British-born singer at home in B.C.
Folk artist Paul O’Brien comes to the North Okanagan with his immigrant tales and Celtic-influenced songs.
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Victoria-based singer-songwriter Paul O’Brien has been across the Atlantic and is now crisscrossing B.C. with new stories to tell.
The singer/songwriter just completed his first and highly-successful tour of Germany, with a side trip to Ireland in September and is now touring through this province.
Recently appearing live on an online broadcast of the Streaming Café from Kelowna, O’Brien continues his 10-date tour from Thetis Island near Chemainus to Ashton Creek near Enderby, where he performs at Lorenzo’s Café Friday.
He finishes the tour at his beloved adopted hometown of Victoria Oct. 25.
O’Brien has returned to B.C. inspired by the success of his overseas tour.
Writing about it on his online blog, he says he “travelled more than 7,000 kilometres, slept in 18 beds and a sofa... received a new guitar, and wrote a new song in Dublin.”
Playing music since the tender age of 14, O’Brien grew up in Birmingham, England to Irish parents. After a successful music career in the U.K., he immigrated to B.C. in 2004 with his family in tow, and it didn’t take long to establish himself in Victoria.
He has since made a name for himself performing both new and old material, with personal and traditional stories full of his Irish heritage, West Coast influence and folk-acoustic roots.
He has also spent the past five years writing and recording three highly-acclaimed albums.
The first two, Sacred Lines and Plastic, were recorded in Victoria with award-winning producer Joby Baker (Alex Cuba, The Bills), while the most recent, Walk Back Home, was recorded in Germany under his new label Stockfisch Records.
All three albums reflect O’Brien’s Celtic-inflected acoustic folk sound through a modern pop/rock filter: guitars, whistles and Irish pipes mingling with drums, electric bass and Hammond B3 organ.
Catch O’Brien live when he takes the stage at Lorenzo’s, 901 Mabel Lake Rd., east of Enderby, Friday at 8 p.m. Call 250-838-6700 for reservations.
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