Van Morrison has announced an extra date for his upcoming Northern Irish shows.
The Belfast-born musician is set to release his new album ‘Moving On Skiffle’ on March 10 with the lead single is entitled ‘Streamline Train’.
To celebrate he has already announced shows at the Whitla Hall in Belfast on April 6 and 7.
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Due to demand, he has announced that he will add an extra date on April 5 after selling out the first two shows with tickets going on sale on Friday, Januaray 6 at 10am from Ticketmaster.
It should come as no surprise that Van Morrison has made an album inspired by skiffle as his love dates back to his childhood. He would hang out at the famed Belfast record store Atlantic Records, where he’d hear early 20th-century folk, blues and jazz from the likes of Lead Belly and Jelly Roll Morton.
So when he heard Lonnie Donegan’s take on ‘Rock Island Line’ he intuitively understood the music he was creating. Before long, Van Morrison was playing with a skiffle band in school.
‘Moving On Skiffle’ finds him taking a homemade style that exploded across Britain in the mid-1950s and infusing it with a level of sophistication and soulfulness that it didn’t always possess the first time around. The 23-track album goes to the heart of the music Van Morrison has inhabited ever since he was six years old and contains songs that underline the importance of freedom and living on your own terms - his lifetime philosophy.
Van Morrison said:,“I was still in school when I performed with a skiffle band – a couple of guitars, washboard, tea-chest bass. I was already familiar with Lead Belly’s recordings so when I heard Lonnie Donegan’s version of ‘Rock Island Line’ I intuitively understood what he was creating, I knew that it was what I wanted to do. It was like an explosion. This record retranslates songs from that era.
"Chas McDevitt’s book is where to start when it comes to the history of skiffle. From the very beginning with Lead Belly and the jug bands laying the foundations through to Lonnie Donegan’s influence, and Chas McDevitt’s skiffle group, it’s all in there."
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