BIO

Jubilee Allstars, Barry's former band, were once aptly described as equal parts Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen and Brendan Behan; and the records Barry contributed to before leaving the band in 2001 were influenced by the Irish song and literary traditions and American roots and rock music. It was the former influences that were brought to the fore on Barry's debut solo album We Drank Our Tears (2003), which was critically lauded for eschewing the introspective, soul-searching approach of his contemporaries in favour of songs inspired by the Irish storytelling tradition. Hot Press called it 'A melting pot of Brendan Behan, Bob Dylan and Shane MacGowan...McCormack has created an album of contemporary folk songs rooted in a tradition that goes back generations.'

Perhaps ironically, it was encounters Barry had with American musicians, touring as support with Alt Folk/Country acts like The Handsome Family, Adam Snyder and Joe Pernice, which made him eager to explore the song tradition of his own country.

The influence of the Dublin street-singing tradition, as well as his reading of the local history, are apparent on Barry's second record, Last Night, as I was Wandering (2006). 'His city is a purgatorial stripmall facade of Nightown', said Hot Press, 'populated by ghosts who walk: Kelly, Kavanagh, Behan, Dylan, MacGowan, the brothers Palace and Louvin and James Clarence Mangan.'

McCormack's third record, Night Visiting, (2008) was something of a departure in that the songs took on a rural feel in both setting and story. Inspired by local history, short stories and folk songs, the Irish Independent called it, 'Patrick McCabe put to music. And, just as in McCabe's novels the macabre and hilarious often sit side by side'.

His hometown had been the inspiration behind Jubilee Allstars' second album Lights of the City (2011), which saw the band gain some renown as Dublin eulogists. The title track, which Barry penned, was described by the The Guardian as 'probably the first great song explicitly written about the bittersweet effects of urban gentrification'.

His latest album, Small Mercies (2011), returns to this theme and also sees him returning to playing with a full band for a record that he feels shows him maturing as an artist and fulfilling the potential shown on earlier albums.

After years of indolent scrounging, Barry has earned a living as, amongst other things, a shop assistant (stationery supplies/photocopying), office temp, English language teacher and arts columnist. He spent a year living in Paris teaching English to nuclear engineers and failing to learn French.

Barry releases his records on his own Hag's Head label.

NIGHT VISITING

Press release for "Night Visiting (MS Word)".
Press release for "Night Visiting (txt)".

"F***ing brilliant...it's a testament to McCormack's literary songwriting that his work stands up to intense scrutiny"
Slate magazine ****

"McCormack takes his listener into dark, surreal and often downright funny territory...this is Patrick McCabe put to music. And just as in McCabe's novels the macabre and the hilarious often sit side by side."
Irish Independent ****

"If you like dark ruminations and tales that come from a trady tradition quite at odds with fifteen years of the Celtic Tiger you'll love Barry McCormack"
Hot Press *****

"Doom-laden but blackly comical...such is McCormack's eye for folk and trad detail that one expects Captain Farrell to come galloping in all his pomp across the Cork and Kerry mountains...Ronnie Drew will rest easier with talent like this around."
RTE Guide ***

LAST NIGHT, AS I WAS WANDERING

"[Last Night, as I was Wandering] is a purgatorial stripmall facade of Nightown, populated by ghosts who walk: Kelly, Kavanagh, Behan, Dylan, MacGowan, the brothers Palace and Louvin and James Clarence Mangan...here's a body of song which understands that any port town is also a portal town, a hell door that admits all manner of strange sailors, strumpets and shape shifters."
Hot Press

"Timeless ballads from the dark side...the lyrics reveal a finely honed literary sensibility"
Evening Herald

"You could imagine Shane MacGowan or Luke Kelly blasting out these songs and if that's not a recommendation, we don't know what is"
RTE Guide

"As Tom Waits can pull off the adoption of a range of whiskey-soaked characters of all ages, so can McCormack."
Capital Magazine

"McCormack sings with a voice beyond his years... he pulls you into the story; and when you come out the other side, your emotions are scrubbed raw. Since Luke Kelly, this town has not produced many singers who do it so well."
Foggy Notions

WE DRANK OUR TEARS

"The finest acoustic album of 2003 is Barry McCormack’s We Drank Our Tears, an album that owes less to this songwriting nation’s all too well-thumbed canon of Dylan/Drake/Buckley and more to the Irish storytelling tradition: timeless and placeless, but at the same time very specifically observed and honestly rendered universal, local, music."
Hot Press