Multi-platinum recording artist Brian Kennedy has announced an upcoming album Folkie. Coming May 27, the 7-track EP will serve as a return to his roots. Today, he also revealed the lead single 'John Condon' - a heartfelt track that tells the story of a boy who died a soldier.

On the creation of Folkie, Brian said, "It came about very naturally. I knew it was time to make another album when my friend Neil Martin sent me live recordings we had done with his West Ocean String quartet from a few years ago that I had completely forgotten about. A few of the songs like 'The Verdant Braes of Screen' and 'Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies' were recorded at a live gig and it started a hunger in me to do more.

We had already recorded 'I Wish I Had Someone To Love Me' and the rest followed very naturally. I had heard Mary Dillon sing 'John Condon' years ago and I always wanted to do it so this seemed like the perfect project. it is an anti-war song and we wove a verse from 'The Stolen Child' into the heart of it because war had stolen so many children then and now."

Initially coming to prominence as a member of fellow Belfast native Van Morrison’s touring band, Brian Kennedy is one of Ireland’s most celebrated solo talents – appearing as the featured vocalist in Riverdance on Broadway; performing at George Best’s funeral, and featuring as a coach on the first series of The Voice of Ireland.

One of Ireland's most inspired and revered ambassadors of music, Brian is in high spirits with a renewed sense of vigour, following a major heart attack and a quadruple bypass operation that saved his life in the summer of 2021.

Brian survived a childhood on the infamous Falls Road, West Belfast, at the height of its hellish history. Against all the odds, he managed to carve an extraordinary career in music: “It’s a miracle that I survived my childhood and became a singer really, given where and how my life started, but somehow my voice had other plans and saved me in the end," Kennedy says.

Listen to lead single 'John Condon', out today!