Roscommon-based traditional group Gatehouse make a welcome return to the Roscommon Arts Centre on Thursday, 12th of April from 8 pm. The group have gone from strength to strength since the release of their critically acclaimed solo album, Tús Nua, in 2016.
Gatehouse have been busy touring Ireland, the UK and Norway, along with playing prestigious festivals.
The Gatehouse line-up is made up of highly-regarded young singer, Rachel Garvey, multi-instrumentalist Jacinta McEvoy on guitar and concertina, John McEvoy on fiddle and John Wynne on flutes and whistles.
Gatehouse lead singer Rachel Garvey is looking forward to another busy year with the group. The 29-year-old Kilteevan native is particularly excited about the upcoming performance at the Roscommon Arts Centre.
“Yes, we’re all looking forward to that. Patsy Hanly will come and play and it’ll be nice to have him on stage with us. We’ll also be accompanied by a Sean Nós dancer from Strokestown called Ryan Owens so it should be a really good night,” she told the Roscommon People recently.
Rachel started singing back in primary school with Patsy Hanly’s late wife, Pauline.
“Pauline was a neighbour and her children went to the same school. She started traditional singing lessons in the school. She’d come in once a week with songs and encourage us to sing”.
Pauline’s influence had a lasting effect on Rachel, who had started singing traditional songs in English before going on to learn Sean Nós songs at summer schools such as the Dr. Douglas Hyde Summer School in Ballaghaderreen.
Gatehouse are back in the studio recording a new album which Rachel says will be released in the autumn or early next year. There are also trips abroad to look forward to in 2019.
“We’re hoping to go to New Zealand next January, we’ve been invited to a couple of festivals there. We’re also hopefully going to be visiting Chicago next April too so that’s something to look forward to,” she added.
For now though, Gatehouse will be entertaining audiences closer to home, starting with the performance at the arts centre next Thursday evening. Some tickets are still available from the box office (090-6625824) for what promises to be a wonderful night of music.
