‘The Singing Horseman’ by Ken O’Duffy is the second single to be taken from Ken’s new album Sing the Songs which is the follow up to 2019’s RTE Radio 1’s Album of the week, The Last Night At The Gentlemans Club. The Singing Horseman will be available to stream or download from Friday the 7th of April and will be closely followed by the album release on Friday the 14th of April. Ken will launch Sing The Songs with an intimate show at Dublin’s newest venue, Little Whelan’s the following night, Saturday the 15th of April.
The painting ‘The Singing Horseman’ by Jack B Yeats was the inspiration behind the song.
“I bought a copy of the painting in the National Gallery shop many years ago and I’ve hung it in every place I’ve lived in since. I’ve always wanted to write a song that captures the emotion the rider in the painting is expressing. But the song also references my experience of horses growing up in Coolock. Suburban Dublin’s equine activities were usually confined to the shady wastelands at the peripheries of housing estates, though I’m sure an urban cowboy’s sense of freedom and joy was much the same as those of a rider in the west of Ireland”.
Sing The Songs is available on CD and Digital Download from https://kenoduffy.bandcamp.com/ as well as all regular streaming platforms. Tickets for Ken’s launch show at Little Whelan’s are available from https://www.whelanslive.com/event/ken-oduffy/
Ken has been making music with various bands (including The Experiment and a stint in Light a Big Fire) since the mid-1980s. In the noughties Ken released three critically acclaimed albums with Dublin band Saville, the last two being released on the legendary Reekus Records label. In 2014 and 2016 he released Songs of Absolution and The Autumn House with The Citizens (featuring Tosh Flood of The Divine Comedy/Pugwash).
Over the past five years Ken has been playing solo acoustic gigs, and in August 2019 released his first solo album entitled The Last Night at the Gentlemen’s Club. The album made album of the week on RTE Radio 1 and received favourable reviews from various publications upon its release.
