News Four - Sandymount, Irishtown, Ringsend Community Newspaper - April 2004
Luka's Lullaby
By Nicola McMahon
The directions Luka Bloom had given me for his house in Blacktrench, outside Naas, were concise and exact, as simple
and direct as his songs on his new album 'Before Sleep Comes'.
When I arrived at his house I was unsure of where to enter but then I saw Luka smiling and waving me around to the back door.
We sat at a coffee table in his airy open-plan kitchen/living-room as sunlight flooded in through the many big windows.
"I am lucky with the sunlight," he tells me, "as it makes the country view even more appealing." He
has been living in the house since he built it about eighteen months ago and already the garden has been organised
along feng shui principles. There are clusters of daffodils here and there and a beautiful bog-oak piece at the very front.
He doesn't have a dog or cat because they would scare away the birds, which he obviously loves judging by the
birdhouses and the subliminal birdcalls recorded on the album. The surroundings are peaceful, Luka is easy-going
and relaxed, we have tea and chat.
Luka Bloom sometimes forgets that some people still know him by a different name.
Born May 23rd 1955, Kevin Barry Moore changed his name to Luka Bloom at the age of thirty-two as he headed for
America and a new beginning.
"I had been sort of struggling in Ireland and then when I went to America I had this sense of 'newness'. At the time I
thought to myself 'imagine if I just arrive here as a completely new kid on the block' and the only way I felt I could really
do this was to have this Iggy Pop type name."
He explains that he took the name from Suzanne Vega's song 'My name is Luka' and Bloom from James
Joyce's Ulysses. The simple act of changing his name allowed him the freedom to express himself in his writing.
"I feel like I've revealed a lot more of myself in my songs since I became Luka Bloom. I think in some way I lost
some of the old self-consciousness. It's almost an embarrassing thing, to be writing songs but there's something about
having a stage name that makes it more acceptable, makes it easier."
His career as a songwriter began at the tender age of 14 and a few of the early songs were recorded by his brother
Christy Moore. Luka has been playing guitar since primary school, first when his sister Eilish brought one home and
later when Christy bought him a new guitar. Since then music has been his life.
"I'm very privileged and that's why it's so important for me to want to give what I can because I know how fortunate
I am to have known at such a young age what a great thing this could be, and then to be able to do it. Besides I wasn't
much good as a footballer!"
Luka was never drawn to the ballads that his brother was doing but the moment he heard James Taylor, Neil Young
and Joni Mitchell he knew where he was heading.
"I don't know how it happened because I was just a kid in Newbridge, Kildare, but the minute I heard those guys
I instantly connected and that's kind of what I've done ever since."
Over the years he has written and recorded an eclectic collection of songs on twelve albums. This variety can be found
in the taut emotion of a song like 'Ciara', the sense of fun in 'I'm a Bogman' and the thundering bongos in 'Monsoon'.
His new album, 'Before Sleep Comes' is yet another change of direction. The idea for this album resulted from
a recurrence of tendonitis and another later problem that resulted in an operation for his throat. "I was only able to
play very gentle things on my little Spanish guitar and I grew to really enjoy it. I just went down the local Mill where there's
a little studio and recorded it over two nights at 11 or 12 at night when everything was very quiet. I deliberately went in
there when my voice was tired because I wanted the thing to be authentic, to be very dreamy."
The album is a combination of soothing instrumental tunes such as 'Nora', familiar ballads and whispery
original songs such as 'Camomile'. The calm soothing quality of the songs is like having your head caressed
before sleep takes over.
Luka puts it more poetically in the song 'Before Sleep Comes': "there is a moment of surrender, just before
sleep comes, I turn over my life's business to the god of the setting sun."
At twenty-eight minutes long the album is just the right length to take the listener to the land of nod.
Playing in Ireland is important to him, especially now that he has written new material and he is looking forward to his
gigs in Dublin. After that, he is in America in June to give "the place
where the first incarnation of Luka Bloom was born a whole new show."
A live gig with Luka is not to be missed. He captivates the audience with his charismatic performance and afterwards
it is hard to believe that what you have heard came from just one voice and a guitar.
Luka Bloom plays the Helix on Saturday 15 May and the Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire on Saturday 29 May.
www.news4.ie/april/frame3/luka.htm
Rotterdams Dagblad - Thursday 15 April 2004
Luka Bloom at his gentlest
He went back to Ireland in order to be able to make a lot of noise. But what
appears now is a CD with the appropriate title Before Sleep Comes. Luka
Bloom at his gentlest: how beauty can grow out of necessity.
