Uncovered: An Original Music Showcase is excited to present to you ...

Barry G
"Change, For a Fiver"

There was singing in the big hall in school - hundreds of us gathered together singing rebel songs and ballads. But is wasn't really until I emigrated here in me 20s and found meself surrounded by musical mates - fantastic folks and really encouraging, too - that I started to spend good time singing and playing. I started getting out busking and loved the little sparks of connection in that and the liberation of being allowed shout on the street. Having a guitar draped over the shoulder gives ya lovely permission.

I'm a proud Dubliner and I reckon there's a fair bit of the Fair City in my music. Dublin's a place of quick wit on the surface but a darkness in the depths. I suppose that's a decent way of looking at the things I write. I write about characters more than I write confessionally about myself. It's easier for me to explore emotion when I'm creating a character rather than unloading a picture of meself into a song. That'd probably be an Irish trait. It's not directly about me. Sure that'd be too confronting.

For this show; I wanted to share a bit of delight of the light and the depth of the dark. Mixing in some poems alongside songs from my album Change, For a Fiver (https://open.spotify.com/album/0jadsqXdm7JhxKUaDwDfpl) as well as some new tunes that've arrived in the last while.

I like folks that sing in their accent. Folks like Luke Kelly, Radie Peat, Christy Moore, Lisa O'Neil, Josh OKeefe, John Francis Flynn, The Mary Wallopers, Ye Vagabonds, David Keenan, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Hamish Imlach, Damien Dempsey, Rhiannon Giddens. I like the sincerity of Glen Hansard. Paolo Nutini and Dermot Kennedy are beauts. And I've a soft spot for Roddy Doyle, Paul Howard, Blindboy, poets like Percy French, Brian Bilston, Shel Silverstein, Emmet Kirwan, Stephen James Smith and both Kevin Barrys (one a short story writer and the other, an Irish rebel).

Listen to Barry's music on spotify.

--

For more events in the Uncovered series, to sign up to our newsletter, or get in touch, visit our website.