Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Tom Portman is one of Galway’s most versatile and prolific musicians. Skilled on a number of instruments and adept at moving between genres, he has released seven solo albums and worked regularly with the likes of The Raines and the late Dege Legg, better known as Brother Dege.

Tom plays The Loft Venue on Bridge Street this Friday night, as part of the Galway Fringe Festival. It is part of a mini tour of the west, with dates next week taking him to Áras Éanna on Inis Oírr on Friday week, August 2, and KAVA in Kinvara on Saturday week, August 3.

For this run of gigs, Tom will be accompanied by his long-time collaborator Maciej Zavoronek. They will mainly be performing songs from Train to Nowhere, an album they released as a duo together in 2022.

“It’s great to play with Maciej,” Tom says.

“We did the Train to Nowhere album and we’re working on new material as well. We’ll be performing a lot of material from Train to Nowhere and some of the Daughter of the Willow Tree album together as well.

“We do some lower key stuff together as well. We get together to play [often]. It’ll be nice to refresh it all. And it’s nice to get back on track, no pun intended.”

Daughter of the Willow Tree is Tom’s most recent record, arriving in April of last year. He feels as though he hasn’t given it enough of a push since its release, with life and other commitments getting in the way.

“I just ended up getting so busy to be honest,” Tom says. “With family and work, it’s moseying along. That’s why it’ll be nice to play some of the Willow Tree material with Maciej now. I’m getting good feedback on the album. I think in the autumn, I’ll be putting some shows out for it.”

One major event in Tom’s life over the last year or two was the loss of Brother Dege. The Louisiana native passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. He left behind a huge legacy and is perhaps best remembered for Too Old to Die Young, a song that featured in Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film Django Unchained.

Pictured: Tom Portman…three Galway gigs in over a week.