Born and raised in Glenarm, Northern Ireland, the now Nashville based Ben Glover arrives in the UK today for a string of dates which kicks off tonight in regal style at London’s King’s Place, the first of two dates as Mary Gauthier’s special guest. Glover has been hailed around the world as one of Northern Ireland’s finest exports (after Jim McDonald of course) and was awarded International Song of the Year at the 2016 UK Americana Awards with Gretchen Peters for their co-written song ‘Blackbirds,’ a song which appears on Glover’s album ‘Atlantic’ and serves as the title track to Peters’ 2015 solo album.
His impending studio album ‘Shorebound’ (look out for a review on AUK shortly) sees him evolve even further as an artist and collaborator and mark a moment in Glover’s musical history — a moment that nods to the past decade of his artistry even while pivoting into the next era. “I’m a believer in cycles, and 2018 will mark ten years since I released my first album,” Glover says, “so it feels very much that this album is a major turning point in a cycle. Shorebound is an acknowledgement of where I am and a celebration of the people who I’ve gotten here with.”
One of the tracks ‘Kindness’ (which you can hear below) Glover describes as a “testimony that I could leave this world.” He goes on: “It’s my declaration of the greatest and most important lessons I’ve learned so far. It seems pretty clear and simple to me that a lot of problems in this world could be solved if we were kinder to ourselves and kinder to others. I believe that kindness is the essential nature of love and that’s the ultimate value we must express. Here’s the thing, life can land some hard punches, it’s been my experience that a bit of kindness can help with the bruises.” Frank Turner would agree. Here are those dates.
Ben Glover UK Tour 2018
Thurs 10th May – London, King’s Place (supporting Mary Gauthier)
Fri 11th May – Carlisle, Carlisle Folk and Blues Club
Sat 12th May – Aberdeen, The Blue Lamp
Sun 13th May – Rose Theatre, Edinburgh
Tues 15th May – Birmingham, Kitchen Garden Cafe
Wed 16th May – Tadcaster, Everything Good Goes
Thurs 17th May – London, King’s Place (supporting Mary Gauthier)
Fri 18th May – Worthing, Coastal Connections
Sat 19th May – Cambridge, The Junction
Sat 26th May – Culdaff, McGrory’s [Ireland]
Thurs 31st May – Larne, N. Ireland, Larne Town Hall
Fri 1st June – Belfast, The Black Box
