Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

He may be something of an unknown quantity on this side of the county, but Corkman John Blek has long been acknowledge one of the country’s finest narrative songwriters – and the word is spreading well beyond his native place. A collaborative and highly prolific musician, John’s appetite for work has seen him release eight studio albums and tour his polished brand of contemporary folk music across Ireland and much further afield.

This Friday, facilitated by The Black Gate, John plays Galway’s Mechanics Institute. His latest record, Until the River Runs Dry, arrived on February 17 via his own independent label, We Are Rats Recordings. Its ten rich and layered tracks were recorded over a period of ten days early in 2022, featuring a host of talented contributors.

“There’s still that element of excitement,” he says of releasing new material. “It’s something new and, from each album to the next, there’s a development… You’re going out and testing these ideas on the public so there are moments of self-consciousness that you get prior to an album release and that’s what causes the excitement or the stress around it. I enjoy it so much that the good will forever outweigh any of the worries that I have about it.

“It was a particularly collaborative record to make. There was a lot of input from the musicians on the record and their diaries and schedules were important. It was just about getting to work with all the people I wanted to work with.

“It wasn’t really stressful – it was an incredible experience. You can make all the plans in the world and, particularly in the arts sector, these things can fall apart very easily, but it went off seamlessly to my delight and surprise.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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