Irish singer-songwriter ULTAN CONLON found a haven for his unique sound and sensibility in Los Angeles, California, with Grammy Award- winning David Garza (Fiona Apple) producing Ultan’s fifth record, The Starlight Ballroom, which drops on September 13th, 2023.
Speaking about the new song, Ultan Conlon says “All Sewn Up is a result of spending too much time on social media and judging other musicians and resenting them for opportunities they get.
“How did they get that slot and who do they know?” The last verse puts the shoe on the other foot and is from the perspective of how other musicians view my career.
It concludes of course that a lot of what we see and believe from online is only perception and not always the reality.”
Ultan first met Grammy Award-winning producer David Garza in LA in 2017 while playing some shows with him at Largo, the nightclub where Sean and Sara Watkins host The Watkins Family Hour.
Ultan says: “When I met David and we played some songs together I saw his unbridled energy and talent and knew I wanted to work with him” Fast forward 6 years and The Starlight Ballroom is born.
The formidable group of musicians includes producer and co-writer Garza on numerous instruments, Amy Wood— Drums (Fiona Apple, Iggy Pop, St Vincent) Sebastian Steinberg
Double Bass (Fiona Apple, Iron and Wine, Neil Diamond, KD Lang) Dave Curtis – Strings and Programming (Aj Croce).
The Starlight Ballroom is engineered and mixed by John Would (Fiona Apple, Warren Zevon)
Conlon’s poetically enigmatic songs and “lyrical gems” (No Depression)
The Starlight Ballroom was a ballroom of romance in Westport, Co. Mayo, which opened in the early 1960’s and closed in 1981.
Thousands of people would pack into the hall to see local Irish Show bands and the best international acts of the day.
Roy Orbison played The Starlight in 1969 and Ultan’s song The Starlight Ballroom takes in and ponders the night in question.
