Today, Wednesday July 9th sees internationally acclaimed roots musicians Clive Barnes (Ireland) and Jeff Lang (Australia) commence their highly anticipated nationwide tour. Starting in Cork tonight, the pair are touring eight venues around the country with a stop this Friday in Cleere’s Theatre on Parliament Street.
As familiar on the world stage as he is on the Irish circuit, Clive Barnes has steadily built a worldwide reputation as one of the finest lap slide and regular acoustic guitarists and songwriters on the go today.
Having recently recorded with Eric Bibb and Grammy winner Bonnie Raitt as well as having toured with likes of Joe Ely, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Taj Mahal and Joe Cocker, you could be forgiven for thinking this Irish virtuoso has roots planted firmly in the Deep South, such is the raw talent and power of Barnes’ well-honed sound.
With four albums under his belt in the last decade and described as a “a guitarist of rare quality” the Wexford man continues to wow audiences across the country with fans busy snapping up tickets for this current tour.
Australian guitarist-singer-songwriter Jeff Lang has spent more than a decade building a discography and a career around his compelling combination of haunting lyrics, stunning guitar virtuosity and riveting vocals. Steeped in the traditions of such diverse figures as Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Waits and Ry Cooder – yet always with an eye on the next level of innovation – Lang falls into a category that is no category at all. An emotionally charged alchemy of equal parts blues-drenched emotion, folk storytelling, world-music inflections and roots-rock energy, his sound could be described as “disturbed folk,” but in truth it speaks for itself far better than any label can.
Despite Lang’s Aussie roots, western critics have taken notice in recent years. Dirty Linen has characterised him as “often hard and raw, sometimes sweet and melodic, and always innovative,” while Rolling Stone has heralded him as “Australia’s best roots-music artisan.” Earthy folk-rocker John Butler described Lang’s live show as something akin to “being in at church for three hours – a totally sacred event,” adding that “he’s the man as far as I’m concerned.”
It has been a few years since Irish fans last met Jeff Lang. A once familiar face at the Enniscorthy Blues Festival, Lang is more familiar to international audiences than Irish. With a back catalog of over a dozen studio albums alone, Lang has just released his latest album ‘Half Seas Over’ through ABC Music ./ Warner, featuring the songs ‘Copper Mine’, ‘The Savannah Way’ and ‘The Vaults Of Lattanzo’.
For the tour, Melbourne native Grant Cumerford, a renowned bass guitarist, will accompany Lang on stage.
The eight day nationwide tour takes in Cork (Cyprus Avenue, July 9th), Enniscorthy (The Bailey, July 10th), Kilkenny (Cleere’s, July 11th), Limerick (Dolan’s, July 13th), Ballymore Eustace (Mick Murphy’s, July 14th), Grange Co. Sligo (Barry’s, July 15th), Galway (The Crane, July 16th) and Dublin (The Cherrytree, July 17th).
Tickets priced €15 are available from the individual venues, Ticketmaster and online for the Cyprus Avenue, Dolan’s and Cherrytree gigs.
Jeff Lang will also be performing a solo show in Lismore, Co. Waterford on Saturday July 12th.
Full details on the tour along with tour coverage during the week can be found online at MyMusicPR.com.
