Damien Dempsey

Delivering social commentary through his unique contemporary take on traditional Irish folk

Often compared to the likes of Christy Moore, Luke Kelly, and Shane MacGowan, the music of Damien Dempsey is formed from his experience growing up in Dublin in the mid-70s. Breaking through in the 90s, Dempsey combined his love for traditional Irish music with other influences including hip-hop and electronic sounds to create his own style of folk music.

In 1995, Dempsey released his first EP Contender, and two years later, his first commercial single ‘Dublin Town’ which garnered him mainstream attention. It would be another three years before Dempsey would release his first album, They Don’t Teach This Shit in School. The album earned the praise of other Irish musicians like Sinead O’Connor who went on to collaborate with Dempsey on the title track from the Negative Vibes EP in 2002.

The following year, To Hell or Barbados again entered the charts in the top spot before Dempsey returned with an album of covers in 2008 called Rocky Road.

After a four-year wait, fans were delighted when in 2012 Almighty Love was released and featured guest vocals from Sinead O’Connor but it would be another five years before he followed that up with his seventh studio album Soulsun and eighth Union a year later.