The Late Late Show Country Special

First Published October 2024

THE WORST COUNTRY ‘SPECIAL’… EVER!

Let me start by just straight up saying that, as far as I’m concerned, the recent Late Late Show Country Special was easily the worst such occasion of its kind. Ever.

Now, that’s some going given that the bar had already been set so low, not just by every such night that was overseen by the once golden-boy of RTE, Ryan Tubridy, but also by the new incumbent of the famous Late Late hot-seat, Patrick Kielty, on his first attempt in October of last year.

Two facts alone are enough to back up my belief, and in all honesty, they should be enough to silence and offer some serious pause for thought to anyone who seriously tries to defend an occasion that always walks the narrowest of lines between only just being bearable and sheer parody.

Let me also just say at the outset, that I’m only writing about it now because I almost couldn’t have been bothered writing about it at all. That’s the same reason I didn’t write anything in the aftermath of Kielty’s first night overseeing a country ‘special’.

Hoping that this show might just once turn out to be a fraction of what it could be is almost the hardest part of it all. I should know better by now. But the thing is, it would be so easy – so, so easy – for this night to be a great show, but the easy options and the utter lack of imagination also kill that hope.

And, while I’m at it, for the people who so often reply to any negative response to the country specials, or criticism of it, no matter how well founded those responses and criticisms might be, with that old line of, “Well you can change the channel, ya know?!”, I’ll say this…

If you guys are happy enough watching basically the same few artists sing almost the same selection of songs in the same boring, bland format every single time, then good for you. You probably have years and years of it still to enjoy because it certainly shows little sign of evolving beyond its present state. But, those of us who hope for more each year, however despairingly, and thus choose to watch the show from start to finish thinking it can’t, it just can’t be as bad as it’s always been…, well, we have every right to put ourselves through that torture as well.

Anyway, on to fact number one. For anyone that might have been keeping track, I believe there were sixteen songs performed in some manner or other over the course of the night. Of those sixteen, only one – that’s right, just ONE song – was written by an Irish songwriter. That song was Derek Ryan’s ‘In Between The Jigs And The Reels’, performed with the Kilfenora Céilí Band.

Fact number two. Of those sixteen songs, two – yes, TWO – were also performed on the previous Late Late Country Special, Kilety’s first in charge of proceedings, almost exactly a year previously.

I honestly don’t know which of those two facts are worse. They’re both shameful. Both embarrassing. Both damning in the extreme of how these ‘specials’ are actually put together. But sadly, neither fact is surprising in the least.

Let’s look at fact number one to begin with…

So, one might assume, if one takes The Late Late Show as being some kind of measure of what the Irish country music scene actually is, that there are simply no Irish songwriters involved in that scene. Now, straight away, that should seem highly unlikely and quite strange to most people who are inclined to be in any way logical in their thinking. I mean, after all, isn’t Ireland famed the world over for her many esteemed and inspirational writers in so many genres? Yes, of course we are.

And, from time to time, The Late Late Show will highlight this fact in some way, and is seldom shy of doing so. And indeed, because we have so many writers – be they in the world of literature in some way, or in music or movies – there’s nothing at all wrong with that. Give credit where it’s due. Shine a light on achievements that are worthy of being recognised. Absolutely.

But, country music in Ireland is not some kind of talent wasteland when it comes to songwriters. It is not an exception to whatever it is about us that makes us, as a nation, so creatively and emotionally expressive in every way. That simply isn’t the case.

Now, it is true, however, that as a genre, it is notoriously reluctant to focus on original songs, long preferring to concentrate on the safe – and boring – option of cover-versions only. And for that, the genre, the industry itself, has only itself to blame. But that still doesn’t mean that there aren’t Irish country music songwriters out there who are well worth listening to. Nor, importantly, does it offer The Late Late Show in particular any special exemption from what should be considered an obligation to showcase the work of Irish songwriters every time they’re claiming to show the nation the best of what that genre has to offer.

But here’s the thing…

Aside from Derek, who is rightly regarded as being one of Irish country music’s finest songwriters as well as being a highly accomplished performer, there WERE other very talented songwriters on the show. But, for some reason, they all ended up performing cover versions. And I can’t for the life of me imagine that this would have been their own choice either. Karaoke (albeit with a live band), or their own material, material that they’ve poured their own life experiences into, or crafted, or collaborated on? How many artists would choose what was only a backing-band away from being a karaoke version of some song over something that had their own heart and soul in it? Not many.

For example, Lisa McHugh sang Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’, from Swift’s second album, 2008’s ‘Fearless’. Taylor, by the way, has recorded something like eleven studio albums by now, plus four re-recordings from that number (the ‘Taylor’s Version’ albums), four live albums, and a number of EP’s. Why, in God’s name, go back to her second album to find a song for Lisa to sing? What reason could there possibly be for that, except for the probable train of thought that Swift is possibly the biggest artist in the world these days, so better have one of her songs in the evening’s set somewhere.

