Country and Irish | |
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Stylistic origins | Country |
Cultural origins | Ireland |
Country and Irish is a musical subgenre in Ireland formed by mixing North American country-style music with Irish influences. It is especially popular in the rural Midlands and North-West of the country, but less so in urban areas or in the South-West where more traditional Irish music is favoured. It also remains popular among the Irish in Britain, particularly among the older generation. In a review of the album Round the house and mind the dresser: Irish country house dance music, Vic Gammon observes that the music was partially inspired by a desire for cultural independence. [1]
Country and Irish music emerged from Ireland's showband scene, where local bands would play American pop standards tailored to Irish sensibilities. [2] The showband scene was especially strong in Northern Ireland and border counties on account of restrictions on live music performances during Lent in the Republic of Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s. [3] Johnny McCauley, who performed extensively for Irish expat audiences in London in the 1950s, is regarded as the first songwriter to compose songs in an American country music style with lyrics that specifically referenced Irish subject matter. [4] His songs were covered by artists such as Big Tom and Larry Cunningham at a time when the showband business model was in decline, allowing these artists to pivot to selling recorded music. [5]
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Artists who would fit this genre include:
Country and Irish is featured on national and local media. Most local radio stations outside Dublin have a music show dedicated to country music, on programs such as Country Roads and Céilí Lár Tíre on Midlands 103 and on The Country Lounge on CRCfm. RTÉ Radio provide an hour of each Saturday with Country Time with Sandy Harsch. [6]
In television, many of the country and Irish musicians had TV shows on RTÉ One during the 1980s such as The Sandy Kelly Show and The Red Hurley Show, but by the 1990s many of those shows had been axed by RTÉ. RTÉ also broadcast Country Music Television on RTÉ Two during the 1990s. In the 2000s, RTÉ produced a retrospective series, A Little Bit Country, featuring stars from the golden era of Irish country music.
The Irish Language Television service TG4 has provided a number of country and Irish programmes in its schedules such as Glór Tíre ("Country Voice").
Ireland West Music Television, a 24-hour country and Irish channel, was founded in the UK and Ireland in 2011.
Country and Irish music is notable for its highly distinctive album artwork style. In most cases this involves the artist superimposed over a pastoral landscape. [2] [7]
Seán Patrick Michael Sherrard, known professionally as Johnny Logan, is an Irish singer and musician. He is best known for being the first performer to win the Eurovision Song Contest as a lead singer twice.
Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.
Horslips are an Irish Celtic rock band that compose, arrange and perform songs frequently inspired by traditional Irish airs, jigs and reels. The group are regarded as 'founding fathers of Celtic rock' for their fusion of traditional Irish music with rock music and went on to inspire many local and international acts. They formed in 1970 and 'retired' in 1980 for an extended period. The name originated from a spoonerism on The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which became "The Four Poxmen of The Horslypse".
The Irish showband was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. The showband was based on the internationally popular six- or seven-piece dance band. The band's basic repertoire included standard dance numbers and covers of pop music hits. The versatile music ranged from rock and roll and country and western songs to traditional dixieland jazz and even Irish Céilí dance, Newfie stomps, folk music and waltzes. Key to a showband's popular success was the ability to perform songs currently in the record charts. Some bands also did comedy skits onstage.
Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist. After rising to public attention in 1983, he has since become a household name in Ireland and Britain; he has also had considerable success in Australia. In 2012, he became the first artist to have a different album in the British charts every year for 25 consecutive years. This record has been extended and as of 2021, O'Donnell has had an album in the Official Albums Chart each year for the last 33 years. His side
Linda Martin is an Irish singer and television presenter. She is best known as the winner of the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest during which she represented Ireland with the song "Why Me?". She is also known within Ireland as a member of the band Chips.
Johnny McCauley was an Irish singer-songwriter, born in Myroe, near Limavady, County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. As a young adult, he moved to London and in 1953 began singing professionally with his band, the Westernaires, at the Galtymore Club, Cricklewood.
Margo is an Irish singer. She rose to prominence during the 1960s in the Irish country music scene and has had a long career since.
Maxi, Dick and Twink were an all-girl singing trio in Ireland in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Maxi is Irene McCoubrey, Dick is Barbara Dixon and Twink is Adele King.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "They Can't Stop the Spring" written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. The song was performed by the band Dervish, which was internally selected in November 2006 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. RTÉ organised the national final Eurosong 2007 to select the song that Dervish would perform. Four songs faced a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "They Can't Stop the Spring" as the Irish entry.
The Carlton Showband is a Canadian musical group of the Irish genre. Formed in Brampton, Ontario in November 1963, the band initially named themselves the Carlton Danceband in reference to Toronto's Carlton Street where Maple Leaf Gardens was located.
Johnny McEvoy is an Irish singer and entertainer of Country and Irish genre born in Banagher, County Offaly.
Gloria Smyth, better known as Gloria, is an Irish singer from Navan, County Meath.
Ronan Collins is an Irish broadcaster from Glasnevin, Dublin. Up until 23 December 2022, Collins held the prestige of maintaining one of the longest-running radio shows on Ireland’s national station, RTÉ Radio 1. At its peak, 250,000 listeners tuned in daily to The Ronan Collins Show between 12pm - 1pm, Monday - Friday.
Larry Cunningham was an Irish country music singer, who was one of the leading figures of the showband scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Cunningham accomplished a series of "firsts" during his career. In 1964, Cunningham broke into the British charts with "Tribute to Jim Reeves", the first time an Irish artist had done such a thing.
RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ 1 upon the launch of RTÉ 2 in 1978. It is funded partly by the government's licence fee; the remainder of the funding is provided by commercial advertising. Because RTÉ is funded partly by the licence fee it shows considerably fewer advertisements than most other channels available in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Nathan Kane Tyrone Carter is a British-born Irish country music singer based in the UK and Ireland. He has released thirteen studio albums and six live albums as of December 2022, five of which peaked at number one, and four live DVDs. He performs Irish folk and country. He is considered the pioneer of Country and Irish music due to the massive popularity of his 2012 cover of the American country song "Wagon Wheel" which remains the most successful version of the song, becoming the biggest commercial success of any country release.
The Dublin City Rounders are an old timey, Americana, blues, ragtime and western swing duo from Dublin, Ireland.
Lisa Stanley is an Irish singer, songwriter, and presenter, based in the UK and Ireland. Stanley was born in Sligo, Ireland, and is the only child of Irish entertainers Maisie McDaniel and Fintan Stanley.
Maisie McDaniel was an Irish country and showband singer and the mother of Lisa Stanley.