Rotterdam - Pain of the heart is a common ailment amongst songwriters. Pain
in the hand you don't hear very often. But it is the pain in his right hand
that drove Luka Bloom to a series of sensitive songs.
As early as 1979 the Irish singer-songwriter was forced to adjust his style
of guitar playing.
The reason: a painful and persistent tendonitis. The ailment has haunted him
throughout his career. Last year was particularly bad and he could hardly
write or play. All he did was gently strum his Spanish guitar, though he
was used to really lashing out on a semi-acoustic one. He told journalist
Dick Laning in an interview about this: "It was hardly playing, but I began
to like it. For about three months I played a few ballads in the morning in
a very relaxed way. In this way my own whispering songs started. It
surprised me more than anyone that I enjoyed it so much. I, who was always
up on stage like an athlete, who enjoyed the power most of all. And now it
appears that others enjoy this too, that there is an audience for my quiet
side."
'Before Sleep Comes' may have been born out of necessity, it is not the
case that Luka has neglected this subdued site until now. "It may be the
case that I have grown into this", he admits. "But without really noticing.
I have never really allowed myself to really be this quiet. It may be a
cliché but no less true for me: this is a new beginning. I've always thought
only of the next CD and of performing. I was a performer first, while now I
am more of a songwriter. Writing is my first priority now, I write more
songs than ever before."
That the CD is to be christened in the Netherlands is thanks to the special
relationship the Irishman has with our country. He lived here for a few
years, found his way to a bigger audience at Pinkpop in 1991 and recorded
his first live cd in Carre. When Bloom was living in Groningen he was still
called Barry Moore. There he recorded the album 'In Groningen' (1980). After
being the lead-singer in a punk band in the eighties he tried his luck in
the United States. On his way to New York he decided to emphasize his new
life with a new name: Luka Bloom.
He played on the streets, like he did in Groningen, played a few concerts
here and there and recorded the album 'Riverside' there. A number of CDs,
international fame, extensive tours of Europe and Australia followed, after
which Moore/Bloom at the end of the nineties returned to his homeland, his
roots, son and peace. "I went back to my roots in every sense", he says.
"The main reason for moving back to Ireland was my son. Also, I wanted to be
independent of record companies and to live in the place I find the most
inspiring. I lived in cities for twenty years, but I always rented a cottage
in the country for a few weeks to write in."
Sitting
As rich and powerful as he can make steel strings sing on stage, as simple
and haunting does the Spanish guitar flow on 'Before Sleep Comes'. As
dynamic as he can make his voice sound in a song like 'Delirious', as warm
does it sound in Blooms adaptation of the traditional 'The Water is Wide'.
The opening song, 'My Singing Bird' he even sings in such a dark voice you
might think you hear Christy Moore, his big brother, legendary in folk circles.
"I don't like to analyze myself," he reacts. "I do know my voice has gotten
softer and more melodic. At my next concerts I will be sitting down for the
first time. I am leaving rock and becoming more of a troubadour, more
romantic."
The 48-year old singer has shown concern in many of his songs about the
world, the environment, peace, but always from the point of view of the
individual. "I am not able to change the world, but I do believe in the
power of song. My lyrics are about the loneliness, the struggle, the courage
and the survival of the ordinary man. Lyrics are everything to me, without
good lyrics my music is irrelevant. But I don't pretend too much; they are
simple, intimate songs. Where I once tried to change the world, now I mainly
try to offer comfort."
Luka Bloom performs in
Deventer on 17 April. He will also play a few in-store concerts, e.g. in
Amsterdam (18 April)
Dick Laning
www.rotterdamsdagblad.nl
Translated by Jolande Hibels
Irish Voice - Thursday, 6 May 2004
Luka Bloom's Sweet Dreams
"I don't want to go near a studio for a while. I've made enough CDs over the
last year or two and I just want to go out and play."
What a difference a year makes. Luka Bloom had an embarrassment of riches on
the souvenir table when his show pulled into Greenwich Village last summer.
His CD of acoustic covers, Keeper of The Flame, gave new meaning to bedrock
tunes from Dylan and Marley and provided the Dubliner with another hit. His
live CD, Amsterdam, provided his fans with something they've been praying
for: a recording of the elusive flame that ignites his spirited live shows.
With so much new product to tour behind, the dark confines of the studio
would be the last place you'd expect to find Bloom.
What a difference a year makes.
After years of punishing his hands with intricate, aggressive melodies in
his live shows, Bloom became stricken with severe tendonitis.
