Folk: Singer Paul O’Brien performs in Birmingham this weekend
Nov 27 2009 by Andrew Coleman, Birmingham Mail
WHEN folk singer Paul O’Brien quit music – and Birmingham – six years ago he vowed he would never pick up a guitar again.
He planned to sell all his instruments but his wife, Louise, persuaded him to hang on to them when the O’Brien family emigrated to Canada.
So it is something of a surprise to learn that Paul, now 43, has been recording and touring, and is back in Birmingham this weekend for a handful of shows.
“When my band, Juno, and I played our final show at Birmingham’s Irish Centre six years ago it was my ‘End of Music’ gig because at that point I was never ever going to be making music again,” admits Paul who was at the time a teacher at Archbishop Ilsley RC High School in Acocks Green.
Shortly after that show, Paul, Louise and their children Millie, Cormac and Fintan, packed up and relocated to Victoria, British Columbia.
“I didn’t enjoy my music. As far as I was concerned I was going to be a school teacher in Canada – I had a job in a high school and that was it. I didn’t play for six to eight months after arriving in Victoria.’’
Paul’s mind was changed when he met record producer Joby Baker.
Recalls Paul: “He played me an album he had just done and it blew me away. This was the guy I’d always wanted to make a record with.”
In the past, Paul has been ashamed to play Irish gigs and have to admit he was English.
“If I told people, they said I was ‘plastic’ so I used to lie profusely and say I was from Ireland as I didn’t want to be insulted. When I went to Canada I found you can be whoever you want, you can claim heritage from anywhere as long as you’re for the good of the country.”
Paul quit teaching after recording two albums with Joby and toured extensively. He signed with a German record company earlier this year and recorded an album in March.
After a successful British tour, during which Paul sold out the Red Lion Folk Club in Kings Heath, he is back in Birmingham this weekend.
He supports The Outside Track at the Red Lion tomorrow, then headlines two shows at The Kitchen Garden Café, in Kings Heath, at 6.30pm and 9.30pm, on Sunday.
PAUL O’BRIEN
Tomorrow: Red Lion, Kings Heath (0121 441 6941) Sunday: Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath (0121 443 4725)
