Muireann Bradley - Record Store Tour @ McConnell's Distillery

Muireann Bradley plays McConnell's Distillery at Crumlin Road Gaol on Friday 23 October, part of the Record Store Tour. She's an Irish country-blues guitarist and singer from just outside Ballybofey in County Donegal, and she's built a reputation as a torchbearer for the blues tradition.

She picked up the guitar at nine, inspired by her father's love of the blues, and before music became her calling she won national titles in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and amateur boxing. Her debut album, I Kept These Old Blues, was recorded between lockdowns when she was still fourteen and has since become a collector's item, with the first pressing selling out everywhere. It covers Blind Blake, Rev Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt, and she channels the spirit of pioneers like Elizabeth Cotten and Memphis Minnie. She's performed on Jools Holland's Hootenanny and The Late Late Show alongside Rod Stewart, Joss Stone and The Mary Wallopers, and has since signed with Decca Records.

It's a blues set in a venue with its own history, and Bradley's whole thing is rooted in the old records she grew up with. If you're into the fingerstyle tradition, this is exactly the kind of thing she does. The show starts at 6:00 PM on Friday 23 October at McConnell's Distillery, within Crumlin Road Gaol.