What do you get when you combine good beer, powerful folk music and a queer Irish singer with a voice that has been described as being “like complex coffee”?
You get a cracking good time, that’s what. St. Paul’s Urban Growler is going to be hosting queer nu-folk singer/songwriter Gráinne Hunt, along with San Diego-based drummer and vocalist Jules Stewart, on Sunday, October 25th in a concert that will blend quiet, commanding power, raw emotion, and a soulful sound that will delicately but most assuredly ensnare audiences. The vocal duo has been compared to The Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile in their undeniable chemistry onstage, along with their rich harmonies that take the legendary Irish ability to tell stories to a new level.
Gráinne (pronounced ‘Gronya’) is originally from Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland which is just south of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Unsurprisingly, music played a significant role in her early life, with her family listening to a variety of ballad and folk music during her childhood, to her later participating in choirs as well as a singing/dancing variety group, and then on to a music degree at university. Hunt’s path to singing professionally was a meandering journey from deciding to step away from a full-time regular job at age 30 to taking a part-time job as a nanny so that she could pursue music more fully. She began singing with a fellow Irish artist which eventually led to her writing her own original music.
Hunt’s musical style is described as “nu-folk”, a term that she coined herself. She commented that folk music in the United States and folk music in Ireland tend to be two different styles, with the Irish folk music being primarily “folk and ballad singers, singing Irish songs, old and new, and singers performing songs that they found or were given.” She said that what we generally consider Irish Traditional music is typically describing more of instrumental music. Hunt remarked that she sees “a new wave of younger Irish song writers who are all creating original music and singing the songs themselves, and to me, this is nu-folk.”
The vast majority of Hunt’s music is written or co-written by her, and it is typically songs that are very much autobiographical and tell the stories of things that have actually happened to her directly. She said that she is most often inspired by her own life, in both things that have happened to her or by the people who surround her. One of her collaborators, a friend from back in her university days named Brendan Walsh, recorded an album with her entitled ‘Songs from Ireland’. During the pandemic, she also co-wrote with Jim Murphy a series of songs based on Dubliners, a book of short stories written by Irish novelist and poet James Joyce.
As an out and proud queer artist, Hunt says that she has generally felt very welcomed in nearly every venue in which she has performed. However, she remarked that she purposely includes the word ‘queer’ in her biography so that there is no miscommunication with a potential booker or folk club who may take issue with her sexual orientation. She said that while the idea might sound a bit odd that certain places may feel uncomfortable with having a queer singer, she actually thinks it’s great to find out beforehand. As she commented to me, if “someone is going to be uncomfortable, or they know that their audience will not be welcoming – then we don’t want to go there! And it’s better to know that ahead of time!”
While Hunt has a concert planned for her time in the Twin Cities, she is also here for another reason as well. She has been invited to be a part of FARM Folk Alliance, a regional branch of the larger Folk Alliance International. FARM Folk Alliance is an organization that works to promote traditional, contemporary and multi-cultural folk music, dance and performing arts. The regional conference will provide an opportunity for industry people to be able to connect and network with others in this genre of music, and it gives artists a wonderful chance to be heard and seen by presenters and venues alike. Gráinne Hunt and Jules Stewart are official showcase artists at the convention, and will perform on Friday night as well as over the weekend. Hunt said that she and Stewart are “looking to connect with more local bookers, venues and festivals so that we can expand our tour and audiences in the region.”
When asked how she and Stewart came to collaborate, Hunt replied that they first met in Ireland while both were working as part of the cast of a new folk-musical which was based on the Great Irish Famine entitled “In the Midst of Plenty”, written by Amy Day of San Diego. Day is a friend of Stewart, and had brought her over to Ireland to play drums for the show. Hunt was a guitar player in it, as well as having a small part in it and singing one of the songs. They performed in the production for the next two years, which led to them spending a good deal of time together, eventually falling in love and playing music together as a duo. They have been partners, both professionally and personally, since August of 2023.
Gráinne’s US tour is supported by Culture Ireland and the Irish Department of Culture, Communications and Sports.
www.grainnehunt.com
Gráinne Hunt with Jules Stewart
October 25 • Doors open at 3 p.m., Show from 4-7 p.m. • Tickets $32 • Urban Growler, 2325 Endicott St., St. Paul, MN
tourcntrl.com/e/3255/grainne-hunt-with-jules-stewart-live-at-urban-growler
