Austin songwriter Gurf Morlix has announced a series of dates in Ireland this month. Like near contemporary Buddy Miller he’s better known as a sideman and producer than as a performer in his own right. He’s collaborated with such names as Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, Mary Gauthier, Ian McLagan, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Tom Russell, Butch Hancock and Slaid Cleaves.

He came up with some of the greats, having toured with Warren Zevon, Michael Penn, Robert Plant, David Byrne, Guy Clark, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle.
But he never turned his back on writing and recording and his ninth solo album, Gurf Morlix Finds The Present Tense, arrived several months ago. It features 10 songs of desperation and desire, written in his inimitable, open-handed style.
Tour dates are as follows: Mick Murphy’s, Ballymore Eustace (November 25); Candlelight Sessions at the Sky And The Ground, Wexford (26); Kelly’s, Galway (27); Errigle Inn, Belfast (28); Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre, Naul (29), Crane Lane Theatre, Cork (30); The Loft, Locke’s Bar, Limerick (December 1).
Cincinnati isn’t exactly synonymous with country music, but it’s given the world at least one bone fide great Americana act, The Tillers. More than your typical folk revivalists – they’re self-described “recovering” punk rockers – they combine the drive and grit of Cincinnati’s hardcore scene with the country traditions of the American heartland. Their eclectic approach has certainly served them well, as they’ve performed alongside acts as diverse as Doc Watson, Iris Dement, Country Joe McDonald and Thee Legendary Shack Shakers.
We have Pokey Lafarge to thank for their upcoming Irish dates. They’ll be touring with Pokey in the UK, and although he’ll not be making his way over here, The Tillers are taking the opportunity to slip across the Irish Sea. See them at the Red Room, Cookstown (Novemember 8); Spirit Store, Dundalk (9) and Crane Lane Theatre, Cork (10).