Van Morrison is coming back to his home city with two intimate gigs in 2023.
The Belfast-born musician has revealed the title of his new album ‘Moving On Skiffle’ which will be released on March 10, 2023 and the lead single is entitled ‘Streamline Train’.
To celebrate the release of the album, Van will play the Whitla Hall on April 6 and 7 and fans who pre-order the album by 5pm on October 31 will receive access to a ticket pre-sale, which opens at 10am on Wednesday 2nd November.
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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."
Tickets for the Belfast gigs will go on sale from Ticketmaster.ie on November 4 at 10am.
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