David Keenan goes Stateside
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HAVING already conquered the hearts of Irish audiences, Dundalk singer/songwriter David Keenan is weaving his spell in the United States.
The musician who has been hailed as ‘one of the most inspiring talents to come out of Irish music in a very long time’. revealed last week that he will be playing at the famous South by SouthWest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas.
This is a major coup for the young musician who is one of only two Irish artists among the first round of showcasing artists announced last week.
David and Fontaines D.C join a line-up of acts from around the world, including The Chills, Oh Sees, Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers, Amanda Palmer, The Beths, Westerman, Lost Under Heaven, Amyl & The Sniffers, Swervedriver, Boy Azooga, Drahla, Warmduscher, Wyclef Jean and more who play the festival from March 11th to 17th.
There’s a nice dint of synchronicity in David being invited to play at SXSW in Texas, as it was his song El Paso about Dundalk, not the Texan city, which led to him getting his first big break.
His performance of the song about his hometown in the back of Maxi’s Taxi went viral and was taken up by radio stations in The Lone Star State.
Meanwhile, David is making his first journey to America’s west coast next week, playing two gigs in Los Angeles as part of the city’s ‘Ireland Week’.
He joins The Coronas, Bitch Falcon and Saint Sister in the School Night showcase in the city’s Bardot-Hollywood venue on Monday night, while the following night he plays in The Hotel Cafe.
The Irish music showcase is part of ‘Ireland Week’, which is a week-long conference with cultural festivities, taking place from October 26 to November 4, after the sell out success of last year’s inaugural events.
David has already played in New York, having been invited there by the legendary Glen Hansard. He played a number of sold out shows in the Big Apple earlier this summer as well as gigs in Boston and Philadelphia.
His most recent release Strip Me Bare Vol. 2 has garnered yet more positive reviews with Golden Plec proclaiming: ‘Keenan displays vision and romanticism that’s wonderfully youthful and illustrates it with language and imagery beyond his years. ‘Strip Me Bare’ is devoid of all modern day distractions and curates a world much closer to that of Yeats and Joyce. He’s a dreamer, a romantic, a poet and, above all else, an artist. One of the most inspiring talents to come out of Irish music in a very long time’.
David is supporting the Hothouse Flowers on their forthcoming tour of England and Wales, and joins Hozier as special guest in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on December 15. He then embarks on a headline tour of some of the country’s top venues including Whelan’s in Dublin while local audience can catch him in The Spirit Store on December 23.
This comes on top of a very busy summer which saw him play at festivals in Ireland, the UK and Germany as well as joining the legendary Richard Thompson for his concerts in Dublin and Belfast.