh 2007 tour Dempsey, along with Sharon Shannon’s Big Band, toured Ireland and the UK with Willie Nelson. His fourth studio album, “To Hell or Barbados”, released in June 2007, entered the Irish album chart at No. 2. An extended version of the album, which included a bonus CD featuring previously unreleased and rare tracks, was released in Ireland via Sony BMG in November 2007. Dempsey’s fifth studio album, a covers album entitled “The Rocky Road”, was released on 6 June 2008 in Ireland via Sony BMG, with a UK release via IRL on 9 June 2008 and on 26 August via United for Opportunity. The lead single “A Rainy Night in Soho”, a cover of the Pogues’ track, was released on 30 May 2008. His sixth studio album, “Almighty Love”, was released in October 2012 and entered the chart at No. 3, with the single of the same name released in mid-October. In 2014, Dempsey released a best-of album titled “It’s All Good” which entered the chart at No. 1. During the Australian leg of his tour promoting this album, he appeared on an episode of the comedy-music panel show Spicks and Specks.
In 2016, Dempsey released an album titled “No Force On Earth” of original and covered songs to commemorate the centenary of The 1916 Rising. The album featured the traditional song “James Connolly” which Dempsey had become known for singing at recent protests to water charges introduced by the Irish government. Other songs on the album included one written for his great aunt Jennie Shanahan who fought in the 1916 rising along with a song to commemorate an ancestor of his friend, Love/Hate actor John Connors, who also fought in the rebellion. The album was initially only made available to buy at live concerts with a limited run of 2016 copies only being produced. Many artists have covered Damien Dempsey’s work, including Sinead O’Connor, The Proclaimers and The Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt. His songs have been featured on many TV shows including Sons of Anarchy, Fair City and the BAFTA winning Tyrannosaur. Look out for Damien when he tours again… hopefully very soon.