Louise and Tommy hit the right note with Grace Bay

They are superb musicians and owners of a renowned traditional Irish pub in the US city of Boston, which has hosted performers such as The Chieftains, Sharon Shannon and Dervish. 

Now, Louise Costello and Tommy McCarthy are finally releasing their own album of Irish tunes. Grace Bay will be launched this Sunday, January 19 at 3pm in O’Connor’s Pub, Salthill.

Louise is from Turloughmore and Tommy, who was born in London but spent his childhood in West Clare, met in 1986, while both were playing music on the Boston trad scene. They got married on Inishbofin Island in 1992 and after travelling around the world for a year or so, they returned to Boston and continued to play in bars around town, until eventually, in 1996, they decided to open their own pub, where they could play music whenever they liked. The Burren has now become one of Boston’s best known venues, especially for the quality of its traditional music and it is the largest seller of Guinness in the USA. 

Over the years, Tommy and Louise have played with the The Chieftains, Altan, Dervish, Sharon Shannon and Lúnasa among others. Often, following a performance in Boston, these performers go back to the Burren to join Tommy and Louise in a session in the front bar, while the back room is also used as a concert venue.

Both of them grew up steeped in traditional music. Tommy is London born, but his father, also Tommy, was from Miltown Malbay in Clare and as a teenager, the young Tommy spent much of his time there. His father’s influence can be heard in the accent and rhythmic pulse of Tommy’s West Clare music.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.