Galway-based Loughrea singer songwriter Ultan Conlon's sound could be described most appropriately as sitting on the Neil Young/Ryan Adams side of folk, both of whom he cites as influences in his songwriting, along with Ron Sexsmith, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen & Richard Hawley. Conlon released critically acclaimed debut album Bless Your Heart in Nov 2009.
As Ultan prepares for a series of Scottish live dates, Music-News.com reporter Susan Ford caught up with the main man to talk inspiration, acoustics and the Scottish tour.
Who is Ultan Conlon and what's your story?Ultan Conlon is an Irish man. I’ll drop the third person Elmo vibe now. I’m from Galway which is on the west coast of the island. A small town called Loughrea to be precise. I learned to play guitar when I was 11 from the principle of the local convent, Sister Bernadette. I started writing songs in my teens and just kept coming back to it. The finer of my addictions, a great vice!
Describe your music for those who are yet to hear it?My music is folk based, acoustic mainly. I Guess I have been and still am inspired by artists like Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and John Martyn. It is acoustic based but my album and live show often have a full band, which is nice because lots of the songs rely on dynamics and this is created with great effect when you have drums, electric guitar and keys. Unfortunately I wont have the band in Scotland this time but I do love playing with them and cant wait to come back and take them with me.
How do you go about penning lyrics and writing songs?I usually just sit down and start strumming away and nail down a melody first however it can differ sometimes which is good because you find you get more diversity in the songs. Sometimes I will have a concrete idea for a song and the melody and lyrics start to appear alongside each other. Other times I take old melodies and lyrics and swap stuff around. I tend to go back to songs and change parts over a long period before I play them to anyone or at a live show.
Tell me about Bless Your Heart...Bless Your Heart came together after years of living, messing things up and trying to fix them. Both in music and in day to day life. I'm very proud of it not only because it's my first record but I felt I had lots to say and to squeeze that all into 40 odd minutes was difficult. I know people always say the difficult second album but I cant imagine that being tougher than getting my first one finished. We had a big learning curve to climb and at the time had no band as such so we had to start everything from scratch. We failed to get what we wanted but because we bought our own studio gear it afforded us to keep going back till we heard a good representation of the songs. Some were old songs and some i wrote throughout the recording process, which was a good two years. It was a very memorable time.
Where do you draw influence in lyric and content?Inspiration I take from everyday live, loved ones and strangers. A good walk in nature often heightens the senses and sentences and images start forming, it's a terrific feeling when you do form a song. I dont know what to compare it to, nothing I know of really. I like to write about stuff that people are sometimes afraid to talk about. It's a great feeling to hear a line in a song and go "I thought it was just me". It's a place you can be totally honest and thats always a good thing. Songs for me are a great escape from reality and if I can take people away from that for a few minutes that makes me very happy.
Who is your favourite live act to see as a fan yourself?I saw Leonard Cohen perform 3 times in the last 3 years. The first time I saw him play at Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and although the crowd were not inmates we were certainly his prisoners for the 3 hours that he graced the stage. It was nothing short of biblical. Just his manners and genuine love for what he was doing was infectious. Also the fact that he was 73 and probably sounding better than ever, was great to see. It was by far the best concert I was ever at.
Do you think you take anything from admirable live performances as mentioned above into your own live performances?I try not to take from others too much as it is important to be yourself and I suppose that is what I take from it. He was so comfortable in his own skin and quietly confident that sure I would take that on board when I play my show.
What have you got lined up in terms of live performances?Well I have the Scottish dates this month and in the summer I will play festivals and venues in Ireland and also will try to come back to the UK later in the summer. Hopefully on the road new things will appear and unfold over the next coupe of months. I am really enjoying gigging the album so I ll bring it as far as I can.
What can fans expect from a live show?I will be playing solo in The UK so they can expect to hear my songs played on an acoustic guitar, just the way they were made with no frills. Just raw emotion, ha ha.
What’s next for Ultan Conlon?I am writing an album at present and have a concept for it and some songs written so if I can finish that I ll record it by the end of the year and have it out shortly after. It's hard to say really though, I'm just gonna keep rollin’ with the gigs in the meantime and getting my songs out there.
Upcoming Live Dates03.04.10 Roisin Dubh upstairs/Support to Mick Flannery galway
07.04.10 The Spirit Store, supporting Hermione Hennessy Dundalk
08.04.10 The Sugar Club, supporting Hermione Hennessy Dublin
09.04.10 Siamse Tire, supporting Hermione Hennessy Trallee
10.04.10 The Half Moon, supporting Hermione Hennessy Cork
11.04.10 Dolan’s (upstairs), supporting Hermione Hennessy Limerick
13.04.10 The Slow Club@bar block Glasgow, Scotland
14.04.10 Nice N Sleazy’s Glasgow, Scotland
15.04.10 Fire & Rain music night @ The Three Sisters Edinburgh, Scotland
16.04.10 Kiss n Kill @ Era, Stornaway UK
17.04.10 The Star Inn, Stornaway Uk
19.04.10 Market Bar Inverness, Scotland
01.05.10 The Station House/Full Band Clifden, Galway
05.06.10 Happy Valley Festival, Thomastown Kilkenny
For information on upcoming gigs visit
www.myspace.com/ultanconlon and
www.ultanconlon.com 
