Bob Bradshaw
Mitchelstown’s Bruce Springsteen
Bob Bradshaw’s upcoming concert at Saint George’s Arts and Heritage Centre on May 27th will be a real trip down memory lane for all fans of his previous Irish musical iteration The Druids, but brought refreshingly up to date through almost 30 years of travel and experience as a singer-songwriter in Europe and America.
It his background in journalism, having begun writing for The Avondhu in the 1980s, that scaffolded Bob’s transformation from Irish folk music in the tradition of The Chieftains and others to the unmistakeable expansiveness of Irish American folk music. While the story telling speaks of the USA, it’s lofty cities, bold ideas and wide open spaces, the DNA of Bob’s musical style is undeniably Irish, in the greatest of our balladeers.
How a boy from Mitchelstown ends up in the USA, is a story of wanderlust and the magnetic pull of the road and the desire to live the life of a musician. Initially settling in New York City, he eventually moved west, settling down in San Francisco for a decade during which he met his wife and formed his first true band, Resident Aliens.
“That group started out as a cover band,” says Bradshaw, “but when we got offered studio time, we realized pretty quickly that we’d better come up with some original material. That’s how I got tricked into becoming a songwriter.”
Unsurprisingly, given his history with prose, Bradshaw found he had a knack for writing songs and was a live fixture in New England, as well as performing at clubs in and around Boston most nights of the week until the Covid-19 pandemic brought things to a grinding halt in the spring of 2020. Adversity can be great fuel for the creative spirit and this is true of Bradshaw - his latest album’ ‘The Ghost Light’, was penned during the long silences of the past two years and his upcoming concert will be showcase of this new work, as well as a return to his Irish musical roots.
Joining Bob in Mitchelstown for this unmissable homecoming concert will be Andrew Stern on electric guitar, John Sheeran on bass and Mike Connors on drums. Limited numbers of tickets are available from Eventbrite, locally at The Favourite, Spar and Reidy’s Kitchen Garden or by calling 0878113611.