Distant brothers from Gary Ferguson and Colin Henry

Thanks to Gary Ferguson (USA), acclaimed songwriter and veteran of a dozen tours of Ireland, for news of the latest fruit of a close and long-lasting collaboration that began at the 2007 Athy bluegrass festival. The story of the musical partnership of Gary and Colin Henry of Belfast is told in detail in the liner notes by Bob Allen for their forthcoming album Distant brothers (scheduled for release on 25 September 2023), which can be read in full on Gary's website.

As Gary explains, 'Colin and I are the "distant brothers" [...] Personality-wise, we just hit it off from the beginning. And right then, I knew something was clicking between us musically.' Similarly, Colin found that when he began playing Gary's songs, 'I was hearing myself play what I wanted to hear myself play. That just doesn’t happen too often straight off the bat.'

Gary subsequently discovered, mainly through Colin, a pool of eminently talented Irish musicians, resulting in the 2021 album Ferguson’s farewell: the Irish connection. In their continuing contacts across the Atlantic, the 'brothers' built up a stock of shared music that went to form their first album. Full details of the distinguished personnel (US and Irish) on the eleven tracks are here; and a single from the album, 'Chasing a dream', composed by Gary, can be heard and bought on BandCamp.

© Richard Hawkins