Paradise Lane, the second single from the forthcoming album by Loughrea singer-songwriter Ultan Conlon, has just been released.

It’s based on a story which he heard from his mother, who grew up in Meelick and who, as a child, often heard people mention a street in nearby Eyrecourt, called Paradise Lane.

Her fertile imagination got the better of her as she drew conclusions from the name and went in search of what she thought would be an exotic place filled with wonder. Ultan revisits his mother’s journey in this song which has been produced by Grammy Award- winning David Garza (Fiona Apple). Garza is the producer of Ultan’s new studio album, The Starlight Ballroom, which will be released on September 13.

Ultan first met David Garza in Los Angeles in 2017 while playing some shows with him at Largo, the nightclub where Sean and Sara Watkins host The Watkins Family Hour.

“When I met David and we played some songs together I saw his unbridled energy and talent and knew I wanted to work with him,” Ultan explains.

The result is The Starlight Ballroom.

Musicians on the album include producer and co-writer Garza on numerous instruments, Amy Wood on drums (Fiona Apple, Iggy Pop, St Vincent) Sebastian Steinberg on double bass (Fiona Apple, Iron and Wine, Neil Diamond, KD Lang) Dave Curtis on strings and programming (Aj Croce). The Starlight Ballroom is engineered and mixed by John Would (Fiona Apple, Warren Zevon)

It gets its name from a ballroom in Westport, which opened in the early 1960s and closed in 1981, says Ultan. The venue regularly hosted thousands of music fans who packed the venue to see Irish showbands as well as top contemporary international acts. Roy Orbison played The Starlight in 1969 and the album’s title song The Starlight Ballroom ponders that occasion.

Paradise Lane is available now on Spotify and Bandcamp.