"All I could manage was a very gentle picking of my Spanish guitar,"
he writes in his liner notes. "I became fond of it, and began to feel very
relaxed with this style of playing."
So back in the studio he went, and emerged with Before Sleep Comes, a
collection of gentle lullabies played out of necessity. His hands sidelined
by his condition, Bloom is forced to relearn his delivery and reinvents
himself by creating a softer side. Leave it to Luka Bloom to make a powerful
statement out of a hushed whisper.
The disc has been a staple in this reviewer's CD alarm clock for the bulk of the
weekend, and I can tell you that it is the perfect companion as the sandman
comes-a-callin'. With songs like "Camomile", "Be Still Now", and
"Before Sleep Comes", it's not hard to see what this disc is all about.
"I feel like he's singing next to me," said the drowsy missus tonight
as I typed this review in the bed beside her. She's got a point. The hushed
intimacy is a joy to behold; with its simple packaging and non-existent
promotion, it feels like Luka has made a record just for your nightstand.
"This is a CD of non-performance," he writes in the liner notes.
"It's purpose is to help bring you closer to sleep, our sometimes elusive
night friend."
"I would climb the high high tree and would rob the wild bird's nest / I'd
bring back my singing bird / to the arms that I love best," he whispers on
"My Singing Bird".
These are lullaby songs for adults, stripped of the saccharine that usually
sweetens the kids' stuff that spews from Raffi's guitar....
Anyway, Bloom successfully avoids the soggy premise of some New Age
recordings to make a melodious whisper brimming with personality. The
acoustic plucking of the traditional tune "She Moved Through The Fair"
transforms the melody into a Spanish dreamscape. It is one of the many
instrumental interludes in this nine song CD, and it is the crowning
achievement on this beautiful collection.
There was a time when the differences between Luka Bloom and his famous
older brother, Christy Moore, were like night and day. Bloom's intense
finger picking and wrenching vocal delivery enabled the singer to bust out
of the shadows of Moore, who has abandoned his hard drinking trad past for
the comfortable acoustic rocking chair in recent years.
Moore makes the same impact as his brother with his hushed phrasing,
indicating that Bloom might have taken a page from the back half of his
older brother's songbook.
On tracks like "My Singing Bird" and "I'll Walk Beside You",
it is hard to tell the difference between the two brothers. Age might have finally
caught up with Luka Bloom, but he wears it well; the instrument in his throat is
displaying a seasoned depth to match the thoughtful, gentle strumming that
makes Before Sleep Comes a quiet masterpiece.
For fans worried that tendonitis might rob them of their beloved singer, you
can sleep easy tonight. Rumor has it that the singer will be back on the
road here in the States in the next couple of months. In the meantime,
Before Sleep Comes is exclusively available through the singer's website,
accessible by browsing over to www.lukabloom.com. Sweet dreams!
www.irishabroad.com
Billboard - Daily Music News - July 14, 2004
Billboard Bits: The Music, Bennett, Bloom
Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom's latest set, the nine-song "Before Sleep
Comes", is due Sept. 27 in the United States via Bar/None Records. Already
released in Europe via various labels depending upon the region, the
intimate album is, as the title suggests, intended "to bring you closer to
sleep, our sometimes elusive night-friend", Bloom explains.
The collection of new songs and traditional ballads was borne of the quieter
playing style to which Bloom was limited while recovering from a severe case
of tendonitis in his right hand. "After a few weeks of really soft playing,
I became fond of it," he says, "and began to feel very relaxed with this
style of playing, almost non-playing."
Following a U.S. tour in June, Bloom has a handful of dates in late July and
August scattered about Europe, according to his official Web site. His lone
U.S. appearance during that time will come Aug. 22 as part of the Milwaukee
Irish Festival.
Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.
billboard.com
The American Post - Vol. 5, Issue 3 - October 2004
Luka Bloom Chills Out,
Steals Fest Crowd's Heart and Soul
Venus passes by the sun, love doesn't always come to everyone.
The lines are stolen from Luka Bloom, the Irish singer and guitar player who has been stealing into the music world...
sometimes under cover of darkness in the theater of the sky when the stars are out and the moon is a slice of pearl
on the horizon.
As it was at Milwaukee's Irish Fest in August, where Bloom's debut at the popular Celtic celebration
seemed to have caught the audience by surprise, taking them on an excursion into the recesses of the heart
where love lives and breathes and dies. As the final notes died away, it lifted them to their feet.
After several days of boisterous, roaring and sometimes blaring music, Bloom led his audience into a different zone.
