Raucous, rootsy Tupelo ready to get Galway and Clifden rocking

Hang up your boots and prepare to go back to your roots! Dublin five-piece Tupelo are coming west for a trio of gigs and will play in the College Bar, NUI Galway at 2pm this Friday, March 26 before going to the Róisín Dubh later that evening to play as part of the JD Set. Then on Saturday, they lay claim to Vaughan’s, Clifden.

Tupelo bring their own style to old music – their front man James Cramer has been soaking up influences from a very young age. Van Morrison is one artist he admires, amongst others.

“I was big into [Morrison’s] Veedon Fleece,” he recalls. “And I really like Astral Weeks, obviously. I listen to a lot of old blues stuff as well, like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Josh White, the Clancy Brother – I was brought up on a lot of folk music, through to some of the rock and roll stuff; Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.”

Tupelo have some cracking tunes to their name (like the toe-tapping Dirty Money) but they’re always keen to road-test new songs.

“We have this new one called I’m An Irishman,” says James. “It’s a song about the 1916 Rising, about Kilmainham Jail and the fellas who were shot in the courtyard there. We’ve been gigging that, it’s one of those songs that’s taken on a life of its own.

“It’s not about being a Republican or anything like that,” he adds. “It’s a song about Irish history; it’s coming from the rebel stance really. I suppose it could be taken as rebel song, but I don’t want it to be like that.”

Tupelo are a band who keep themselves busy and James regularly bring new ideas to the table.

“I write about a lot of stuff,” he says. “Whatever comes my way; then I just run with it. I don’t really put a lot of thought into it; I just do it. Next song, really – that’s the way I work. I bring it to the band, we put it down and then we gig them. That’s the best way – after three or four shows you start knowing what works and what songs are going down well.”

He’s not one for over-thinking things, then?

“Not at all. What’s the point? I suppose everyone writes differently – Brendan Behan wrote in a different way to James Joyce. It depends.“I don’t really believe in sitting down and trying to re-write a song. I never buy the thing when I hear someone say ‘it took me three years to write this song’. I can’t really relate to that.”

James has been playing with guitarist Paul Murray and double bass player Damien McMahon for over 10 years, and that long musical relationship is vital to their tight, down-home sound.

“With the two lads, knowing them for 10 years, we’ve played everywhere from the biggest shithole to some of the nicest venues. They understand when I bring in a new song where I want to with it. Damo, the bass player, often says to me I nod and a nod can mean 10 different things. They know what the nod means!”

The line up is completed by Tim Condon on saxophone and Kevin Duffy on violin/mandolin. The sense of ambition that these five musicians have makes Tupelo the kind of band who’ll make a winning first impression.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.