Danny Guinan

'Wise' is not a word one would normally equate with anybody not possessing a lifetime of experience and it is a word Danny Guinan only uses in his song 'If I was wise' to emphasise the fact that this Irish singer-songwriter is going to be around for a long time yet. Born and raised in what he describes as "the quietest and therefore the best place in Ireland", Co. Offaly, he has forged a career in music that has brought him from Offaly to Paris to Portland and back and everywhere in between.

Guinan is best described as an intuitive songwriter, seizing the moment when it comes to him and instead of wrestling with it letting it fly off again keeping only the song that he needs to draw from it. In a world of unparallelled blandness in music he is sworn to fighting for the integrity of 'the song'. It's probably not for nothing that Luka Bloom singled him out when asked on Belgian tv's 'Laatste Show' if he had any recommendations for people looking for the next up and coming Irish songwriter. And Luka Bloom, among others like Elvis Costello and Tom Waits, has been a constant source of inspiration to him. The resemblance, however, says nothing of Danny's deep-rooted commitment to making music based on an acoustic platform nor the undeniable Irish and 'Roots' strain that runs through his songs.

Live, the gig is a revelation. There are no trappings here, no fancy sideshows. He is as comfortable playing in his local pub as he was in Dranouter 2003, stealing the hearts of the folk festival public. That has a lot to do with the fact that he is regularly flanked by two of the finest musicians you are bound to find anywhere namely Siard de Jong and Onno Kuipers. With their combined ability on fiddle, accordion, bouzouki, whistles, mandolin and guitar the gig that they all put together is a wonder to behold. Not for the faint-hearted, live and on cd Danny Guinan leaves an impression on heart, mind and feet that one won't easily leave behind.