13 musicians were involved in the recording of my debut album Join Up the Dots. To perform it live, I hired 8 musicians. Favours were called in and friends helped me out and we set the launch date for the album at The Moat Theatre and then a follow up show at Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge. Both shows sold out and were an absolute joy to perform, but the logistics of taking such a big production out to other venues nationwide proved too much. I simply couldn’t afford it and my numerous applications for grants went nowhere. It was done.
Soon afterwards, I joined The Muddy River Band with Willie Headon, Patrick Silke, Joe Ryan and after a few changes in line up, we are joined by Baz Daly, Lee Murphy and Dave Mulhall and sometimes Shay Cosgrave. We perform the songs of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Van Morrison and are currently on tour nationwide for 2025/26 . We have received a standing ovation at every show we've played so far and return bookings for most venues. For upcoming shows, go to linktr.ee/themuddyriverband
The Muddy River Band is now a regular gig for me. It takes a lot of time, commitment and effort, which is fantastic and I am certainly not complaining, but I also need to make time for my original music.
I have gotten back into folk music in a big way and am listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, Christy Moore, Leonard Cohen, Luka Bloom, Nick Drake, John Spillane, Planxty, Joni Mitchell (Blue in particular) Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Nic Jones, Van Morrison and Richard Thompson to namecheck a few.
I was always drawn to acoustic driven story songs with sparce, atmospheric arrangements. Most of my songs are composed on acoustic guitar and then layered up with other instrumentation after I've recorded the basic raw track live. Big sounds.
But could I take all my songs and rearrange them for solo acoustic performance? Would it work? I wasn’t sure at first. Folk Music with a Rock n’ Roll Heart. Back to Basics. Some of them would work for sure, but big sounding songs like To Hold the Red Rose, Mercy, Hold On, Say You Will and Tonic for a troop and some of my new ones, would they work without layered arrangements, overdubs and effects? How would they sound stripped back to just an acoustic guitar, one vocal and a harmonica?
At first. they just sounded empty -too bare and lacking real depth-I wasn't serving the song. I worked really hard on new finger-picking patterns and arrangements, key changes, song structuring, inverted chords, melody interludes, alt tunings, harmonica breaks and vocal stylings, percussive stumming and story telling presentation. It was very tedious at times and so frustrating, but I worked diligently on my technique and stylings until something deeper and brighter shone thro’ in the songs and performances. As I was working on the arrangements, I was also writing new songs and naturally applying the same approach.
The first of these new songs was ‘Darkness Before Dawn” , sang in my raw Kildare accent, with no flourishes or effects; just straight up bog-man vocals certainly took getting used to. My wife remarked on how I sounded like Christy Moore. As Christy and me are both from County Kildare, we share that lilting, open plains accent, so of course there are similarities, especially on songs that are acoustic guitar driven with a one man vocal. He is certainly a huge influence and I greatly admire the man, but I am not trying to imitate him.
I am reaching to sing from somewhere ancestral, somewhere ancient, straight from my soul. In my formative years and beyond, the influences of Americana certainly seeped in and softened my delivery in tone and phrasing. I have echoed the Elvis croon, the Johnny drawl, The Leonard lean, the Hank howl, the Dylan twang and the Waits growl, again not so much imitating these artists as drawing from the same well to present the song. I have sang along a thousand times or more with the songs of these artists and marvelled at their vocals, imagery and overall musical delivery. I studied their tone, their phrasing, their timing, their lyrics, their emotion undertone-all of it. I have absorbed these songs into my very being. We are all influenced by those who came before us. However, I aim to go beyond that with my new songs and live performances.
Then, to my utter astonishment and delight, Christy Moore recorded my song ‘Darkness Before Dawn’ and it features on his amazing album ‘A Terrible Beauty-a beautiful album.
Christy also sent me on a song he had written with Wally Page called ‘The Night We Went to Bob Dylan’ with an invitation to record it. What a gift.
For my recording of Darkness Before Dawn, I had sent on my solo take (Ac. Guitar, Harmonica and Lead Vocal) to Martin Leahy in Cork, who then very kindly added Pedal Steel, Bass, Percussion, Guitar and BVs to his production of the track. I took inspiration from this approach and recorded Christy and Wally’s song with just my Ac. Guitar, Lead Vocal and Harmonica. My wife Pam added a BV and we invited Joe Ryan and Shay Cosgrave from The Muddy River Band to add Pedal Steel and Bodhrán respectively. My wife Pam took on production duties and recorded and blended all these instruments at home and sent on this mish mash to Hally (Co Producer of Join Up the Dots) to mix and master. Hally also added some magic production touches, including a BV. Again, this new approach to recording had worked out well.
“Pete Kavanagh is a great songwriter and a great singer”
— Christy Moore
Two tracks in, recorded and released and I'm back up and running. Both these songs work really well as solo performances or with a small band accompaniment. The authentic, raw and real new sound I am reaching for is shining true.
I now have a full album’s worth of new songs ready to record/perform live, but I’ve learned a lot from the experience of recording my debut album. I need to let these songs breathe and take them out regularly for a walk. They need time, road testing in a few venues, before I lay them down as recordings. Maybe some of the live performances will be recorded and will feature on the album-who knows. Maybe, it’ll end up being a live album. I don’t really know yet. What I do know is these songs are straight from the soul songs. Folk songs. From the core and indeed beyond my being. I can’t wait to share these songs in performance and I am likely to turn up at any Songwriter sessions that'll have me, any support slots that I'm offered or featured artist gigs, my own shows, basically where ever and when ever I can. If you're reading this and like the cut of me jib, then drop me a message and let's talk.
I have already performed some of these new songs at ‘Songwriter in the Round’ gigs, Culture Night at The Moat Theatre and a Songwriter Session at The Seantí Bar in Kilkenny. I have a few nice gigs already lined up for 2026 and I’ll be sharing details on those soon enough.
I certainly have the Grá and belief back and here's some good news to share:
I am performing a headline set with a band at The Cat and Cage Folk Club Dundrum on Wednesday 19th November 2025. This will be a very special night. I will be joined by Baz Daly on Bass/ Mandolin, Lee Murphy on Electric Guitar/ Mandolin and Trevor McEvoy on Percussion.
Tickets are now on sale from this link: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/pete-kavanagh-band-live-at-the-cat-cage-folk-club-wed-19th-nov-tickets-1449732822899
Stick it in your diary and please come along.
On a sentimental note, it is also my birthday so it'll be a celebration of sorts-a gathering.
This is the beginning of the new chapter in my musical journey and I would love to meet you there or somewhere on the road.
Love and Peace
Pete