Born and raised in Ireland singer, songwriter, performer and multi instrumentalist! Hugh Lehane relocated to Southern California in 2002.
His first American CD release entitled 'Never Been Before' is the winner of multiple award nominations. (Including Toronto Independent and Southern California Music Awards).
Hugh tours extensively across the Southwestern U.S. where he was voted one of the top 'live' male acoustic performers at the 2007 O.C. Music Awards.
In 2007 Hugh also released two new CD's One was a retrospective collection of Irish recordings entitled 'Retrospective: Pandora's Box' and the other a 'live' CD featuring Hugh's folk rock arrangements of popular Irish songs entitled 'Got Irish?'.
Hugh is currently working on a new original song CD with Grammy nominated songwriter Harriet Schock.
Wait till you hear the new songs WOW! they are going to knock your socks off.
Hughmusic Newsletter Oct. 2006
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Hugh nominated for Toronto music award
Hugh merchandise now available!
Return to Arizona & San Diego
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(Please scroll down to read full newsletter)
Hugh nominated for Toronto music award
Hugh has just been nominated for a 2006 Toronto Independent Music Award (T.I.M.A.). This is Hugh's 4th award nomination in the past 18 months. Hugh is nominated in the Best International Artist category. The Tima award show takes place on the 5th of October 2006 at the Phoenix theatre in Toronto. For more information on the Toronto Independent Music Awards please visit: www.torontoima.com
Hugh Merchandise now available
Many of you out there have been looking to buy Hugh t-shirts and merchandise. So we are happy to announce that Hugh now finally has his own merchandise online store up and running.
Hugh's merch store is run via an online company called spreadshirt.com. 'Spreadshirt' is the premier website that Independent musicians from all over the world choose to have their merchandise stores. At spreadshirt.com you can shop for Hugh products quickly and safely with your purchases being in your hand anywhere in the world within 48 hours.
Right now you can access Hugh's merchandise store by going to the home page at: www.broadjam.com/irishhugh once there just click on the left hand button that says 'merch'.
Or you can simply go directly to Hugh's store : http://www.irishhugh.spreadshirt.com
Return to Arizona & San Diego
Hugh will be doing more Arizona shows this month in Phoenix and Tucson. For everyone in the San Diego area, Hugh continues to perform and host an open mic session every Wednesday night at Dublin Square Irish pub (Downtown, San Diego) starts @ 9pm.
For all of Hugh's upcoming show info please visit his My Space Music page at: www.myspace.com/irishhugh
Thank you all for your continued support.
Admin. Hughmusic.com
October 2006
O.C. Welcomes Irish Son
(Orange County Register Article June 23rd 2006)
While Orange County has a thriving Irish music scene, only a handful of the area's best-known artists actually hail from the Emerald Isle. Born in Limerick and raised in Dublin, Hugh Lehane is thrilled to be a featured performer at the largest Irish-themed festival in the western United States, the Great American Irish Fair & Music Festival, which arrives in Irvine on Saturday and Sunday.
Other featured performers include Gaelic Storm (the Celtic troupe featured in James Cameron's film "Titanic") and two of Orange County's best-known Irish music rockers, the American Wake and the Fenians. In addition, Los Angeles-based Joshua Tree will perform a musical tribute to U2 both days.
"The festival is the largest event of its kind on the West Coast," said Lehane in an interview earlier this week, only a day after returning from performing at the Squaw Valley Lake Tahoe Celtic Festival. While he continues to perform locally, Lehane also plays regularly at Dublin Square Irish Pub in San Diego, Moynihan's Irish Pub in Fresno and at the Auld Dubliner Irish Pub locations in Las Vegas, Long Beach and Lake Tahoe.
Since moving to Orange County from Dublin in 2001, Lehane has performed more than 400 shows. His songs display an authentic mix of the singer-songwriter approach of David Gray ("Demons"), R&B-tinged rock of Van Morrison ("Higher") and traditional Celtic folk meets classic rock of Ireland's Thin Lizzy ("Fight Within Yourself").
"When I started playing Irish bars, I didn't think about the Irish fairs," admitted Lehane, who was initially surprised when he came to Orange County to see how popular Irish culture was here.
"The publisher of the Irish News got me to play at the party held after the Irish Fair (in 2005) held for volunteers. I guess they liked what I did."
Among those at the party were bookers for the annual event, which attracted more than 30,000 to the 30th annual fest, in Irvine last summer.
Although Lehane's debut CD, 2004's "Never Been Before," boasts a genuine set of strong and mostly original mid-tempo rockers, his seemingly endless tour of pubs, clubs and festivals has broadened his approach. And he has begun to feature a number of classic Irish songs in his approach, deepening his appreciation for his roots.
"When I work on my next CD, I plan to have more upbeat stuff and mix that with (traditionally reworked) Irish material," Lehane said.
He noted that he is likely taking things full circle, blending folk and rock in a way that draws likely comparisons with Ireland's legendary Horslips.
"Horslips were the first Irish band to mix folk and rock," Lehane said of the 1970s outfit.
While the Fenians and American Wake have combined post-punk with traditional Celtic in the spirit of New York's Black 47 and Los Angeles' Young Dubliners, Lehane is being true to himself and isn't afraid to fuse his song craft with classic Irish rock that veers clear of the Flogging Molly and Pogues territory.
"The Horslips and Thin Lizzy were the first bands I was into," Lehane explained. "If I'm going into a musical direction, it needs to be real. Playing Irish bar gigs has been a tremendous experience," he said.
While U2 is undoubtedly Ireland's best-known band, there is a wide field ranging from the Cranberries and the excellent Saw Doctors that have mastered modern styles that are unique even while sprinkling their sounds with textures that recall their native land.
"When you're doing so many shows, you need to entertain people," Lehane said, noting he recently saw a talented band that played with great skill but failed to interact with the audience. He understands that Orange County's own Fenians are an obvious role model, having developed a strong national fan base with energetic and involving performances.
"There is an art to doing that," he said.
Robert Kinsler (Special to the register)
Copyright 2006 The Orange County Register