But Lisa McHugh is actually one of our most successful and skilled songwriters as far as contemporary country and pop/country crossover goes. On the female artist side of things, I have no hesitation in saying that she stands alone. Her talent isn’t a secret. So…WHY WAS SHE NOT ASKED – OR PERHAPS ALLOWED? – TO SING ONE OF HER OWN SONGS???

It was such a blindingly obvious choice!

Same thing applies to Lee Matthews, an artist who has garnered serious attention for his songwriting (rightly so, and richly deserved), and who has a class new single out right now, ‘An Irish Home’. But instead, he was tasked with taking on Post Malone’s ‘I Had Some Help’. WHY THAT, AND NOT HIS OWN SONG???

Michael English closed the show with ‘Country Roads’ (which we’ll come back to in a moment!), when he too is a songwriter of some renown, and who could easily have added a song from his own catalogue to the evening’s proceedings. SO AGAIN, when they had another Irish songwriter RIGHT THERE, IN THE STUDIO, WHY NOT ALLOW HIM TO SING ONE OF HIS SONGS???

I can tell you this much, no other genre of music in Ireland, be it rock, or pop, or hip-hop/rap, genres where creativity is so celebrated, here and across the world, would ever take part in a so-called ‘special’ that was supposed to showcase or highlight what that genre is all about, yet had almost everyone taking part simply performing cover versions of songs by others. No-one would do it, because what would be the point? What would it prove?

Can you imagine a show that was meant to showcase the Irish pop-scene, for example, but any bands or artists taking part had to sing songs by Westlife, or Boyzone, or Take That, or Michael Buble, or Spice Girls, or Celine Dion, or Mariah Carey, and so on? Or a rock ‘special’, where everyone taking part had to sing only songs by U2, or The Cranberries, or Coldplay? Of course you can’t imagine it, because it wouldn’t happen. And it shouldn’t happen.

And yet, every damn year with these country music ‘specials’, that’s exactly what happens.

And by the way, Lisa, Lee, and Michael are not the only Irish songwriters who could have had their work included on the night. There are many more. To name but a few: Billy Morrissey, Michael Commins, Jordan Mogey, Pete Kennedy, Stephen Rosney, P.J. Murrihy, Pat McKenna, Colin Kenny, Mary Hoey, and Regina McDermott.

Add those ten to Lisa, Lee, and Michael, and you could have had thirteen more original songs included in the night’s set, instead of Irish country songwriters being only represented by Derek Ryan. That would have changed the show entirely, making it a much more enjoyable event, with at least a greater likelihood of drawing in new fans to the genre, rather than turning them off it altogether.

On then, to fact number two…

There can be no good or believable explanation that excuses having two of the same songs as part of two back-to-back country specials. For starters, because there’s such an abundance of extraordinary songs in the country genre, that even if you wanted to host a country special every single Friday night for an entire season of Late Late Shows, and stick only with cover-versions, you wouldn’t come even close to having to use any song twice. Simple as that.

So for two songs to feature on back-to-back specials is just ridiculous. A mess made even harder to understand because the two songs in question are two of the most obvious, over-played, over-used, practically karaoke in some ways at this stage kind of songs: ‘9 To 5’, and ‘Country Roads’.

In October of 2023, Claudia Buckley sang both songs going into and coming back from ad breaks. This year, Chantelle Padden performed a rendition of the former, while Michael English ended the night with a performance of the latter.

So what exactly are we to make of that? Well, either no-one involved in the selection of songs could remember the set-list from twelve months ago? Or worse, that no-one cared?

But one thing is certain: Having two songs repeated on back-to-back shows is certainly careless, at best. But you’d want to be in a very forgiving manner to let that be an explanation for it. Thinking that it makes no difference anyway seems far more likely. After all, if you’re not going to care about including Irish songwriters in the first place, you’re hardly going to spend too much time worrying over what songs you do actually include. 

That likelihood, by the way, is reinforced by the fact that so many of the songs that were part of this show were pretty much exactly what you’d expect to hear in a karaoke bar if there was a country night happening: ‘On The Road Again’, by Willie Nelson (released in 1980); the late Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Me And Bobby McGee’ (a posthumous release from Janis Joplin in 1971); and ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers (released by Rogers in 1978).

It’s also worth pointing out that every country music special doesn’t have to include a Dolly Parton or a Johnny Cash song, as if that’s some kind of golden rule. Or that without a song from either, some necessary requirement to call the night country at all just wouldn’t be met. That’s just another easy, lazy choice. As mentioned earlier, ‘9 To 5’ showed up in both 2023 and again this year, while the 2023 show included ‘Woodcarver’ – written by Pam and Rusty Wolfe – which Sandy Kelly famously sang with Cash. And this year’s show saw Jimmy and Claudia duetting on ‘Jackson’, the Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber number that Johnny and June Carter made their own.

