Changing times – but Tracey will still be Bruen up a storm

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Tracy Bruen has been a pivotal figure on Galway’s local music scene – in so many capacities – over the last decade.  A talented singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, her 2017 debut LP was one of the richest the city has produced. She has facilitated burgeoning musicians through Livefeed, a youth music project for teenagers aged thirteen to eighteen, and has devoted countless hours to the organisation of local gigs and events.

On top of all that, many know Tracy for her role as host of the Róisín Dubh’s iconic open mic night that, before Covid, took place every Sunday evening – but this Sunday, March 20, marks the end of that part of her work.

Tracy has been involved with the open mic for eleven years and, as the community has grown and flourished, some of the faces that first performed in 2011 remain dedicated patrons today.

It has been a breeding ground for local talent but, more importantly, it has blossomed into an incredibly welcoming, communal space for musicians in the city. Tracy mentions Erasmus students, and anyone new to the city, as being particularly important to that atmosphere.

“We had very much a core group when we started out in February of 2011,” she recalls.

“It was Shane and Keith that were hosting it at that point, and I stepped in for Shane in June. The people that would still come, that were coming then, were people like Steven Sharpe… Keith McNamara, Katie O’Connor, Padraig Jack and maybe a little bit after that time you would have had Pa Reidy. I’m sure I’m missing people, but they are the cohort that I always think of when I think back.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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