Paul Brady announces new studio album Maybe So and shares lead single

Paul Brady returns next month with a brand new studio album, Maybe So (April 22nd on Proper Records). His last studio album, Unfinished Business, was released as he turned 70 in 2017 and was a Featured Album of the Month on Folk Radio UK (reviewed here). In his review, Neil McFadyen notes: Brady’s skill as a song writer, musician and singer flourished with the folk revival of the sixties and seventies, then grew to chart and reflect on the cultural and political changes of the eighties and nineties. It’s a career that has seen Brady effortlessly embrace a wide range of influences, producing honest and accessible music that, as time goes on, continues to reach out to a wider audience.

He concludes: Unfinished Business isn’t a title that hints at unfulfilled musical ambitions. Rather, it confirms that, on turning 70, Paul Brady still has plenty more to offer. Everything about Unfinished Business tells us that he is likely to remain, for some time yet, at the very peak of his powers.

That’s all validated here as he returns once more with an album of 11 new tracks delivered in Brady’s exquisite, inimitable style. Listen to his lead single It’s A Beautiful World (Now You Are Here) below, on which Brady says: “It’s a song that celebrates the arrival of new life on the planet despite the sadness and chaos that rules the world at the moment.”

As he touches on COVID, the environmental crisis, gun violence…the song is underpinned by not just hope but the firm belief that “people can be wonderful”. That’s something that can be hard to cling to when we are teaching ‘lessons on doom’. Over the years, the likes of Pete Seeger, Tommy Sands, Odetta, Nina Simone, The Staple Singers have delivered enduring songs of hope using words that are worth clinging to. Here’s another.

Over his 40 year career, he has crossed musical boundaries, again and again, incorporating folk, rock, blues, traditional Irish and classic pop styles into his songwriting. Often classified as a musicians’ musician, Paul Brady’s songs have been covered by a vast array of prominent artists, including Tina Turner, Cher, Carole King, Art Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, Trisha Yearwood and Phil Collins and, closer to home, Ronan Keating, Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock, Maura O’Connell, Liam Clancy and Mary Black.

Along the way, he delivered some great albums. Many will still reach for that 1976 seminal release with Andy Irvine. It’s never really waned in popularity. It’s a folk classic, and was recently released as a Special Edition, marking the first time the vinyl album has been pressed since the 70s (on coloured vinyl and remastered from the original analog tapes). He’s never lost that incredible warm voice, he sounds as great now as he did on his solo debut Welcome Here Kind Stranger (1978), which Melody Maker named their Folk Album of the Year.

He is also a celebrated live performer, and a highlight for many was his 2001 live album ‘The Vicar Street Sessions Vol 1’ (reviewed here), which was released after he took over one of Dublin’s most famous and prestigious music venues for the entire month with over 17 thousand tickets sold across the series during which he was joined by some well-known friends and contemporaries. As mentioned by our reviewer, the audience response on that recording underpins the ‘heartfelt acclaim for an exceptional talent, so believe in Paul Brady, because there will be plenty more jewels to come.’ So it would seem…