While gigs in 2021 still have an air of uncertainty around them, going into the book for February 2022 is a return to Kilkenny for The Delines.
Set Theatre is booked for the show on Friday 11 February with LA’s Jerry Joseph also on the bill. Tickets from €27 are on sale now.
With the county starved of the Kilkenny Roots Festival for 2020 and 2021, the return of Amy Boone, Willy Vlautin and co will come as welcome news, the band having turned in a great show in 2019 off the release of The Imperial.
The band are currently working on their as-yet-untitled fourth album which due for release early 2022 and likely fall in line with their European shows.
Equally adept at sounding broken-hearted and optimistic, weary and resilient, Boone conveys Vlautin’s characters in a voice that’s grittier than Bobbie Gentry’s and more lonesome than Sammi Smith’s and steeped in the soul-ballad tradition.
It’s the voice Vlautin fell in love with when he first heard it during a tour Richmond Fontaine did with Texas-based Damnations, the band Boone had formed with her sister, Deborah Kelly.
Portland’s Freddy Trujillo signed on to play bass. Sean Oldham, ex of Richmond Fontaine on drums, multi-instrumentalist Cory Gray stepped in to round out the band’s cinematic, late-night country-soul sound with keyboard and trumpet.
The Kilkenny date comes as one of four in Ireland shows in Cork (Feb 9), Belfast (Feb 10) and Dublin (Feb 12) also on the menu before the band head for a string of UK, Belgium and Holland shows.
