There was a packed house for Galway button accordion player, Gerry Hanley, as he launched his debut solo album, In The Middle Of It, at Monroe’s Live.
Guest musicians included Sharon Shannon, Sean Smyth, Máirín Fahy, Gary Monroe, Lackagh Group, Carl Hession, Joe Skelton, and Kevin Hough. MC on the night was Gary Monroe.
A lifelong musician rooted in Galway’s traditional music scene, the album was recorded over a year and a half with some of the country’s finest traditional musicians. It comprises twelve tracks of slow airs, which are very much in the Galway style and feature contributions from Maureen Fahy on fiddle and Eimear Coughlan on harp.
It is dedicated to his parents, Eileen and Padraig, who lived on the old Monivea Road in Castlegar, where their home was filled with song. Gerry went on to perform widely throughout his youth and early adulthood, recording as far back as 1975 in Windmill Lane Studios and later with the Roudledum Band in the 1980s.
This milestone debut album stays true to the way he learned and loved music and is already receiving airplay on local radio stations.
“It’s not trying to be flashy or fashionable,” he says.
“It’s traditional music, the way I heard it growing up, from the famous and not-so-famous players.”
