A clear case of talent triumphing over adversity, Paddy Casey received a hero's welcome at the final date of his recent Irish tour on Monday night. Busking from the age of 12, over the past few years Casey has found new friends in the form of Sony Music and U2's manager Paul McGuinness. A debut album, Amen (So Be It) was released in the summer of 1999, an engrossing record with a creative remit far beyond that of its perceived foundation - folk music.
Yet here Casey stands on stage with just an acoustic guitar and songs for company, looking for all the world in his T-shirt and flared denim combats like a refugee from Woodstock. But in place of stoned love is a realistic look at life's little and large complications. Can't Take That Away From Me, Everybody Wants To Feel Needed Sometime, Sweet Suburban Sky and Fear are wiry-headed folk/pop meditations, each sounding so familiar that they act as entry points to Casey's slightly more intricate material.
In the general scheme of things, Casey might not seem a suitable candidate for mainstream success, but the sheer quality of his songs and his hard-as-nails approach counter such a notion. Undoubtedly, the only way is up.
Paddy Casey plays support to Tracy Chapman at the Heineken Green Energy Festival in Dublin Castle on Monday
