“It is, kind of, the end of an era and the beginning of a new era I suppose,” Sean Keane told Limerick Post just before his new nationwide tour ‘Christmas by the Hearth’ kicked off in Ennis last week. He has just released a retrospective collection on triple CD. He is kick starting his music career again since putting it on hold when family matters took priority.
by Eric FitzGerald
The extensive tour will bring Sean Keane to Limerick this Saturday December 14. Sean Keane is from a family steeped in traditional music, his sister is Dolores Keane. As well as singing traditional Irish songs, Sean also has a love of American country music, his interpretations of country songs and his version of Richard Thomson’s ‘Galway to Graceland’ have brought him to an international audience. His first solo album, All Heart, No Roses, released in 1994, was named Debut Album of the Year by Q Magazine. Three years later, Keane was voted Performer of the Year by readers of Irish Music Magazine.
Together with Frances Black and others he was a founder member of the group Arcady. His musical voice is unique and his songs encompass traditional Irish folk music, blues, and country.
Sean has just released a triple CD marking his 20 year solo career, a solo career that was managed by his wife Virginia who sadly passed away in 2010. ‘Christmas by the Hearth’ and the new CD is a celebration of their time together featuring songs from his seven solo albums. His wife and manager were involved in all those records. The tour is, “in her memory and in her honour as well,” he says.
Sean has only recently returned to touring and recording. He played in Nashville twice this year and has just returned from Germany. Sean describes Germany as a home from home, his journeys there have been regular ones since the late 90’s.
“They love Irish music and they have a great knowledge of the music. On this tour we possibly only met one or two Irish people the rest being German people who come out to support the music,” he says. Adventurous Irish troubadours The Dubliners led the way touring Germany in the late 1960’s which opened up the road for traditional Irish musicians and singers to follow in their wake. The value of German “Irish Music” tourists who arrive in this country annually looking for the all important session on the west coast cannot be overestimated.
Sean’s 2008 album ‘An Irish Scattering’ chronicled the exploits of Irish people who were forced to travel away from Ireland. “It highlighted different times in Irish history when there was an exodus of people out of the country”. That CD of immigration songs along with 2013 becoming the Year of the Gathering was the inspiration for Sean’s current show. He wanted to bring a show together that celebrated the Irish Christmas and the return home of loved ones who had to leave the country.
“Christmas in Ireland, there is no place really like it, with the traditions around it as well.”
‘Christmas by the Hearth’ and the new CD of 45 songs, which was manufactured here in Limerick, will include some new material and a lot of songs taken from the albums that Sean recorded down through the years. Sean tells me that he is enjoying playing music and being back out on the road again.
“It is enjoyable to be out and realising the importance of the music. I didn’t do it for a little while because Virginia and I worked very closely together. it is just something that I was born with. It is my obligation to bring it as far as it possibly can go and for as many people to hear the music as possible. That is, kind of, the objective at this stage.”
Joining Sean on the night will be Pat Coyne (guitar / vocals), Fergus Feeley (mandocello), Stephen Doherty (Keyboards) and Una McLoughlin (fiddle / viola / cello)
Sean Keane and Friends perform Christmas by the Hearth at Lime Tree Theatre this Saturday December 14.
