Pillar House Folk Club gets New Year off on right note

Gibbons’ Pillar House in Ballinasloe is getting the New Year off to a fine start in its Folk Club, with two of Ireland’s leading singer/songwriters already confirmed to play there.  Declan O’Rourke will perform at the venue on Friday, January 23, and Belfast’s Brian Kennedy will be there on Friday, February 13.

Declan O’Rourke might have been a latecomer to the Dublin singer-songwriter scene, but in his mid-20s within months of discovering the city’s Open-Mic circuit, he found himself performing alongside the likes of Paddy Casey, Gemma Hayes, and Damian Rice.

Declan’s debut album, Since Kyabram, was released in 2004 and included his debut single, Galileo (Someone Like You). This has subsequently been covered by numerous artists including Josh Groban, Eddi Reader Brian Kennedy, The Celtic Tenors and tenor Paul Byrom. It has also been performed by Chris Rea and Paul Weller who described Galileo as “possibly the greatest song written in the last 30 years”.

After releasing his second album, Big Bad Beautiful World, Declan got support slots in the UK and Europe for acts including Paulo Nutini, Snow Patrol, Teddy Thompson, The Cardigans, Badly Drawn Boy, Divine Comedy and Paul Brady.

In 2011, Declan O’Rourke took part in the TV series, Transatlantic Session 5, alongside Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas and Amos Lee. That was broadcast on BBC 2, BBC 4 and RTÉ 1.