Adrian Crowley and Jason Darling at Irish Arts Center, May 19

IRISH ARTS CENTER PRESENTS ACCLAIMED SINGER-SONGWRITERS, ADRIAN CROWLEY AND JASON DARLING, MAY 19

“[Adrian Crowley is] the best songwriter that no one’s heard of” – Rolling Stone

“[Adrian Crowley has] transcended the limitations of his chosen genre thanks to a deeply captivating voice and light touch.” – The New Yorker

“The Galway native [Adrian Crowley] has steered a trusty course throughout his career, each album a musical progression yet anchored by that commanding, sonorous voice and reflective, evocative lyric-poems that bind love, life and nature together.” – The Irish Times

Curated by Grammy Award-winner Susan McKeown, SongLives showcases Ireland and North America’s most exciting contemporary singer-songwriters, working on an intimate and personal scale to bring the rich tradition of busking on Dublin’s Grafton Street to New York City.

Two of Ireland’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Adrian Crowley and Jason Darling will perform as part ofIrish Arts Center’s SongLives series, curated by Grammy Award-winner Susan McKeown, on May 19. AdrianCrowley has made a steadfast career as a singer, songwriter and recording artist. He grew up in Galway and has been based in Dublin for a number of years. He is considered to be one of Ireland’s most celebrated contemporary lyricists. He was awarded the Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year in 2010 for Season of the Sparks and has been nominated on two other occasions for the prestigious Irish award: in 2008 for Long Distance Swimmer (also namedThe Irish Independent’s album of the year) and in 2013 for I See Three Birds Flying. His most recent album, Some Blue Morning was recently praised by UNCUT magazine: “Easing himself gently into a gilded pantheon that stretches from Scott Walker to Leonard Cohen to Nick Cave and Richard Hawley.” To date, Crowley has released seven albums with his eighth set for release later this year.

Jason Darling grew up near Woodstock, NY and began playing guitar at a young age. After bouncing through a next-generation Deadhead phase, Darling ended up in Greenwich Village, retracting Bob Dylan’s footsteps, digging on slide guitar and folk-blues, and scraping by with handyman work at local recording studios. Casual collaborations with pal Leona Naess started paying the bills when she signed with MCA. Darling contributed guitar to her breakthrough album, Comatised and participated in the resulting world tour. In between dates, he signed with LA based indie label Surprise Trick, wrote and recorded his debut album, Underground. Two years later, he returned withNight Like My Head (Yep Roc). The effort featured broader arrangements that were filled out with keys and drum programming, and drew comparisons to the work of Shawn Mullins and Jeb Loy Nichols.

Tickets for the performances start at $14 and are available by visiting www.IrishArtsCenter.org or by calling 866-811-4111. Irish Arts Center is located at 553 West 51st Street.

For more information on Adrian Crowley, visit his official site.

For more information on Jason Darling, visit his official site.

About Irish Arts Center

Founded in 1972, Irish Arts Center is a New York-based arts and cultural center dedicated to projecting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century, building community with artists and audiences of all backgrounds, forging and strengthening cross-cultural partnerships, and preserving the evolving stories and traditions of Irish culture for generations to come. Our multi-disciplinary programming is centered around three core areas:Performance – including live music, dance, theatre, film, literature, and the humanities; Exhibition – including visual arts presentations and cultural exhibitions that tell the evolving Irish story; and Education – with dozens of classes per week in Irish language, history, music, and dance.

Located in New York City, a global capital of arts and culture, Irish Arts Center serves as a dynamic platform for top emerging and established artists. Irish Arts Center is currently developing plans to construct a new facility to serve our multi-disciplinary program and will be the strongest possible gateway for artists to reach into our cultural community and nourish their work, to connect with our partner institutions who help them innovate, and to become visible in the New York City media market which enhances their ability to achieve U.S and further international success.

The New Irish Arts Center will contain a purpose-built, state-of-the-art contemporary performance space for music, dance and theatre seating up to 160; industry-standard back of house and support facilities to allow artists to achieve their vision; a second, intimate performance space – the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre – optimized for live music, literature, film, talks, large classes and special events; classrooms and studio space for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, and the humanities, and for master classes and workshops by visiting and resident artists; technology capability to project the Irish Arts Center experience on the digital platform; an avenue-facing café lobby to engage with the neighborhood and provide a social setting for conversation and interaction between artists and audiences; a beautiful new courtyard entrance on 51st Street where the historic Irish Arts Center building and the new facility meet.

Irish Arts Center sponsors include WNYC, Northern Ireland Bureau, Arts Council Northern Ireland, British Arts Council, DCA, and New York Council on the Arts.