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Celtic Thunder’s Keith Harkin takes own musical approach Irish influence
By John Benson
CANFIELD
For the better part of the last decade, singer-songwriter Keith Harkin has been featuring his vocal talents as a member of the popular touring act Celtic Thunder. The global touring entity released more than a dozen albums, with Harkin being the only member to compose original music.
However, during that time, the Irishman has been plotting his own solo career, which began with his 2012 self-titled debut.
“The first album was huge,” said Harkin, calling from outside of Annapolis, Md. “It was a massive album produced by David Foster that I recorded with a 50-piece orchestra in the Abbey Road studios. Everything was very lush and produced. It sounded like a movie soundtrack.”
“It was a No. 1 [seller online] in America and Canada. It exceeded everything that I ever dreamed of.”
It turned out the success became a textbook example of being careful what you wish for. Harkin said while he only wrote a handful of the album tracks, the record label had total control of the project. Stylistically, the music wasn’t too far removed from the Celtic Thunder universe with a world music-pop sensibility.
When it came time to write and record his follow-up effort, Harkin decided to eschew his record label and instead take the independent route. What he was giving up in financial and promotional support, Harkin was gaining in creative independence to fully express his musical vision.
The result is “On Mercy Street,” which clearly paints Harkin as an Americana artist influenced by the likes of Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Tom Waits, Neil Young and Glen Campbell.
“We went into the studio and everything is recorded live,” Harkin said. “You can feel the liveliness and the energy of the people in the room together. That’s really the direction I wanted the album to go. This is more soaring. It’s a really raw album. It’s definitely Americana.”
Due to be released later this month, “On Mercy Street” includes the acoustic title track, toe-tapper “I Remember it All” and the rocking “Keep on Rolling.” Harkin plans on playing these tunes when he makes his Buckeye State solo debut Tuesday at Drake’s Landing in Canfield.
As far as his day gig, Harkin said, “I’m still with Celtic Thunder, but this is what I do. This is me. I’m a session singer for Celtic Thunder, so I lend myself to them. I sing whatever songs they want me to do, but what I love doing is my own music, my own band. That’s my bag.”
While Harkin’s sound is quite different from that of Celtic Thunder, the truth is both fall under the umbrella of Irish music.
“That’s 100 percent correct,” Harkin said. “That’s exactly what it is. Irish music isn’t just fiddle-de-dee. Irish music is U2. Irish music is Van Morrison. Those influences back in Ireland are what we all grew up listening to.”
Perhaps Irish music is now Keith Harkin.
“Yeah,” he said, laughing, “if you want to go that far.”