They say folk songs carry the history of a place more accurately than the history books and this will never be truer than in the songs of Sligo-born, Tuam-based Padraig Stevens. Come along to the Town Hall Theatre Galway on Monday 2nd of November for a very special evening celebrating the songs of Padraig Stevens, featuring performances of Padraig’s songs by a host of his favourite artists including New Beast; Davy Carton, Leo Moran and Mary O’Connor; Ultan Conlon; Brid Dooley; Frank Gleeson; Rod Goodall; Tom Joyce; Matt Keane, Johanna Lane; Mouse Mc Hugh; Little John Nee; The Racoons with Darragh O’Dea and Jamie Ralph; Seamus Rutledge; Aine Tyrrell and Ruth Dillon; Joe Stevens; Tyrone Ward; and The Whileaways. The House Band will feature Dave Clancy, Pearse Doherty, Jimmy Higgins, Leo Moran, Mairtin O Connor, Anto Thistlewaite and MC on the night will be Midie Corcoran.

Born in Sligo in November 1946, Padraig Stevens has been involved in music-making all his life, both as a performer and a songwriter. His songs have been recorded and performed by Matt Keane, Eleanor Shanley, The Cabin Collective, Strange Boats, Ann Kirrane, Mike Denver, Michael English, and Christy Moore (whose recording of ‘The Tuam Beat’ was a big hit).

Padraig has recorded and performed with The Waterboys, Dé Danann, The Stunning, Blaze X, and The Problems, but is perhaps best known for his work with The Saw Doctors with whom he has been associated since their inception in Tuam, and with whom he has recorded and toured extensively. Padraig is also co-writer of some of their hit songs including I Useta Lover, Still the Only One and That’s What She Said Last Night.

Padraig has released several solo albums. And he has inspired, encouraged, and helped a horde of not just young musicians but people of all ages interested in all kinds of creativity.

And to mark this special year and event for Padraig, a few words from his great friend and musical collaborator Leo Moran:

“They say folk songs carry the history of a place more accurately than the history books and this will never be truer than in the songs of Padraig Stevens. The interests, passions, activities, and issues are not only recorded accurately within these magical and precious lyrics but also the authentic vernacular of the individuals and communities portrayed.

Songs are valuable creations. They stir our emotions, express things for us that either we don’t normally express ourselves or we’re not able to, they educate us, they give us a chance to dance. On the spectrum of possible emotions, Padraig Stevens has covered them all, more than once.

Heartbreakingly sad songs, laugh out loud funny ones, holy songs and risqué ones, songs about Gaelic football and hurling and soccer and all kinds of sports, songs for children and old people, songs for people who have passed away and ones for those not yet born, songs for the vulnerable and the ones on the periphery, protest songs, the beauty of nature and the harshness of humanity, songs of celebration of women and men, boys and girls, rural and urban songs, songs in English mostly, but in Irish too. And more, lots, lots more because making up songs comes as natural to Padraig as putting on the kettle for the tea and he’s made them up for all kinds of reasons and occasions like he does it for fun. And maybe that’s part of the secret of it.

Padraig’s gift to view things in an extraordinarily broad creative fashion is helped by the different and diverse places he has lived. He draws on Corofin for the rural and the sporting and the farming angles it offered him, on Tuam for the more urban, secondary school experience and his introduction to music as a way of life and he draws on his emigrant, outsider experience as an Irish person in the big, big English city, able to view home from abroad, but his most beloved of all, and you can sense it when he goes back there in his mind and refers to it, is his childhood in Sligo. It’s probably from this enchanted place that the well of all his love and creativity and wisdom springs.

Padraig is a drummer at heart; he loves it and plays with a combination of joy and creativity that few drummers play with. Drumming informs his songs. He’s a rhythm man and his words are rhythm men – syllables hit on the beat; they bang out in tight time or stretch playfully over the backbeat. Sometimes they switch naturally and effortlessly between time signatures to suit the rhythm of the words or the mood. It’s all part of his unique artform – the fun, the playfulness, and the ability to do it in his own way.

I’ve often heard someone ask Padraig what is his favourite song that he’s written, and the answer is always the same. “The newest one”