As a matter of interest, this year’s special had nineteen guests, while 2023’s attempt had fifteen. Even more interestingly, nine artists featured on both shows. In 2023, fifteen songs were featured on the night, and again, I think there was only one – only ONE – by an Irish songwriter, Derek Ryan’s ‘The Way I Am’, performed with The Tumbling Paddies, for whom the song has become the band’s signature tune.

But there are other ways that these country specials could easily include more artists. For instance, on this year’s show there were nine artists who were featured in more than one section of the show. That surely doesn’t need to be the case. In 2023, I think there were six who featured in more than one section. And Claudia Buckley sang in and out of three different ad breaks. Surely that was a perfect opportunity to include two more artists? More times than not as well, the artists who are featured in multiple sections have also been a part of more than one (if, indeed, not most!) previous specials!

Also this year, quite strangely, Clodagh Lawlor suddenly appeared on stage at the end of the show, despite having played no part in the actual show itself. I can only assume that she was there by invitation. But that raises the question of why bother to invite someone who you aren’t actually going to involve in the show? And, by extension of that, if you’re going to invite one artist who won’t be a part of the show, but who can be on stage at the end of the night, then why only one artist? Why not others, too?

A few more ‘noteworthy’ points…

The ex-Eastenders actress, Shona McGarty, may well be a very talented singer (and she seems like a lovely person too), that’s something I wouldn’t deny. But no-one can say with a straight face that she’s a part of the Irish country music scene. So, to see her both being interviewed and singing as part of this show…well, why? How does that do anything for the Irish country music scene? It doesn’t.

But, it gives The Late Late Show someone with ties to a famous British soap, and that kind of celebrity is the currency they seem to value above anything else. Certainly, despite what anyone might like to believe, it’s what they value above Irish country music.

Same thing with the appearance of Janet Devlin. Again, I have no reason to doubt or question Janet’s talent as an artist in her own right. But I’ve also had no reason to think about or talk about Janet in terms of the Irish country scene in all the years that I’ve been involved in it myself, because again, she’s not a part of that scene. Simple as that. Never once, in more than a decade, have I heard Janet’s name mentioned in a conversation about country music in Ireland. Never once. But, Janet was on The X-Factor back in 2011. And for someone, somewhere, that was all that was needed.

As for Garron Noone, the man is delicious. For sure. Without question, he’s one of the most unique comedic talents to emerge in recent times, and he seems set for a career that’s going to take him to dazzling heights. He also comes across as one of the most genuinely likeable fellas that you could ever run into or spend time with, an endearing quality that’s immediately apparent any time you see him. And to top it all off, he has a voice on him that’s definitely something exceptional. I’m a fan of Garron’s, and I actually can’t wait to see where the next few years are going to take him.

But yet, for all of that, he’s not a part of the Irish country music scene either. So his inclusion also meant one less place for someone who is a part of that scene. Someone who is out there gigging, or is out there writing songs. Someone for whom a chance to appear on this show could have been a career God-send.

Garron actually deserves to be on The Late Late Show as a guest in his own right, instead of being added in on a night like the country ‘special’. And the truth is, he probably will be back as a guest on the show in the not too distant future, and rightly so. But that reinforces my point that he really didn’t need to be part of this night.

And of course it’s true that you can’t blame – and I don’t – any of that trio; Shona, Janet, or Garron, for saying yes to the invitation to be on the show when it came. Nor do I blame Claudia for singing three times on last year’s country special.

The problem begins and the blame lies in the asking. In the structure and set-up of these ‘specials’, time after time after time.

Lastly, I think most people who would feel confident enough to consider themselves as genuine, long-time fans of country music, would easily come up with a list of at least twenty-plus artists who they would immediately think of when they think ‘country’, before any thought of Elvis might come anywhere into the equation at all. Yes, Elvis sang country songs during his career. But Elvis as a country artist? I don’t think so. So ‘Burnin’ Love’ as an opening number just barely ranks above the diabolical ‘Walk Of Life’ from some years back. And I mean barely!

In advance of The Late Late Show Country Special last year, I wrote in this column of how I hoped Kielty’s tenure overseeing this night would turn out to be something more imaginative, more genuine, and more representative than any such occasion under Ryan Tubridy’s stewardship had ever been.

I wasn’t exactly filled with hope for what might happen by the fact that Kielty announced his first country-special by throwing on a stetson and being surrounded by a flash-mob of dancers. Sadly, the night itself proved to be every bit as underwhelming as everything that had gone before it, ending – quite predictably too – with The Three Amigos getting to perform what would be their new single, a medley that included ‘Hillbilly Rock’, ‘Achy, Breaky Heart’, and ‘Dance The Night Away’.

For year two of Kielty’s tenure, you would have thought the only way could be up. Instead, we were presented with the worst so-called ‘special’ that there’s ever been.

And if you feel inclined to think that’s a bit harsh, or just completely wrong, then just remember these two facts that essentially sum up this night…

Sixteen songs performed, but only ONE by an Irish songwriter. And, TWO of those sixteen songs were also included in the previous country special.

My friends, that, sadly, says it all.

ENDS