Rob Corcoran

Dublin's heart-on-sleeve troubadour Rob Corcoran and Huddersfield's wayfaring balladeer Johnny Campbell join forces for this one-off double-header at London's iconic Betsey Trotwood. \nABOUT JOHNNY:\nJohnny Campbell is a professional Folk musician from Huddersfield, UK, performing original and traditional material. On a solo path from late 2013 with a decade of live experience behind him, he's released two records, performed over 500 shows since this time by touring UK, USA, Ireland, Iceland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey since late 2013. \nHe's supported such BBC Folk award nominees, winners and other folk luminaries such as Stick In the Wheel, Lankum, Seth Lakeman, Martin Carthy, Daoiri Farrell, Ewan McLennan and many more. Gaining a fierce reputation for an engaging live performance of storytelling, political song and humorous tales of the road and the respect of a formidable touring schedule, he also finds time to organise a folk festival, as well as writing reviews for the well-respected Folk magazine Fatea.\n''One of folk's brightest rising stars'' Bright Young Folk\n''Johnny's got the personality to compliment the courage of his convictions'' The Living Tradition\n''The recurring theme of forced migration, caused by war or needing to work runs through the album. This enhances the recording which has a real feel of the field recordings of early folk song.'' Fatea Magazine\n''Here are songs of poverty and hardship drawing from diverse sources...it's an album I could keep on repeat'' Folking.com\n''If you're a fan of traditional folk and folk singers like Christy Moore and Paul Brady then you will love this record.'' London Celtic Punks\n''An album of virtuousness, Avalon invokes a spirit of nobility and respectability to wish we should all play to'' Liverpool Sound and Vision\nABOUT ROB:\nLondon-based Rob Corcoran was born and raised in Dublin, a city more familiar with the traditions of music and stories than most. Family gatherings would always end in song. There was a guitar lying around the house upon which he learned his first chords and it was the songs of the old-timers that captivated him most. \nWhen my friends were all listening to Nirvana I was listening to cassette mix-tapes I had made from my Dad's old vinyl records, scratches and all. I was mesmerized by Bob Dylan in my early teens. That changed everything. Songs became my obsession.\nDylan was a gateway to Hank Williams and Leonard Cohen, and later to cult heroes like Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams and John Prine; true heavyweights of introspection and story-telling. Their influence, all that heart-on-sleeve honesty, is very present in his songs but Rob's turn of phrase and the vulnerability with which he writes and sings are very much his own. Rob made London his home in 2011 and it was here he met and later formed The Necessary Evils, a super-group made up of some of the London alt-folk and americana scene's most established players. They include violinist Basia Bartz multi-instrumentalist Lyle Zimmerman, cajon player Hjordis Moon-Badford, keys and electric-guitar maestro Roger Askew and bass player Anna Robinson.\nRob Corcoran is a musician who finds kind of mystical solace, and even strange comfort, in the inevitability of human failure that haunts all of us. Prepare yourself for some heavy stuff. Break-ups, excess, addiction, depression, regret, refugees in flight, aged victims of clerical abuse...often juxtaposed with good melodies and a whole lot of heart. \nInverse Alchemy, released in November 2017 was the band's first full studio album. Produced by Roger Askew and recorded and mixed by Mark Estall, it followed on form Rob's debut E.P, The Heart and the Long Since Dead (2015) and 2016's Live in Dublin (online only).\n"...he perspires authenticity in that fluent way that a hundred record execs have tried and failed to manufacture."\nAnne Frankenstein - Jazz FM\n"The Rob man can surely sing...says something that needs to be said" Christy Moore\n"a well crafted and well thought out album of Alt-Country and Folk which draws heavily on North American heavyweights such as Dylan, Cohen and Townes Van Zandt."\nFATEA Records\n"...honest, relatable, lived, and the musicianship is almost without fault, making for a fantastically constructed piece of art." \nFolking.com\n"This is thoughtful music without being complexing, it's emotionally captivating without being soft, it's blunt and above all else, beautiful well crafted songwriting at it's best". Smashed-up.co.uk\n"A fine collection of modern folk songs beautifully realised / that weave their spell in intricate and intimate ways. 8/10".\nAmericana-uk.com\n"Rob Corcoran affords us the opportunity to look into his heart, head and soul and it is hard not to find yourself raveled in his web."\nwww.ceolcollective.com \n"This is bullshit-free music where art and life beautifully keep changing places.\nJ.P. O'Malley, the Irish Post