Born and raised in Ireland, Gary Quinn listened to his father’s Kris Kristofferson tapes and then fell in love with the new country music coming out of America after hearing the Garth Brooks album ‘No Fences’ in the early 1990’s. Having just released his self-titled debut album ‘GARY QUINN‘, a 10 track offering of self penned material, Quinn’s songs can be heard on radio stations in his native Ireland, UK, America and Australia. National recognition has already been received as a track from the album, ‘He Don’t Show Her Anymore’, was awarded ‘Song of the Year’ by the British Country Music Awards for 2013. He has also opened for countless artists such as Clint Black, Bill Anderson, Bob DiPiero and shared the stage with Kristian Bush (of Sugarland) and Billy Montana, among others, and played at CMA Fest.
Recorded/produced in studios in Nashville, Los Angeles and the UK, ‘Gary Quinn’ is a traditionally-leaning record with a rocky edge. According to Gary, “The over-riding theme is pretty much love and its different aspects. Lost love, believing in love, trying to find love, taking love for granted and the fun you can have at the onset of love/lust i.e. ‘Love To Watch You Leave’. I wouldn’t say it was something intentional but it is a collection of songs that I have a personal connection to. Obviously I’ve written or co-written all of them but a lot are from a personal experience and felt this was important when putting an album out as I wanted it to hold some sort of credibility.”
A key track to consider here is the emotional country ballad ‘He Don’t Show Her Anymore’. About a man who is so focused on career goals and other such priorities that he forgets to show his love to the woman in his life, it focuses on the acoustic from the beginning, with production-filling instrumentation such as pedal steel, electric guitar and strings building it up as it progresses to find a peak. Gary says of the track, “it was one of the first songs I wrote and will always have a really special place in my heart. It’s a personal song from personal experience and one I’ve learned from (well at least I hope so…). It was on my EP but I felt it was a strong enough song to hold its place on the album and it recently won a BCMAward as UK Song of the Year. That was pretty cool!”
Closer ‘Rewind’ is both delicate and heartfelt in its delivery, full of aching regret over the ending of a relationship, and wishing to go back and fix it, building on cinematic metaphors. “‘Rewind’ is also very personal and for me is a true country song that tells a painful story,” Gary says. “It paints a picture but holds the realism that sometimes that’s the way things are supposed to be.” ‘I Forgot About You’ is another sad, heartbreak song, from the perspective of seeing an ex-lover with a new man, “One of my favourite tracks on the album is ‘I Forgot About You’. I co-wrote the song with David C Banning from Texas who’s had some successful cuts in the past with Chris Cagle and Joey & Rory. He’s great with lyrics, one of the best I’ve worked with and quite proud to shared the lyrical content in the song with him. What I love about the song is the hook and hope people get the twist.”
Gary does a lot of building upon country music staples on his self-titled debut album. ‘A Day I Find Love’ is another take on the song of opposites, usually to relate to heartbreak, such as Martina McBride’s ‘Lies’ or Dolly Parton’s ‘The Grass Is Blue’. In this example the narrator rejects the idea of ever finding love by noting all the ridiculous things that will happen (like pigs flying) the day it happens. “‘A Day I Find Love’ is a co-write with Benita Hill, who’s had three cuts with Garth Brooks (who is my idol) so I’m delighted to have been able to work with her,” Gary explained. “She was great as I came to her with the idea and she just helped me along with it rather than take it over. Hopefully we’ll get to perform it together sometime live!”
In contrast, Gary does have some fun on this album. ‘I Love To Watch You Leave’ is an up-tempo rockin’ honky-tonk number full of less-than-sly innuendos relating to women’s asses, while ‘On Your Way Out’ plays upon the popular phrase “don’t let the door hit you on your way out”, and has a very hoedown-style traditional lean musically which is great to hear from Gary. He also doesn’t leave out a more modern country sound, ‘Dodge Your Bullet’ and ‘Live Each Day’ serving as examples.
Gary Quinn certainly shows the different shades of love on this album, and it serves as a great debut and introduction to not just UK country music, but that of worldwide. I suggest you go check him out!
You can find Gary at his , on , , , and ; you can also buy his music on .
