The Damien Dempsey Podcast

CPI Archive July 2021: To speak of the home of Irish music is to speak of only one place - Doolin. Andrew Hamilton speaks to Damien Dempsey about his new album and his experiences recording in Clare.

DOWN the hill at Doonagore lies a rocky road. Past the wind-beaten whitethorn and sea-bound limewater from the mountain, it emerges slowly - like the Aran Islands in the horizon on a cold March morning - the homestead of Irish music. There, under a roof of thatch and straw, sits Damien Dempsey. Flanked on all sides by Sharon Shannon, John Sheahan and Barney McKenna - the work of the day is a pleasant one. A slow stroll down memory lane. A walk down that rocky road. “Recording these songs was an incredibly liberating experience for me. They weren’t my song for one thing. We recorded them down in Doolin in a little cottage in January. We had been thinking of doing some of my own songs and a few ballads and making it into a double album but once we got into the ballads we thought that we should just throw everything into the ballads,” said Damien.

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