Published: Wednesday, 11th August, 2010 11:52am

Paul Brady all set for his Cavan concert

Win a pair of tickets for this special performance in Cavan Equestrian Centre

Paul Brady is set to play in Cavan Equestrian Centre... but not the handballer! Martin Donohoe, Fleadh 2010 events and entertainment chair, John Brady, secretary, world champion handballer Paul Brady, Brian Tierney, Cavan County Council, and Stuart Clarke, Cavan Equestrian Centre were in the venue where a different Paul Brady (the singer songwriter) will play on Friday, August 20.

Paul Brady, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, one of Ireland's most enduringly popular artists, is set to play at Cavan Equestrian Centre on Friday, August 20, and The Anglo-Celt has a pair of tickets to give away!

He is most famous for his beautiful ballad, The Island, but Paul Brady's musical repertoire goes a lot further than that as his many fans know.

Born and raised in Strabane, Co. Tyrone, Brady was into a wide variety of music from an early age. A 1950s child, his first sounds were the swing, jazz, show tunes of his parents generation; then rock'n'roll, pop and Motown, blues, R'n'B and country and western. Through all this ran the potent flavour of Irish traditional music and song.

Learning to play the piano pretty much by ear, trial and error, his early heroes were Jerry Lee Lewis, Winifred Atwell and Fats Domino. By the age of eleven he had begun to play guitar, spending hours of his school holidays learning every tune the Shadows and The Ventures recorded, every lick Chuck Berry played.

The 1960s in Dublin saw the renewal of interest in Irish traditional music and gave birth to the first wave of Irish ballad groups like The Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners, Sweeney's Men and The Johnstons. Soon Paul became swept up in this current and joined the latter band with whom he recorded seven albums.

Moving with The Johnstons in 1969 to live in London and in 1972 to New York City, he returned to Dublin in 1974 to join Planxty, the premier Irish folk band of the early 1970s. This was the band that was to launch the solo careers of Andy Irvine, Liam O'Flynn, Donal Lunny and Christy Moore. From 1976 to 1978 he played as a duo with Andy Irvine, and throughout his career Paul has worked and collaborated with other artists.

An acclaimed solo folk album Welcome Here Kind Stranger (1978) won the Melody Maker Folk Album Of The Year and many more followed.

In summer of 1999 a best of collection called Nobody Knows, The Best Of Paul Brady (1970's-1990's) stayed in the Irish album charts for thirty weeks and is still selling.

In 2004 Paul recorded in Nashville, the result of which was the 2005 released album Say What You Feel an organic and fresh sounding record, mostly cut live and in one or two takes at most per song, this record has further enhanced his reputation as a songwriter and performing artist of the highest calibre.

He continues to push out the boundaries not only of his own talent but of Irish contemporary music.

• Win concert tickets

To win a pair of tickets to see Paul Brady live in concert with friends at Cavan Equestrian Centre, simply tell us which county Paul Brady is from.

Send your answer to Paul Brady Competition, The Anglo-Celt, Station House, Cavan before 4pm on Monday, August 16.

Include your contact details - name, address and a telephone number for us to reach you with the good news!