Cork singer-songwriter Mick Flannery debuts at Number 1 on this week’s Official Irish Albums Chart with his new self-titled record, making him the first independent Irish artist to reach the top since January 2018, and the third homegrown Irish act to hit the helm of the Top 50 this year, following Picture This’ ‘MDRN LV’ and Hozier’s ‘Wasteland, Baby!’. 2019 has now seen more Irish artists hit Number 1 on the Official Irish Albums Chart than 2018, last year The Academic and Kodaline were the only Irish acts to reach the albums summit.
Mick’s sixth studio album is his third chart-topper in total, following 2012’s ‘Red to Blue’ and 2014’s ‘By The Rule’. Mick edges out Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent’ (2) by just 171 combined sales.
Hearing about the result, Mick said, “This is great news, I’m chuffed at the success of this week. I’d like to thank all involved from the album’s side and also everyone who bought a copy.”
An award-winning, double-platinum selling artist, Mick Flannery’s self-titled sixth album, was released last Friday 5th July. Today’s chart results marks his continuing development as one of the very best Irish singer-songwriters of his generation.
Mick began to write songs as a teenager in his home of Blarney, County Cork. As musical influences from albums by the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits seeped into his creative DNA, Mick absorbed, learned and honed the craft that would send him on his way into the world. The path was smoothed somewhat when, at the age of 19, he became the first Irish songwriter to win the Nashville-based International Songwriting Competition. By the time he turned 21, he had signed to a major label and released his debut album.
With his latest release, Mick touches on loose themes of ambition and the search for a meaningful life in the context of a musician’s sometimes feckless and dysfunctional lifestyle. The central character, he reveals, is someone like him, “although this person achieves more notoriety than I have. He is properly famous, and he has to deal with that.” The loose theme is just that, however. “I’m not going to hammer it home. Facets of the theme are on the album, but the storyline itself isn’t an overarching one – each song can stand on its own, and not need to be part of a narrative.”
Mick Flannery’s self-titled album out now via Warner Music Ireland.
See Mick on tour across Ireland, the UK, and USA this Summer/Autumn, at:
July 19th – Dolan’s, Limerick, IRE – Tickets
July 20th – Galway Arts Festival, IRE – SOLD OUT
July 21st – Claremorris Folk Festival, IRE – Tickets
July 28th – Connolly’s of Leap, IRE – Tickets
Aug 2-4th – All Together Now Festival, IRE
Aug 18th – The Blue Arrow, Glasgow, UK – Tickets
Sept 4th – The Pie Shop, Washington, DC, USA – Tickets
Sept 5th – The Word Barn, Exeter, NH, USA – Tickets
Sept 8th – Rockwood Music Hall, NYC, USA – Tickets
Sept 26th – Cork Opera House, Cork, IRE – Tickets
Oct 10th – Lost Lane, Dublin, IRE – Tickets
Oct 11th – Lost Lane, Dublin, IRE – Tickets
Oct 12th – Spiegeltent, Wexford, IRE – Tickets
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