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He was dumped by his record label, but instead ended up making one of the great albums of 2011 – His name is Eamonn O’Connor and his band are called Lucky Bones and tonight they are launching their second album

The band is made up of 5 members; Eamonn O’ Connor, Leon Kennedy Peter O’Grady, Ben Clarke and Conor Miley, all with a different background in music.They came in to give us a tune.

GIGS

May 22nd: ALBUM LAUNCH : Whelans, Dublin

May 23rd: Roisin Dubh (Strange Brew), Galway

May 24th: Molly's, Killaloe, Co. Clare

May 25th: Hotspot, Greystones, Wicklow

May 29th: Ryans, Kilkenny

And then off to spend June touring Demark.

She first came to prominence during RTE’s talent search “You’re a Star”, singer songwriter of folk music and folk inspired pop music Louise Killeen’s latest Album ‘Brilliant Tease’ has been getting good reviews at home and abroad. Louise Killeen together with James Blennerhassett on bass and Brendan Emmett on guitar performed   ‘Easy Talk’ , and 'Charming Hands'  from her  album for Pat this morning.

Ruth Moody is a two-time Juno Award winning singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founding member of the internationally renowned,Billboard-charting trio The Wailin' Jennys, Ruth has performed in sold-out venues around the world and has released two hugely acclaimed albums the first was entitled The Garden and the latest one just out is called These Wilder Things.

She was here last year as part of the Celtic Connections tour but she is back for a small tour of Ireland with her band and they crammed themselves into our studio this morning to play some music for us.

With a stunning voice that has drawn comparisons with Dusty Springfield and Imelda May, Shauna Makin's incredible vocal range has won her an ever-growing legion of fans in the North West of England where she now lives but we can claim her as one of our own – she’s a Dublin girl. She was over to play some Irish gigs to launch her new single called Rita and came into us this morning.

Track Dogs are in Ireland this May for two main reasons – to finish promoting the Dust Devil EP and, most importantly, to lay the groundwork for the band's next album, which is due for release in September.

Before leaving for South By South West in Austin Texas, the band were in studio to record the 1st half of the album and, it is already shaping up to be something incredibly special, with some of the songs receiving high-praise at SXSW in the US.

After twelve years of relentlessly touring the world with her acoustic guitar and harmonica, singing on stages large, small and in between,

Mary Gauthier has just released of her first live recording called Live at The Blue Rock. She is back in Ireland for quite an extensive tour.

Dates:

Fri 3 May: Monroe's, Galway
Sun 5 May: Hawks Well Theatre, Sligo
Mon 6 May: Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
Wed 8 May: The Pavilion, Cork
Thu 9 May: Button Factory, Dublin
Fri 10 May: St Georges Church, Belfast (Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival)
Sat 11 May: Venue Theatre, Ratoath

"Channelling the spirit of Irish bands both past and present, there is enough new to keep you excited and enough old to keep you hooked, with plenty of potential hits." So said BBC Online about our music guests this morning – they are called The Plea – originally from Northern Ireland they are now based in London. Their debut album ‘The Dreamer’s Stadium’ late last year here and just recently in the UK & Germany.

They are not new to the Irish music scene. They have been circulating the most renowned venues throughout Ireland; headlining their own shows and supporting the likes of The Hot Sprockets.

We had them in just over a year ago and we predicted great things for them. Well they have just released their first album - The Little Battle both here and in The States to great acclaim – so I’m glad to say it looks like we got it right.

They are normally a 5 piece but three of them squeezed into our studio this morning to give us a taste of their album.

Lauded by New York’s Death and Taxes as “being at the head of a new breed of politically engaged eloquent singer songwriters emerging from New York’s most populous borough”, Cork born Niall Connolly has crafted a highly regarded niche for himself as one of the leading lights in the New York music scene. Niall Connolly returns from NYC with his band to celebrate the release of his sixth studio album ‘Sound’. He plays Dublin tonight and tomorrow night in Bewley’s on Grafton Street and he came in to give us a tune this morning.