Event Phone: 0863389619

Ultan Conlon

Friday 23rd January 2026

Jerry Moynihans Clonmel

 

 

with special guest

Cormac O’Caoimh

 

Doors 7pm.

Show 7.30pm

Tipperary Launch of new album

We are delighted to welcome acclaimed Galwegian singer-songwriter Ultan Conlon to Clonmel, for the Tipperary launch of his sixth studio album “ONLY”.

Ultan has recorded 12 songs stripped back with acoustic and vocal. It’s an intimate album with the songs performed as they were written. ‘Only” was released on October 17th on all digital platforms and is available on CD from Ultan’s “Store” and “Bandcamp” pages.

The album is made up of songs from Ultan’s first two albums, “Bless Your Heart” and “Songs of Love so Cruel”. Penny Sweets also features making it the first time this popular song is available on a physical release.

The album was recorded in Ahascragh, Galway, with Jason O’Looney on recording, mixing and mastering duties.

Artwork is by Ria Kirby and design by long time collaborator Shane Crotty. Micheal O’Connor and Jimmy Higgins were also on the committee as advisors.

Ultans last Album, The Starlight Ballroom was recorded in L.A, and produced by Grammy Award-Winner David Garza (Fiona Apple)

The formidable group of musicians on the album includes producer and co-writer Garza on numerous instruments, Amy Wood— Drums (Fiona Apple, Iggy Pop, St Vincent) Sebastian Steinberg, Double Bass (Fiona Apple, Iron and Wine, Neil Diamond, KD Lang) Dave Curtis – Strings and Programming (Aj Croce). The Starlight Ballroom is engineered and mixed by John Would (Fiona Apple, Warren Zevon)

For many songwriters there is one occurrence which has such significance in their lives that they will always point to it as the time of transformation or moment of epiphany. For the Galway born singer-songwriter, that shift happened at age 13 when Ultan Conlon’s father passed away. Ultan’s earliest memories are that of his dad singing along to old standards as they crackled through the car radio. While always drawn to music, until this time Ultan had never felt the need to create his own. A proficient guitarist who’d been taught traditional folk tunes, he had suddenly tapped into his creative well and took to the process with voracity. Says Ultan, “I write as a form of comfort. I know when I start to feel a bit off there is potentially a creative period ahead.”

Ultan’s unique ability to capture the fragility and sensitivity of the human spirit through his lyrics has been honed over almost two decades of writing and performing. The quality of his songwriting is equally matched by his powerful yet melancholy voice that critics have likened to the great Roy Orbison.
He also toured Ireland and the UK with Eddi Reader, The Sawdoctors and The Stunning.

Ultan has shared the stage with the likes of Jackson Browne, Shelby Lynne, John Fogerty, Mavis Staples, Bryan Ferry, John Grant, Eddi Reader, Patty Griffin and Richard Hawley, among others. Ultan has also performed duets with Glen Hansard and John Martyn, and Martyn recorded Ultan’s song “Really Gone” in 2005.  Many of Ultan’s lauded songs have received extensive airplay in Ireland (RTE Radio 1, Lyric FM) and the UK (BBC). RTE Radio 1, Marty Whelan (Lyric FM) and Eve Blair (BBC Radio Ulster) all deemed There’s a Waltz as their recommended Album of the Week.

His songwriting foray resulted in five acclaimed albums recorded in a span of twelve years. While still based in Galway, Ultan recently found a haven for his unique sound and sensibility in Los Angeles, CA, where he recorded two of his albums.

Conlon’s poetically-enigmatic “songs of substance told with intelligence and wry observation” (Hot Press Magazine) on There’s a Waltz often stem from his own personal experiences, whether he is reflecting on the dark days of his battle with alcohol addiction (“A Long Way Back”), the isolation incurred by the digital universe (“World from A Window”), anxiety concerning the fate of the world  (“A Landslide”), or journeying towards self-acceptance and love (the title track). The Sunday Irish Times raved There’s a Waltz is “a record that revels in the beauty of the simple and unspectacular.” 

Ultan’s “clear, melodic vocal brings Roy Orbison to mind” (Americana UK) and his writer’s voice brings forth original songs that combine depths of feeling, introspection and modesty.

In April 2018, Ultan’s third studio album ‘Last Days of the Night Owl’ was chosen ‘Album of the Week’ on RTE Radio 1 with two singles from the album, ‘The Measure’ and ‘A Weak Heart Like Mine’ (duet with Mary Coughlan), each receiving extensive radio airplay. The first single “The Old Songs”, with guest vocalist Eddi Reader, Starlight Ballroom got great airplay.

🎵 Mary Coughlan not only recorded Ultan’s songs “Really Gone” and “The Lumberjack” but also co-wrote and duetted with him on “Freefallin’” for her recent critically acclaimed album.

🎵 John Martyn was so taken by Ultan’s work that he recorded “Really Gone.”

🎵 Hot Press describes Ultan as having “clear melodic vocals that bring Roy Orbison to mind.”

 

 

Cormac O’Caoimh

His new album and previous album were both album of the week on RTE Radio 1 and Marty in the Morning on Lyric fm and many many more.He has had over 15 songs on the RTE Recommends list the past few years reaching over 10 million listeners on Irish radio.

Cormac’s intimate vocals, magical melodies and exquisite guitar playing has always attracted very favourable appeal to critics (with Mojo, The Irish Times, HotPress, R2, Americana UK, OndaRock in Italy and many more) always quick to point to his unique style.

2020’s ‘Swim Crawl Walk Run’ which spawned 6 singles, entered the official IRMA charts on its release, got to no.1 in the IRMA Independent charts and ended up in the top 20 selling Irish albums for that year

“Cormac’s songs are like little sculptures… considered, shaped and honed into things of beauty that find their way to your soul.”
– Fiachna Ó Braonáin (Hothouse Flowers/RTE)