It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like….
…the long awaited Christmas Album is here!!
You asked and I listened!
As a follow-on to the Gathering Folk album I’m pleased to announce that “A Christmas Gathering” is out now and available to order through my online store.
Hello again and welcome back…
If this is your first time here, you’re very welcome. I use this space to share some thoughts that may not
make it to social media and other channels.
You may have noticed some updates to the website when you arrived to the homepage just now and you won’t be surprised to hear that I’ve lots of news to tell you all.
But first. Let’s address the obvious. What a year it has been…right?
2020 started off quite pleasant for me as I took a 4 week break in January after what was a hectic 2019. Aside from continuing my Dingle Whiskey Bar residency, I took time to relax and prepare for 2020. Little did I know what was to come of course.
In February I got back to my usual routine of Wedding work, pub gigs and lots of admin and promo work that every independent artist must embrace. On that note, I must say the last number of years have been exciting for me as I entered the self-employed world and discovered new challenges along the way.
When word of Covid-19 reached Ireland there was a certain fear in the air that gigs and weddings would be affected and I think I speak for everyone when I say we felt it would be over in a matter of weeks. How wrong were we?
March 2020 – bookings started to disappear from the diary and all of a sudden I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and almost experiencing some form of isolation in the early part of the lockdown because of restrictions brought in by the Irish government and health officials.
We all know how things developed over the next 8 months.
I speak about it a little more in “Learning To Pivot During Lockdown”
Gather round folks…
If you’ve been following my journey you’ll know that I used the opportunity that lockdown presented me with by releasing some new music. These releases included my second live album “Gathering Folk”, 2 summer remixes and one of my biggest projects to date – the lockdown music video for “Replace” which you can watch HERE
All these projects helped me stay connected with my fans and build the fanbase to a level I wouldn’t have thought possible in such a short space of time. the REPLACE video involved over 80 people from 8 different countries and was viewed by thousands around the world.
I also made sure to nurture the fanbase that I already had by moving my Sunday night residency to the Virtual world of facebook and Instagram. Again, this was something I thought would last a few weeks but believe it or not I did 6 months of those gigs. I wrote about them in more details in previous blogs posts.
Some people have been asking lately if I will be making a virtual appearance again soon and I most likely will but nothing is set in stone just yet.
From Carrick to Kilkenny…
“King of The Castle does it again..”
Are you still with me? Yes? Good..
I’ve had the most amazing week. Aside from turning 35 (plus the rest) I’ve had so much to celebrate.
My most recent music video for an old song “Medieval City” was picked up by Kilkenny Tourism and Kilkenny County Council and the response to the song and the video (illustrated and animated by Trea Ivory aka The Doodling Yogi @thedoodlingyogi) has been just fantastic. Medieval City was written in and about the great city of Kilkenny and I’ve always wanted to work on a music video for the song but never found the right person to collaborate with until now. I haven’t had this type of reaction to my work in a very long time and I think any little “pat on the back” this year is magnified due to the circumstances and is in turn very much appreciated. I’ll let the video speak for itself.
– Special thanks to Grace Quinn for all her time and support over the last week. Her enthusiasm has really inspired and encouraged me this week.
WATCH THE MEDIEVAL CITY VIDEO HERE
Before I go I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me up to this point and to those who have just joined in on the journey I hope you’re enjoying it so far.
2020 has been one hell of a trip but I reckon I’m riding the storm well as I know you have my back and want the best for me.
Until the next time,
All my love and thanks
Barry Jay
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