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Monday 20 January 2020

'Black Coddle' by Eamonn Flynn


Eamonn Flynn unveiled his sophomore album 'Black Coddle' late-2019 which sees Flynn build upon his desire to create music that draws its inspiration from American blues and Irish folk.

Flynn's debut album, 'The Irish Channel' released in 2017, saw the vocalist and pianist introduce this aesthetic through an intimate acoustic set over the course of a ten track, self-penned project featuring Flynn at the piano with backing vocalists Omega Rae and Kimiko Joy.  'Black Coddle' masterfully builds upon the 'The Irish Channel's' groundwork but now with the added excitement of having compositions with more complete arrangements brought to life by a world class array of musicians.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, but now living in San Francisco, California, the unveiling of Eamonn Flynn has a solo artist in his own right certainly seems overdue particularly when taking into account the fantastic career that he's already had.  Flynn can boast the incredible distinction of being the session organist/pianist for the soundtrack of the beloved musical comedy 'The Commitments' (1991, a film about a young music fan in Dublin who starts his own soul band), and then there's studio session work with Evelyn "Champagne" King for her album 'Open Book' (2008) as well as contributions for Michael Franti & Spearhead's 'Yell Fire!' album (2006) which saw Flynn provide keyboards for the tracks 'I Know I'm Not Alone' and 'One Step Closer To You' featuring guest vocals from P!nk.

With these collaborations and more under his belt, the multi-talented and versatile artist will clearly have a high level of anticipation for projects which see Flynn take centre stage but 'Black Coddle' has the added bonus of support from a strong selection of artists: Bay Area drummer Kevin Hayes who can count having played with legends like John Lee Hooker and BB King appears, blues/jazz guitarist Chris Cain who can cite work for Nancy Wright and The Ford Blues Band along with multiple of his own albums guests throughout, and then there's bassist Darryl Anders from the brilliant soul band AgapeSoul who features heavily also.

After many years of touring and studio work for other artists, the timing certainly seems right for Eamonn Flynn to step out and carve his own name as a solo artist and with two projects already in quick succession, it will be interesting to see Flynn's musical quest evolve going forward as he strives to draw from his cultural passions and inspirations turning them into something innovative and new.

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