Launch night for Clonmellon's Donal Coghlan debut EP this Friday!

A new EP by Clonmellon man Donal Coghlan called My Journey is due to be launched this Friday night July 25 in Delvin Castle Golf Club.

Donal, who was a musician from a young age, gave it all up at 25 when he thought he couldn’t make a living out of it, but just over 25 years later he has returned to music, and is set to release his debut EP which contains four self-penned tracks.

“I was laid off when I was 56 and took up music again. I returned to college in the Cavan Institute for a two-year music production and sound engineering course.

“Through that I met lots of like-minded people and it rekindled my interest in the guitar again,” Donal told the Westmeath Examiner this week.

“This EP contains four original songs and it crosses over various genres and I suppose the best way to describe it is Country Blues.

“My inspiration came when I was laid off two or three years ago and I bought some recording software and recorded seven or eight tracks on that. They were just covers but my son Ciaran, who was 28 at the time, heard them asked me why didn’t I release some of my own stuff, and it went from there.

“Then a guy by the name of Michael Tiernan who us a big fan of my music, encouraged me to apply for a competition at his studio, to have it produced there and I won it. So here I am at 57 and my life has taken on a completely different direction.

“As many musicians will know, when you’re playing gigs, people often want to hear song covers, so it can be extremely difficult to get your own music. So, as a singer songwriter, I’m thrilled to have this chance to finally release the My Journey EP.”

- Donal Coghlan will launch his EP My Journey in the Delvin Castle Golf Club from 9pm.