American songwriter Mike DeSorda has released his new single, Bygones My Dove, featuring Wicklow singer Martha Cooke. We asked Mike the BIG questions . . .
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The track was written and produced in traditional Irish Folk style by Mike, via his label Granite Mountain Sounds, who found Martha online.
Written and produced by Mike in Prescott, Arizona, the track is a creative departure from his Americana-leaning catalogue.
"When I finished writing Bygones My Dove, it surprised me," he says. "It sounded like it had come from another time, another place. It asked to be a traditional Irish folk song, so I listened."
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I'm seventy years old.
I only started writing music at the ripe young age of 69.
I started my own music boutique indie label last January.
How would you describe your music?
American Vintage. Nearly all my music, aside from my newest release of a traditional Irish folk song and one Reggae release, could have been heard in America in the 50s, 60s or 70s in very American genres like: Rockabilly; Folk; Country; Bluegrass; Jazz; Pop.9
Who are your musical inspirations?
American singer-songwriters from the mid-60s to the mid-70s; too many to mention, but a few would be in no particular order: Jim Croce; Neil Young; Cat Stevens; Donovan Joni Mitchell; Bob Dylan; Carole King; Paul Simon; Gordon Lightfoot; John Denver.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
By "gig" I’ll interpret that as my first concert I ever went to which was Wings in St. Mark’s Square, Venice, Italy, in probably about 1976.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Ha, at seventy years old there is no way I can recall the first record I ever bought; no idea. But I will say the first LP record I recall getting was at Christmas in 1967 and was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Molly Tuttle’s White Freight Liner Blues because I’m going through a bluegrass phase right now, probably because I am current producing my already released traditional Irish folk song, Bygones My Dove, into a bluegrass song.
Favourite lyric of all time?
This is an easy one: "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" - The Beatles.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now isn’t the greatest song ever written, and it’s quite simple, but its bright major key and hopeful lyrics about a better tomorrow always lift my spirits.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Here, Spotify, and DISCO.
Alan Corr
