Veteran country singer Brendan Quinn is back with a new album and upcoming dates which include appearances in Omagh, Coalisland and Derry.
Brendan has been around the music scene for 45 years. From being a guitar player in a local showband, Robin and The Breakaways, to leading his own country band, The Bluebirds, for almost 20 years, Brendan has seen and done it all.
In the early 60s, the Breakaways used to open for some of the bigger bands and that's when he met his long time friend Arty McGlynn, then playing guitar with the Plattermen. "Arty was the man in that band, he had a big Fender Showman amp and a Gibson 335 and he played everything from the Top 20 to country to trad jazz", says Brendan.
He used to follow the career of another guitarist Henry McCullough, then playing with Gene and the Gents, but lost touch for over 20 years when Henry moved to England to star with Paul McCartney and Wings and then Joe Cocker's Grease Band and become the only Irishman to play at the famous Woodstock festival.
Brendan went on to have top ten hits all through the 70s and 80s, made regular TV appearances, toured the US, hung out with Merle Haggard and moved to Vancouver in Canada for some years.
kickin' mule
In the early 90s, he and Arty – who played pedal steel on Brendan's first record in 1969 – formed The Kickin' Mule. Sally O's pub in Omagh was the place to be on a Monday night. Brendan recalls, "We never rehearsed, but we had some magic nights in there. I loved it because we had all these great players who wanted to play and you never knew who might show up on any given night, it might be Arty or Ted Ponsonby or Henry McCullough."
Theses days, Brendan has been in the studio along with Arty, Henry McCullough, Rod McVey, Nicky Scott, Nollaig Casey, Liam Bradley and Ted Ponsonby and has recorded 14 new tracks. "We did this record in Amberville Studio in Cullybackey which is the best facility in Ireland outside of Dublin. The vibe in there was just great. When you hear these two guitar masters playing off each other, it was just magical", said Brendan.
Brendan has released two tracks from the session as a promo for the album. Day's Gonna Come is a comment on mankind's crime against global climate, from the pen of Donegal man Jody Gallagher, and What A Joy Love Is, is a beautiful ballad written by Brendan himself.
The album will be released on April 4 and Brendan will be accompanied on a short promotional tour by special guests Arty McGlynn, Nollaig Casey and Henry McCullough with shows in Coalisland's Craic Theatre on May 3, Derry's Playhouse on May 8, Omagh's Strule Arts Centre on May 10, Ballymena's Braid Theatre on May 15, Ballyearl Arts Centre on May 16 and the Black Box in Belfast on May 22.
