International performer Ultan Connell to play Fore venue

Image 2 of 2
Ultan Conlon who is to perform at Fore Coffee Shop on May 12.

Published: Sat 29 Apr 2023, 3:00 PM

Irish singer-songwriter, Ultan Conlon has shared the stage with the likes of John Fogerty, Mavis Staples, Jackson Browne, Bryan Ferry, John Grant, Eddi Reader, Patty Griffin, Richard Hawley, among others.

Ultan has also performed duets with John Martyn, Jackson Browne, Mary Coughlan, Grant-Lee Philips, Eddi Reader and Hollywood legend John C Reilly, to name a few.

John Martyn recorded Ultan’s song 'Really Gone' in 2004 and Mary Coughlan recorded Ultan’s 'A Weak Heart Like Mine' in 2017.

Many of Ultan’s critically-acclaimed songs have received extensive airplay in Ireland (RTE Radio 1, Lyric FM) and the UK (BBC). ‘The Starlight Ballroom’, Ultan’s upcoming studio album is produced by Grammy Award-winner David Garza and is Ultan’s fifth record.

In mid-May, music fans will have the chance to see this talented troubadour when he takes to the stage at Jane O'Reilly's Fore Abbey Coffee Shop.

"I heard him speak to Ray Darcy on his afternoon radio programme and was totally taken with his music and asked him after the programme to play here in Fore," Jane told the Westmeath Examiner this week.

Ultan's fifth album 'The Starlight Ballroom' is set for release in September, and just two weeks ago he released a new single, 'The Old Songs' written by Conlon and David Garza in Los Angeles when Garza came up with the rousing balladeer chorus 'Who’s gonna sing the old songs, when all the old timers are gone?’

That led Ultan to thinking about the sessions in his cousin’s pub - JJ Hough’s in Banagher, Co Offaly - where everyone would get up and sing, sometimes badly, but it all sounded magnificent.

No song was discriminated against: if it was catchy it would be sung and all present would join in.

'The Old Songs' represents community and connection with a dollop of humour thrown in for good measure.

Ultan first met David in LA in 2017 while playing some shows with him at the nightclub Largo: “When I met David and we played some songs together I saw his unbridled energy and talent and I knew I wanted to work with him," Ultan says. Fast forward six years and The Starlight Balllroom is born.

The Starlight Ballroom was a ballroom of romance in Westport, Co Mayo, which opened in the early 1960s and closed in 1981. Thousands of people would pack into the hall to see local Irish showbands and the best international acts of the day. Roy Orbison played The Starlight in 1969 and Ultan’s song 'The Starlight Ballroom' takes in and ponders the night in question.