"The scene here is unbelievable," Bloom said. "Dancing, pipes, drums. We arrived Friday
and after three days, I decided to do a chill-out show, a Celtic chill-out zone."
It worked. Drawn by his rich voice and his wonderful guitar work, the audience followed Bloom into the zone,
entranced by the Irish singer-songwriter-poet. Some may have nodded off briefly. That the moon was rising
over Lake Michigan with a gentle breeze was kissing the shoreline only 100 yards away made the
performance even more memorable.
Bloom began with his song "Innocence" followed by a tune he wrote to his girlfriend when she
went on holiday for three weeks to Brazil. "I tried to be very cool about the trip, but I was afraid she
would meet a dreadlocked, guitar-playing, soccer-playing, dancing Brazilian and I would never see her again,
so I wrote the song and put it on the answering machine," he told the audience to a round of laughter.
He followed with a mix of his own compositions and songs written by other artists, including "To Make
You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan and one by, of all people, L.L. Cool J, "I Need Love". Both of
these have been on his earlier albums. The rap song was toned down and interpreted by Bloom as a love
ballad, an ode to the dream woman that all men seek but seldom find. It was a remarkable feat of
musical talent and interpretation and drew a heavy round of applause from the fans of things Irish.
"It's a very lengthy song and I did it to say, 'Hey, don't write these guys off.' They have something to say,"
Bloom explained later.
Much of his performance was filled with music he has not yet recorded, ballads such as "Primavera",
a work about a beautiful Portuguese female singer. With his new CD, "Before Sleep Comes", set for
release in September, Bloom appears to be sticking with his roots in Co. Clare, however. The CD is a collection
of his own songs such as the beautiful "Camomile" and traditional tunes such as "My Singing Bird",
both of which he performed.
"I primarily wanted to make the gig mellow," said Bloom later, as he waited for the "Scattering",
the fest-ending gathering of musicians. "I didn't want to hit people with the music."
[photo: Luka Bloom and Tommy Fleming]
Mellow it was, but his performance still felt powerful and dynamic, the songs floating up to the heavens as if the
whole world could hear them. The recurring tendonitis in his right hand, which has compelled him to moderate
his strong guitar playing, seemed not to be an issue. Last year, the ailment forced him to start writing and
playing what he calls "whispery songs". They became "Before Sleep Comes", which
has garnered a four-star review from the Irish Times.
A relative unknown musical talent in the United States, eclipsed, perhaps, by heavier sounds and
bigger hype, Bloom has large following in Ireland, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He is a man of re-invention,
renaming himself when he first arrived in the United States in 1987 where he landed in Washington, D.C.,
and began playing clubs. He eventually moved to New York, playing such venues as the Red Lion
and being typecast by a Rolling Stone review as a "folksy Irish rocker". His new first name
came from the song "My Name is Luka" by Susanne Vega and the surname from the main
character in James Joyce' book, Ulysses.
Before his American immigration, Bloom was Barry Moore, singer, songwriter and guitarist from
Co. Kildare who began his career by touring English clubs with his older brother, Christy Moore.
Bloom as Moore had a music career that spanned several decades and included rock music, ballads,
pub performances and creative arrangements of songs by ABBA, Dylan and the Cure, among others.
"In Ireland, you would have to book tickets in advance to see him perform," said Eilis Fitzpatrick,
who, with her Australian husband, Daniel Morris, were waiting for Bloom after his Milwaukee debut. The
couple had just moved to Milwaukee and she wanted to say hello to Bloom, a friend of her family in Kildare.
"He is very popular there."
Bloom thanked the audience for bringing him to Irish Fest and was given a standing ovation and
demands for an encore, which Bloom obliged. With tours of Australia, Europe and America
contemplated next year, Bloom’s popularity seems certain to rise.
For more information about Bloom, check out www.lukabloom.com.
George Houde
www.gaelicweb.com/irishampost
Photo: Luka Bloom and Tommy Fleming at the Scattering in Milwaukee
www.bugsoft.com
Frets Magazine - The complete acoustic guitar package - Fall 2004
Luka Bloom On Recording Before Sleep Comes
By Michael Molenda
Although the very thought tends to piss off studio engineers in a major way,
the most transcendent and evocative recordings often have nothing to do with
high - class microphones, expensive preamps and compressors, vintage mixing
consoles, digital-audio manipulations, or other technological hoo-ha. Nope.
The performances that shoot through your eardrums and into your heart and
soul are usually documents of pure emotion - imperfect little moments in time
where an artist was touched by angels and the result was captured in a form
that could be shared with others.
