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Country, craic & ceol at the Irish Post Awards

Derek Ryan

From bodhrán champ to chart-topping star Carlow’s Derek Ryan will light up the Irish Post Awards

Derek Ryan

CUE the craic! Derek Ryan and his five fellow musicians will make up the glittering ‘house band’ for the night at the Irish Post Awards. The lads blend country music, Irish folk, a spot of Americana, a flourish of céilí to produce a huge sound that will help you rock the night away..

Derek, from Co. Carlow, is one of Irish country music's top stars with chart-topping albums, self-written smash hit singles and box-office busting live tours.

It’s been a long road for the Garryhill-born artist, who first developed his life-long love for music when, as a four-year-old, his parents bought him a drum kit one Christmas. That childhood passion was further nurtured when his dad brought him to fleadhs across Ireland. Such was his gift for 'the beat' he won two All-Ireland titles in bodhrán and céilí drumming.

To his store of traditional music he soon added tracks from his mum’s favourite country music radio shows.

Then pop music entered the soundscape of Derek Ryan’s life. He followed in the chart-busting footsteps of Irish boybands Boyzone and Westlife as part of the Celtic teen pop phenomenon, D-Side, in 2001.

BOYBAND DAYS: Derek, second left, in 2006 (Photo by Showbiz Ireland/Getty Images)

The Irish pop pin-ups were also big in Japan, scoring a number one single.

Derek eventually returned to country music, working as a solo artist from 2006, and spending three years honing his craft around the club and bar circuit in London while studying at the same time to be an accountant.

He returned to Ireland in 2009 with the intention of completing his course and exams in Carlow. However, the lure of his guitar and his newfound love for writing songs — rather than helping to balance double entry accounts t— proved more attractive and, as it turned out, was his forte

His songwriting soon met with success, with dozens of artists have since recorded his material, including Daniel O’Donnell, Foster & Allen, Philomena Begley, Susan McCann, and many more. His songs include God’s Plan, Irish Heart and Life is a River.

His own albums include A Mother’s Son (2010), Made Of Gold (2011), Dreamers And Believers (2012), Country Soul (2013), and two Irish Number One chart toppers—The Simple Things (2014) and One Good Night (2015). Derek released his seventh and eighth albums simultaneously, Happy Man and This is Me (2016), followed by Perfect Days (a vinyl-only album), The Fire (2017)and TEN (2018). The Hits followed (released late 2019), which featured a 21-track collection of Derek’s biggest songs.