Cronin working with Shane MacGowan on new album

Photo - Shane MacGowan with Johnny Cronin.

Mullingar band Cronin are working with Shane MacGowan, the man who brought us Fairytale of New York, Rainy Night in Soho, White City and Victoria, on a new record of new songs, old time classics, trad ballads and ceili punk.

That’s according to frontman Johnny Cronin, who says: “We’ve been together for years.”

“This is Shane MacGowan solo. The music is ceili punk, some original songs, and some classics. But that’s all we can give away at the moment. It’s exciting working with one of our influences, and a hero of ours. He’s in fine voice,” Johnny says of Shane. “He teaches you a lot about music and songs.

“He’s actually got a lot of love for Mullingar. We talk about Joe Dolan an awful lot, and Foster and Allen, who he used to go see when he was a teenager in Tipperary.

“He’s also a huge fan of JP Donleavy, who inspired him for the title Fairytale of New York.

“We have five songs down so far. We’ve had to take a short break with how things are with the Coronavirus just now, but we’ll be back in the studio, hopefully soon, for more ‘ceili house’,” he said.