BEAT ROOT: RICHARD DAWSON + ROBYN G SHIELS

A Weekend of Alternative Roots Music In Belfast



ROBIN G SHIELS

Last year Kilrea songwriter Robyn G Shiels scooped the Northern Ireland Music Prize for his album ‘The Blood Of The Innocents’; a fitting tribute for the veteran musician, who is surely one of the finest songwriters on the island.

For RG Shiels, darkness has always been more appealing than the light, as he mines the inky black for a truth that seldom makes it into song. His music speaks of experience and a life lived, but still point towards something new.

Whether stripped back to just the voice and acoustic guitar, or cutting loose in a full band setting, Robyn G Shiels is able to bring a documentarian’s eye to any situation, coupled with the words of a poet. But just before it all seems too dark, he pulls back, a twinkle in his eye and another story to tell. In the world of Robyn G Shiels, it might be dark, but there’s still a powerful sense of warmth.

“Shiels is a songwriter of rare talent, with a flair for words both beautiful and brutal, often simultaneously, the brutality often directed at himself…” Culture NI



RICHARD DAWSON

Rising up from the bed of the River Tyne, is a voice that crumbles and soars. Steeped in age-old balladry and finely chiselled observations of the mundane, hilarious, and tragic. Richard Dawson is a skewed troubadour all at once charming and abrasive.