Galway collective’s debut lifts the lid on a darker era

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Cousin Tablet may be newly formed – but the Galway band’s roster on debut single Whatever Happened to Betty? is as capable and experienced as any on the Irish scene.  Officially, the act revolves around a four-piece of Galway/Mayo singer-songwriter Donal Gibbons, bassist Wil Merrigan, guitarist Stephen Monaghan and drummer Jamie O’Neill – but their maiden release includes cameos from Julia Erkkonen, Anto Thistlethwaithe and Dave Clancy.

The size of the act and performance is appropriately documented in an accompanying video shot and edited by Kevin Fahy.

Released at the end of last week, Whatever Happened to Betty? is informed by the life of a woman who lived and worked with Donal’s family in the early 70s, several years before his birth.

Though the details around her life before and after her time with the Gibbons’s remain hazy, her story is one that has long fascinated Donal. With lockdown affording him an unexpected wealth of free time, he turned his attention towards songs like this one that had been bouncing around his head for several years.

“In Cousin Tablet, it’s myself, Willie, Jamie and Stephen,” Donal explains.

“We’ve been playing together for twenty years in different projects. Campbell’s Tavern would be our base I suppose. We came together when the lockdown came – I wasn’t working or gigging anymore. I was spending a lot of time at home with my two young kids and I found the time to finish songs that I’d always had on the back burner.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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