Kevin Connolly was raised in the Irish working-class community jokingly known as the ?Irish Riviera? between Boston and Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Being half-Irish himself, Connolly found himself immediately attracted to the work of Van Morrison, and he has developed a similar approach to his idol in his ability to improvise words whilst allowing the musical backing to veer off into various tangents – without losing the thread of the song itself This approach, which he also analogised as working with musical textures that can ?bend? with the direction of his songwriting, lends his work a free-spirited, loose feel that embellishes literate, astute passages of lyrics. His first two albums were spread-eagled by a year living in Marino, near Rome, in Italy, beginning in August 1991, where the slower pace of life helped to provide space to write new songs.
His 1993 record featured several local Massachusetts musicians, including some impressive slide guitar from Steven Paul, saxophone and clarinet from Dana Colley and blues harmonica courtesy of Jim Fitting. In addition to the memories of his year in Italy (?a celebration of that time and the people that we met?) it was also partially inspired by Connolly?s reading of Dylan Thomas? poetry. Produced and engineered by Dicky Carlisle, My My My helped establish Connolly at the forefront of a phalanx of new singer-songwriter talent emerging from the USA in the 90s. 1995?s Little Town saw Connolly focus in turn on his experiences growing up in Boston, where he won several polls as the city?s Best Folk Artist.
Kevin Connolly is available for corporate events, private shows, milestone celebrations (birthday, anniversary), fundraisers, festivals, and more.