When Northern Irish musician Gareth Dunlop began writing his new album, he went into it with more questions than answers.
He told the Irish Star: “I went into this record probably with more questions than answers, kind of questioning my own beliefs. I wanted to write songs that were close to my heart, close to me and tried to hit a nerve on myself.”
Dunlop was nominated for Album of the Year at the Northern Ireland Music Prize 2024 alongside acts like Kneecap. Released under the record label Zenith Cafe, his most recent record Welcome To The House of I Don’t Know was his third studio album.
The ceremony took place on Nov. 13, and the Album of the Year category was stacked. The award went to Blouse Club for their record Problem Patterns.
When it came to writing the record, much of it happened in Nashville, Tennessee, where he’s spent the better part of 10 years. Some of those songs made it on his latest record, while many others did not.
“The majority of my career has been rooted in Americana [music]. I got my first start out in Nashville, I signed with a publisher out there and was tasked with writing everything from folk to Americana country and then a lot of film and TV stuff,” he said.
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Dunlop has had music in films like Safe Haven and The Best of Me, both based on the Nicolas Sparks novels, and the television show Nashville.
While all of his commercial success is appreciated, he said there’s something especially exciting about being nominated for something so personal like his latest album. And the era of his life working for movies and TV may be over for now.
Dunlop said: “A lot of the work I did for TV shows and things like that, you’re writing quite specifically for that… When something lands, it’s great, and it’s a great excuse to put that song out in the world.
“Whereas if I’m writing for my own record, that’s kind of another thing I wanted to be mindful of on this project, to close the door on that stuff for a while and throw out the parameters and figure out what it is that I wanted to say.”
It was his first time getting nominated, and he was grateful to be recognized. He explained that you never know how well music will translate outside of the studio.
At the end of the day, his goal was to create something he’s proud of, and he did just that.
“The mission was to just go after what felt good at the time and not sweat over it too long. And we came out on the other end with something I’m really proud of.”
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