40 years after the release of debut EP Religious Persuasion, Andy White is back home in Belfast and touring the UK in May/June in support of new live album The night is approaching though some would say it was morning. The tour starts at CQAF and finishes at Glastonbury, where old chum Billy Bragg has invited Andy to appear on the Left Field stage.

The story of the live album begins with the friendship between Andy and producer John Leckie (The Bends, Muse, Roy Harper, Baba Maal). The two met during one of Peter Gabriel’s recording weeks at Real World Studios and immediately hit it off, with John mixing and producing many of Andy’s recordings. After one of Andy’s concerts, John told him he wanted to buy an album of what he had just heard. A solo album recorded live. No band. No overdubs. “Where are we going to record it?” “The best-sounding room in the world – Studio Two at Abbey Road.”

On July 14, 2023, Andy and John met at Abbey Road. John got his first job there in 1970. His interview was the day the Beatles crossed the road for a photo. Andy had listened to albums recorded there and looked at photos taken there since Revolver played at primary school parties. Giles Martin was driving out as they drove in. Andy brought three guitars and an amp. John organised everything and when he took Andy down the stairs into Studio Two, told him to stop and smell the room. Nothing had changed since those great records had been recorded. You could feel it in the equipment, the fabric, the floorboards.

John had asked Andy to write his best set list. In the afternoon they recorded the first half, in the evening a small group of friends and family arrived, and they recorded the second. You can see what it looked like on the album sleeve, you can hear the room on the record. Everyone went to the café afterwards and sat drinking and talking under the photos of Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, Cilla and the Beatles. Andy said goodbye and walked across the crossing on the way to the hire car. It was done.

The double-CD set has both evening and afternoon sessions, one on each disc. The vinyl LP has the evening session and a download code for both sessions. The live show will feature songs from throughout Andy’s songwriting career from ‘Religious Persuasion’ and ‘James Joyce’s Grave’ to ‘Italian Girls on Mopeds’ and ‘Good Luck I Hope You Make It’. The Belfast troubadour has come home.

Niamh Bury is one of the most exciting new voices on the Irish folk scene. Her debut album, Yellow Roses, was released in March 2024 – quickly stirring hearts, receiving wide critical acclaim and earning #3 on Mojo’s Best Folk Albums of 2024 list. Niamh’s richly-textured folk sound and singular vocals has lead her to share the stage with acts Ye Vagabonds, Flyte, Maddison Cunningham, Dermot Kennedy and Martin Hayes.

Nominated for Best Emerging Artists at the 2024 RTE Folk Awards, Niamh is one of the chief organisers of the iconic traditional singing session ‘The Night Before Larry Got Stretched’, which famously takes place in The Cobblestone pub, and whose founders include members of Lankum and Landless. Along with ØXN and Lemoncello, she is one of the first new artists in almost two decades to be signed to Ireland’s most culturally important record label, Claddagh Records.

Praise for Yellow Roses:

“Think folky Cat Power or sun-drunk Weyes Blood and prepare to be transported.” Mojo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Bury’s vocal style is reminiscent of Laura Marling and Lisa Hannigan’s, her diction highly distinctive and her phrasing impeccable.” The Irish Times ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“‘Yellow Roses’ poses itself as an immaculate debut album from quickly rising folk wonder Niamh Bury.” Golden Plec ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The effect of immersing yourself in the record is holistic, like gazing up at a sweeping fresco, the detail so magnificent it’s impossible to decide where to lay your eyes first.”  Hot Press – 9.5/10

This show is strictly for audiences aged 18 and over.

If you have access needs, feel free to email Aoife at aoife@cqaf.com for more info—we’re happy to help!

Noah Gundersen has been writing and recording music since he was 13, working his way from teenage hardcore and indie rock to the creation of his own distinctive strain of bold, genre-busting songcraft.

Noah takes vulnerability to a new level on brand new full-length studio album, If This Is The End. Gundersen’s first offering since 2021’s A Pillar of Salt. Born out of a soul-searching period in Gundersen’s life where he was working a construction job after having enjoyed a fruitful career in music, the songs on If This Is The End detail the regret and failure of those years, but it also highlights his new found outlook on hope and the transformative power of love.

“I found myself disillusioned with the industry and no longer knew my place in it,” Gundersen recalls. “The world around me has changed rapidly and I sometimes have difficulty grasping it. There were moments when I felt I had lost the wind from my sails, but I still love creating music and I love these songs.”

Along with his recorded canon, Gundersen – who also maintains membership in Seattle indie rock heroes Young In The City and the all-star Americana collective known as Glorietta – has spent much of his adult life on the road, performing as headline act and support to like-minded artists spanning Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Beck, City & Colour, and Josh Ritter.

This show is strictly for audiences aged 18 and over.

If you have access needs, feel free to email Aoife at aoife@cqaf.com for more info—we’re happy to help!