Karan Casey Announces New Album ‘Nine Apples of Gold’ & Shares Title Track

December 8, 2022

Trailblazing Irish Singer-Songwriter

KARAN CASEY

Announces new album ‘Nine Apples of Gold’

+ shares the title track today

Official video ‘Nine Apples of Gold’

Irish tour March / April ’23 announced

Women and Their Many Voices Are Centre Stage on Nine Apples of Gold;

Karan’s Tour Will Debut New Songs from Her Upcoming Album out in February 2023

Spearheading Campaign for Gender Balance in Irish Music Provides Inspiration and Insights

KARAN CASEY, one of Ireland’s finest singer-songwriters – and a leading advocate for gender balance in the Irish folk and traditional music scene – will launch her new album Nine Apples of Gold on 24^th February, 2023, and today shares the title track from the album.

Speaking of the new song, Karan says: “The initial genesis for this song was inspired by Tonn Chlíona, a supernatural woman from Glandore who was said to have three brightly coloured songbirds who ate apples from an otherworldly tree and sang so sweetly that they could cure all illness, I loved the magic in this story and thought a lot about how women carry tunes and songs and dance and bring so much healing to the world.

The legend goes on to report that in order to flee from men who wanted to kill her because of her powers Clíona changed herself into a wren and escaped, it is funny then how Sean Óg Graham went and gave the songbirds of Portglenone a guest spot on this track, without my saying anything of this story. For Pauline Scanlon because of her beautiful singing voice and musicality but also because of her bravery in her singing and campaigning.”

Karan has teamed up with Sean Óg Graham, her long-time collaborator and friend, to create a dynamic and enchanting album of songs that speaks to healing, camaraderie in times of strife, finding enrichment and new life in campaigning for women, and of course death. This is an ode to the natural world featuring the songbirds of Portglenone, the moon, conversations from the grave, returning to the wild, listening for the cuckoo as she sleeps.

The empowerment of women is front and centre of Karan’s concerns as she gives voice to the notion that songs can sing what we cannot say. Her defiance, her vulnerabilities and her feminist heart bellow through these songs.

Adding their unique vocals to the album are Niamh Dunne on a duet song Sister I am Here for You; Pauline Scanlon on a searing feminist overlook of Ireland in a song entitled I Live in a Country; and Ríoghnach Connolly on Daughter Dear, a tender hearted song between a mother and daughter. Also joined by Conor McCreanor, John McCullough, Hannah Hiemstra and Kate Ellis among others, this is Karan’s 12^th album and displays her fine poetic voice where she has taken traditional symbolism and shaken it by the neck to create an ode to mother nature and a poignant cry for change.

A Waterford native, Casey was among the vanguard of the Irish music revival’s “third wave” of the late 1980s/early 1990s, a founding member of the seminal Irish American band Solas before launching her solo career in 1999, and going on to record 11 albums. Though steeped early on in Irish traditional and folk music, Casey has long followed an eclectic path, whether studying classical music (she is a talented pianist), fronting jazz bands or working with Frank Harte, a much-revered folk/traditional singer from Dublin. The list of artists she’s performed with is similarly diverse: James Taylor, Maura O’Connell, Karen Matheson, the Boston Pops Orchestra, Tim O’Brien, The Chieftains, The Dubliners, and Béla Fleck, among others.

NINE APPLES OF GOLD, THE NEW ALBUM FROM KARAN CASEY, WILL BE OUT 24^th FEBRUARY 2023 via CROW VALLEY MUSIC.

On her March/April ’23 Irish tour, Casey will be accompanied by the dynamic duo Niamh Dunne and Sean Óg Graham both members of popular Irish band Beoga: Niamh Dunne (fiddle, vocals), who comes from a rich family heritage of Irish traditional music; and Seán Óg Graham (guitar), a talented arranger, composer and producer who is in great demand as an accompanist.

Irish Tour dates

March 24^th

Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow

April 13^th

Duncairn Arts Centre, Belfast

April 14^th

Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal

April 15^th

Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare

April 20^th

Glór, Ennis, Co. Clare

April 21^st