SINCE its inception in 2001 ‘A Tribute to Luke Kelly’ by singer/songwriter Chris Kavanagh has played a three month residency at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre and went on to tour the UK, Switzerland and Australia. Chris Kavanagh’s tribute to the Dublin balladeer plays at Lime Tree Theatre this Friday 4.
One of Ireland’s finest singers and an outstanding interpreter of folk songs, Luke Kelly passed away in 1984 at the young age of 43. His gravelly voice and musical inflections continue to inspire generations of notable singers including Shane McGowan and U2’s Bono.
From his early days busking around the folk clubs in England and Scotland, inspired by the recordings of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, to his recordings with The Dubliners his musical achievements have became points of reference in Irish music, most notably his renditions of ‘On Raglan Road’, ‘The Springhill Disaster’ and Phil Coulter’s ‘Scorn Not His Simplicity’.
Chris Kavanagh bears a remarkable resemblance to Luke, while his singing captures the depth and passion of the great man. “I don’t overdo trying to sound like Luke, my natural voice has that ragged style”, Chris told Limerick Post.
The Offaly based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has been performing the tribute to Luke Kelly for over a decade. “It was the music I grew up with, I was playing keyboards with a lot of rock bands and cover bands. I saw a documentary on Luke on RTÉ years ago so I took up playing the long neck banjo, and took me back to the roots of Luke’s music,” says Chris. “My mother had me singing ‘The Galway Shawl’ when I was three so folk music was always playing in the house.”
Chris joined The Dubliners on their German tour and made a guest appearance at their Christmas concerts in Vicar Street concert venue Dublin for the recording of ‘The Dubliners 50th Anniversary’ DVD. As a result of this Chris was seen on both RTE 1 television and TV3 last Christmas while performing with The Dubliners. “In 2011 I got a call from John Sheahan to ask if I could play with The Dubliners in Germany for two weeks – it was like winning the musical lottery. It was a dream come true to play with John and Barney McKenna.”
The Dubliners revived many of Luke Kelly’s standards for Chris’s involvement on the tour. “Fans in Germany were going mad for this, they are big Luke Kelly fanatics over there. He is an icon in Holland and Germany.”
Ronnie Drew said of Luke Kelly that he learned to sing with perfect diction. “When you hear Luke sing ‘The Town I loved so Well’ it would be hard to pin down where he is from, but with the earlier stuff, songs like ‘Take Her Up To Monto’ you would know 100 per cent that he was a Dub. He was very cultured in the way he put a song across. He wanted everyone to understand the lyrics when he was gigging all over Europe.”
Chris will be on stage with The Patriots, his backing band featuring uileann pipes, bass and guitar. “It’s amazing to see all the young people in the audience that seem to know every single word of Luke Kelly’s songs, its music that they have carried learned from their parents, it’s in the blood obviously.”
‘The Legend of Luke Kelly’ with Chris Kavanagh and The Patriots plays at Lime Tree Theatre this Friday October 4.
