Artist Spotlight: Kean Kavanagh

You released your brand new Album ‘The County Star’ earlier this summer, what was your main inspiration behind the album?

I think the album was a way for me to bring together some of the different type of music that I love, both Irish and American music, and to build a world through my own stories and history. My parents emigrated from Ireland to Texas in the late eighties and myself and my sister were born out there; we moved back very young and I was always fascinated with this other life that we had been part of but which felt so far away. The title 'The County Star' was really my own North Star for the whole project - there are so many different ways you can think about that title that serve both an Irish or Texan context. It could be a bar in Dallas, a pub in Donegal; it could be a cowboy with the best shot in the county or a Gaelic footballer player with, you guessed it, the best shot in the county. It was the perfect inspiration for me to meld these two colours togethers.

What can we expect from your gig at King Tut’s? 

I suppose we’ll have to do our best to tear the roof off of it. There’s going to be some rock and roll, some spacey folk and we’ll have to have a bit of a party while we’re up with our neighbours in Scotland. It’s coming up to the end of the year and so it’s time to celebrate all the work that we’ve put in over the last while and the good things that are happening.

Do you have a favourite track at the moment?

MJ Lenderman’s cover of Lorelei’s “Dancing In The Club” had me in a chokehold for a long while there; we seen him play it in London and I was thinking, where on earth has this song been? The lyrics just knock me out in the context of the MJ version. I love the way the verses go on a little longer than you expect; there’s something that’s beautiful, clunky and generous about that and the way some of the lines land - there's something perfectly imperfect about it. 

What has been the most memorable gig you have played and most memorable gig you have attended?

Our last show in Dublin was so beautiful. It was in the Bello Bar which is a small venue beside the Grand Canal in town. The stage is on the same level as the crowd singing along with you so it feels a bit like playing in somebody’s sitting room. It was just really special to have my family there and the whole crowd singing all the words, I was pretty blown away.

Most memorable gig I’ve been at - a really good one from last year was Dijon last summer in New York. Their drummer had come down with some illness so they were doing the show with just himself hammering now and then on a floor tom and a couple of drum pads. The first four songs I couldn’t even put my hands together to clap when they ended; my jaw was on the floor with the energy that was in the building and the sounds that they were creating.

How is the rest of 2025 looking for you? Are there any other exciting plans you can tell us about?

I’ve a song coming out in October that’s very, very dear to me; it very nearly made it onto 'The County Star' but we kept it back to be it’s own thing. I’m writing a lot of songs that I love at the moment so maybe I’ll preview some of them on my tour of the UK in November and Ireland in December. I'm looking forward to meeting people at shows and sharing the music with them.

Don't miss Kean Kavanagh on 18 Novemeber 2025 at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. Find tickets on his artist page.