Life intervenes in the process, as well, because an artist can't unleash an
emotionally stirring performance if he or she is a blank slate (or in a blank
state). In this creative stew of existential circumstance, Luka Bloom was truly
blessed with misfortune and inspiration as he recorded Before Sleep
Comes. The album concept was triggered by tendonitis, which
rendered Bloom's right hand fairly useless, forcing him to lightly pluck
ballads on a nylon-string acoustic in an extremely relaxed manner he
defines as "non playing".
"I found myself writing these really soft, whispery pieces of music on my
Spanish guitar," he relates. "I was just playing around, being really
quiet, and not thinking about making a record. But something about the songs
was very seductive. They reminded me of [pianist] Keith Jarrett's "The
Melody at Night, With You" - a solo-piano album he recorded at home
when he was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. It's so laid back, because
that was all he could play. And that got me thinking that it's very hard to find
music that's easy to listen to right at the end of the night. So I decided to
record my sleepy little songs, and go into the studio absolutely exhausted at
two o'clock in the morning to ensure the pieces sounded authentic."
The vibe factor was so critical to Bloom that he decided to record the songs
live, near his home at The Old Mill in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. "It's
really an old mill that's used as a gallery for exhibitions and other events,"
says Bloom. "I had actually done a couple of shows there, so I was
familiar with the sound of the room. This guy, Mark Gavin, had set up a
simple Pro Tools system in the space, and that was perfect, because I just
wanted the sound of me playing and singing in a room. So, while the
floorboards were creaking, and the wind was howling, I just plugged in and
played these simple, late-night songs I'd written. Everything was a first
take, in-the-moment kind of thing. The songs are really anti-performances
by a very tired singer."
To record Bloom's way-past-midnight confessions, Gavin hung two
unidentified condenser microphones from the mill's ceiling, took a direct
line from Bloom's $350 Fender nylon-string acoustic, set up a single
vocal mic, and miked an Ashdown bass amp that Bloom uses to
reproduce the drone of a DADGAD tuning that he lowers to C. The
sessions were completed in two evenings - with a total of approximately
eight hours of recording - and the tracking phase cost Bloom around $200.
For mixing, Bloom took the Pro Tools files to his old friend, Brian Masterson -
the brains behind the very famous Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin.
"Brian has been involved in my last four or five records, so there was
a certain comfort zone in bringing him into the project," says Bloom.
"I told him, 'I want the room, I want the wind, and I want the floorboards.
I want this recording to be very imperfect, but I want it to sound lovely. I want
it to sound like people are present in the room, and they can feel the
atmosphere of the room, and the night, and the lateness of the thing.' He
was a bit shocked at first, but he totally got into it. I just told him to
put on his 1960s ears and things would be fine [laughs]. And he gave
me back something beautiful."
Never planning to seriously release the project - as he felt it would appeal
to "only 200 or so insomniacs" - Bloom stuck a few audio files on
his Web site and offered the sessions for sale. The cosmic joke was that
he immediately sold 9,000 copies of this "fragile, raw, and delicate
work" with no marketing effort, and ultimately garnered a label release.
"This record is the most painless thing I've ever done, and there's
something about the simplicity of it that's really connecting with people,"
he says. "And it has taught me something, as well. You see, I'm a very
organic kind of guy in the sense that I recognize a tune, I write a song, I
tell a story, I sit on a stage, and I deliver a performance. And, somehow,
when I'd come to make a record, I'd feel the need to dress everything up
and 'produce' it. But now, I have this imperfect little jewel telling me
that the best thing I can be in the world is myself - no matter how simple
and intuitive my work may be."
www.fretsmag.com
The Clare Champion - Friday, 19 November 2004
The benefit of Luka's involvement
The troubadouring Moore brothers are no strangers to Clare - in fact they could call the
place a home away from home, such are their longstanding links with the county. After all,
Christy told us is his famous song for all the ages that "if it's music you want go to Clare".
These musical links go all the way back to the early days of the Lisdoonvarna festival and before
that even. Christy’s introduction to ceoil in Clare came when he was working in the bank in the
mid-sixties - now he's one of the most bankable musicians on the circuit.
His younger brother Luka has carved a niche for himself on the same circuit
and has played many gigs in Clare down the years. Only last year Luka showed his support for
those protesting against the use of the airport by the US military by visiting the Shannon Peace
Camp. His song Fertile Rock became an anthem and benefit song for those opposed to the building of
an interpretative centre in Mullaghmore, while last year he also joined forces with Christy to play a
benefit gig in the Armada Hotel organised by his nephew who lives in Spanish Point.
