MacD on Music: The Blues are her business (and business is good)

We Irish are a versatile bunch, particularly when it comes to music. We’ve produced some of the world’s finest artists across essentially every genre of music, but our blues players have always been something special. As some of the rare white people able to pull it off, we’ve given the world talent like Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore and, the subject of this week’s column, Gráinne Duffy.

Hailing from Monaghan, Gráinne has played alongside such names as Billy Gibbons, Eric Gales and Black Crows guitarist Marc Ford. This Sunday (2nd March), she’ll be playing in Portstewart’s Cromore Hall in an intimate show alongside her husband Paul Sherry. I caught up with Gráinne to talk about the gig and her story so far.

“I grew up in Co. Monaghan in a big family of seven. I’ve been mostly releasing my own albums since 2018. I’ve done five albums and a live album with a new album coming this year. It’s mostly in the blues-rock area and I’ve been lucky that I’ve got to play all over the world and do some great things like play at Glastonbury and playing at festivals in India and all over the globe. That’s kind of me in a nutshell. Blues rocker from Ireland.”

I asked Gráinne about working with legends like Billy Gibbons: “We were lucky, we got to do a show in India with Billy Gibbons, which is amazing because I’m a big fan of ZZ Top and Billy Gibbons as a guitar player. He was very cool, very relaxed, very personable and had time for everyone he was working with.

"It was very interesting because he’s a collector of tin, and we were in India so he was getting up really early in the morning and finding little markets to buy tin and take it back to America with him.”

I asked her about other musicians she’s worked with: “I’ve just finished an album with a couple of great players. Marc Ford, who’s in the Black Crows, and Kenny Aronoff [drummer for Sammy Hager, former drummer of John Cougar Mellencamp and session player for Meat Loaf, Jefferson Airplane, Bob Dylan, Jon Bon Jovi, Indigo Girls, Chris Isaak, Stevie Nicks, Rod Steward and about one or two thousand more], and Jorgen Carlsson, a Swedish bass player, who was in Gov’t Mule for a long time. We just recorded an album with my husband Paul Sherry, who plays guitar and write songs with me and sings. We’ve been doing that in L.A.. We went over during the fires and recorded that because we’re crazy!”

I asked what it was like being in L.A. during the recent fires: “We were unfortunately there during the fires. It was a challenging time. We were, like, ten minutes away from the Eaton fire. There was a lot of dust in the air and we had to wear masks. The studio had a lot of ash and they had to clean all that out but we thankfully didn’t experience the fires.”

READ MORE: MacD on Music

After that, we spoke about her upcoming gig in Cromore Hall in Portstewart: “It’s going to be a duo gig. Myself and Paul are going to be doing that. It’s a more relaxed version of what I do. Then we’re going to be doing the Black Box in Belfast [on April 12th].

"We do a mixture [of duo gigs and full band shows] but more often we do the full band. I probably am more of a rocker and I like going out with the band but I will say I find it fun doing the duo thing and it brings out a different element to your singing and playing.”

Next, I asked Gráinne about her dream collaborations: “I’d love to work with some more Irish people. I work with a lot of international people but I love Van Morrison. Obviously I’d love to work with someone like that. Bob Dylan’s my hero. If he ever came knocking I’d answer.”

“There’s some singer-songwriters that I really like. I love Jason Isbell. There’s even Irish artists on the go that I really enjoy. In general, I’m really more into songwriting with people, sitting down and collaborating. That’s where my head’s at now.”

And that’s it from Gráinne Duffy. She’s going to be playing Cromore Hall in Portstewart this Sunday (2nd March) and Black Box in Belfast on April 12th. Her latest album ‘Dirt Woman Blues’ is out now.

Now, onto other business. As well as Gráinne’s gig, this Sunday also sees the return of Hard To Explain. After a bit of a break, the group are back with their new single ‘S!ck’, which will be available on all good streaming platforms this Sunday.

Finally, time for the socials. Hard To Explain can be found on Instagram @hardtoexplainofficial and Gráinne Duffy @grainneduffyofficial.