Tipperary gig for songwriter with chutzpah and stagecraft

Clonmel World Music is delighted to bring Carsie Blanton back to town, following her sold-out show last year. Clonmel will be the first show on a short tour of Ireland, culminating in a headline show at the Kilkenny Roots Festival.

She will play at Raheen House at 8pm(doors open at 7) on Wednesday, April 23.

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Carsie Blanton is a songwriter with hooks, chutzpah, and revolutionary optimism. “It is possible to face the world as it is - rapidly heating, ruled by grifters, ravaged by profitable wars - and still have hope,” she says of her forthcoming release, After the Revolution.

“Not the narrow, grasping hope you might hang on an election, but a patient, zoomed-out hope.”
Blanton’s ninth full-length album draws from many influences. Tracks like My Good Friends evoke her childhood in Appalachia, while Ain’t We Got Fun showcases a musical roux earned from a long stint in New Orleans and fifteen years of touring with her band. The title track, a hard-rocking protest anthem, shows that her commitment to the good fight need not obscure her considerable acumen as a writer and musician.

Blanton is known for her 2020 tribute to John Prine, Fishin’ With You, which landed her on the lineup for the sold-out Vicar Street Celebration of John Prine in 2023.
After the Revolution, produced by Grammy-winner Tyler Chester, came out in March ‘24 and was be preceded by five singles.

REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT
Carsie Blanton is that rare artist who knows how to combine savvy stagecraft and airtight songs with a revolutionary spirit. Take her latest hit, “Rich People,” which swept TikTok by storm with over 3 million views and, true to its name, laid bare wealth inequality in the process. Songs like “Shit List” and “Dealin’ with the Devil” lampoon neo-Nazis and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, respectively, and indicate why she has been hailed as an artist who creates “beautiful, militant anthems,” with the ability to make ”revolution desirable to your body, even if your head resists it” (NPR, American Songwriter).

Despite the struggles she readily acknowledges, Blanton retains a sense of hope, which shines through in her songs and performances. “When you spend your time watching the news or social media, people seem cruel and stupid,” she says. “But I think that by a wide margin, people are good, and want to take care of each other.” Her songs “Be Good” and “Lovin’ is Easy” are steeped in that spirit, inviting us to “love everybody alive.”

After keeping her band afloat throughout lockdown with live-streamed ‘Rent Parties’, going viral with a song memorializing John Prine (“Fishin with You), and releasing a critically acclaimed mid-pandemic album (2021’s Love and Rage, “fighting fascism with big hooks and an even bigger heart” – American Songwriter), Blanton chose to bring some nuance to her success, with her recent exposé in The Nation, laying bare the economics of the modern-day music industry.

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TICKETS
Blanton makes no attempt to disguise her far-left political leanings, but at the heart of her music is love, and her songs are capable of tethering us to our shared humanity across socio-political lines. No matter where they begin, every audience leaves her show transformed into friends and comrades, united in laughter, camaraderie, and hope.

Tickets for this great gig are on sale now, and are available online at clonmelworldmusic.com or from Gerry Lawless on 086 3389619.