Now, Luka is on his way back to Clare for another benefit gig that takes place in Glór on November
19. He has been busy touring these past months with shows in the United States, Belgium,
Holland, Finland and of course here at home. He will be performing songs from his current album,
Before Sleep Comes, and showcasing new material.
This concert is being sponsored by HSF Health Plan, the new name for the Hospital Saturday
Fund, which moved its national office from Dublin to Ennis in 2003. HSF is a health cash plan which
has been in Ireland for 55 years and provides an inexpensive way to offset the everyday costs of a
visit to the dentist or optician and also helps financially at times of illness, for example when a
hospital stay might be necessary. Being a not for profit company, HSF is able to channel some of its
surplus funds through its Charitable Trust to medical charities, hospitals and hospices.
Since arriving HSF has provided jerseys for the Eire Og youth Gaelic football and hurling teams,
and brightened up the Clare Road by sponsoring the flowers on the roundabout and in the beds
near their offices in the new Clare Road Mall.
When the new offices were officially opened in October 2003 by the Mayor of Ennis, an
opportunity was taken to make donations to five local medical charities, including Caring for
Carers. It was making this link with Caring for Carers which inspired HSF to think of a way in which the
organisation could be even more identified with Ennis and County Clare," said Keith Bradley, chief
executive "What has been a really big coup is that Luka Bloom is going to appear and give his services for
what we know will be a great evening," said Sharon Phelan, HSF office manager and the local
contact for the show.
Nuala Fitzgerald will also be performing in the show with Luka. She is a Dublin woman who has
lived and worked in Canada for some years. She is a noted actor with many films and television
programmes to her credit. She will be performing Cupla Focal, a piece which she devised herself.
She has chosen her favourite pieces from great writers and delivers them with warmth, sincerity
and fun. Completing the trio is Alyanya. A young Dublin singer songwriter, she has been touring with Luka
Bloom for the past couple of years, and is currently working on her first album.
John Kelly
www.clarechampion.ie
The Scene - Issue 37 - Thursday, 25 November 2004
Luka Bloom Returns to Shannon Shores
The River Sessions is about to enter it's sixth month! And as an early celebration of
the half year marker we're welcoming back he who was first to play - Luka Bloom.
Luka was first to give us a taste of the magic that is The River Sessions, a magic which
has been sustained over the past short months by such brilliant artists as Liam O'Maonlai,
Mundy, Declan O'Rourke, Juliet Turner and Don Baker to mention but a few.
And now, due to the indelible impression he left behind the pressure was on to chase
him down and secure another date with this much loved Kildare man.
He's been a busy man since we saw him last in June between dates in Europe and
the States and more recently recording a new album. And now, before he disappears
again to master his latest CD, he has agreed to come our way! Luka Bloom will join
us on board Moon River at The River Sessions on Thursday 25th Nov!
He sold out in June in a matter of days and no doubt he'll do the same again, so
I recommend that you book as early as possible. See below for booking details.
Here's what Luka has to say about his last year to date, "This is a gas old year
indeed. It started with uncertainty; with tendonitis restricting my guitar work, and
then a throat problem which caused the sudden cancellation of my Australian tour.
"It's a weird thing when you are gearing up for travel and songs only to be stopped
in your tracks. So I went quiet. Through these quiet months, I got into a new writing
groove. I have penned a lot of songs now and yes, the work on the new CD has
already begun."
Luka has since toured the States and with more dates in Europe under his belt
he's gearing up to get back into studio to put the finishing touches to his new CD.
We wish Luka the very best with the new album and thank him for taking time to
come and play for us at The River Sessions before returning to the confines of studio.
If you are in search of a chilled and intimate evening of music with Luka Bloom
while sailing down the majestic Shannon, then grab a stool and get on board
the unique Moon River and relax in the magic of The River Sessions.
Luka plays The River Sessions, Moon River, Carrick-On-Shannon on
Thursday 25th November. Tickets, priced at €18, are available at Murtagh's
House of Fashion, Main Street, Carrick-on-Shannon or call 071 9620098.
Doors open at 8pm, sailing at 8:30pm and returning to quay at 11:30pm.
If you are interested in being kept up to date on all up-coming gigs please
email Aoife at: riversessions@online.ie and check out www.riversessions.com
for more information.
Aoife McCormack
www.scene.ie/issue37/luka_bloom.shtml