Kevin O'Regan

Rather belatedly, we have some footage on You Tube of Katie Smith dancing with us at Newbury Waterways Festival in July 2016. We now have another dancer working with us as well, the lovely Jessica Hutton. You can catch us with both of them on 15th March at Banbury FC and on 17th March at The Albion Brewerey Bar in Northampton doing our Irish Night. Check the Gigs page for the details.

I am so sad to hear of the death of Pete Zorn, one of the finest musicians playing on the folk circuit. He played for many years with Barbara Dickson, Richard Thompson and latterly Steeleye Span as well of course as other combinations and bands. I had the enormous privilege of working with Pete when he played on my two albums and subsequently played with the band live when we did the album launch gig in September 2010. He was an extremely talented and versatile musician, playing sax (3 types), flute, piccolo, mandolin, guitar, bass and occasional percussion as far as I know. In the short time I spent with him, I learnt a massive amount. Play on Pete through eternity. You can hear Pete's brilliant sax playing on the Store page: listen to Your Aching Heart from the Never Look Back album and Crystals of Ice from the Mean Little River album. There is also a beautiful bit of sax at the end of the Mean Little River track on the same album.

Delighted to say that we already have quite a few gigs confirmed for 2016 and lots more possible. If you want us in whatever form do please get in touch soon as we don't want to have to say we are already booked. Check out the Gigs page to see if we are playing near you. If so, come and say hello - we're very friendly!

The results of the UK Songwriting Contest 2015 have just been announced and I am delighted to say that my song, 'A tune I'd never heard before' was one of only 15 finalists in the Folk and Acoustic category. The Contest attracts thousands of entries each year from across the World so this is a tremendous boost and re-assures me that I can write songs! You can hear the song on the site-wide player below and you can download it from the Music page. The song was written just after the London bombings in 2005 when everything looked depressing. I was singing at a folk club and a young girl got up and played violin beautifully and I though that is the power of music: it restores your faith and lifts your soul.

I entered two other songs in the contest. 'Doing DIY' reached the semi-finals in the Open Category and 'The fragrance of your perfume' was highly commended in the Love Songs category. 

It was really difficult deciding which songs to enter as I have so many and I think I have lots that are as good. Perhaps I'll have to enter a couple next year too!
 

Really pleased to announce that the three songs I entered in the UK Songwriting Contest 2015 have had success. The comic song 'Doing DIY' which was entered in the Open Category has been selected as a semi-finalist in the competition as has 'A tune I'd never heard before' entered in the Folk/ Acoustic category. The Fragrance of your Perfume (Love Songs category) is pending a decision on  whether to be specially commended.

This is a fantastic achievement and I am hopeful that I will have more success as the competition progresses. The UK Songwriting Contest is open to anyone in the World and attracts thousands of entries every year. It is organised and supported by several music industry bodies and is judged by very impressive people from the business. You can find out more here: http://www.songwritingcontest.co.uk/  .

So here's a link to the You Tube video of Doing DIY performed by Holler n Duck. Please share it with all your friends - why should they miss out on a good laugh? 

Well after a bit of hassle, the domain name has now been pointed at our new site so we are up and running. Huge thanks to Mike for sorting this all out for me and for managing the former site for several years. Still some things to sort out but we are nearly there just in time for our Summer season which kicks off soon with three gigs for The Kevins and three gigs for The KORB in May. Check the gigs page to see if we are playing near you.

Still a relatively new phenomenon in the UK, the house concert (lounge concert, parlour concert, sofa session) is gaining ground. Those who have attended one know that they allow for a much more intimate performance where the audience feels much more connected with the performer. The Kevins are happy to perform at house concerts and if you want to explore this option, do please get in touch.