Good times for Nathan as Beautiful Life tops the charts

The profile photo on Nathan Carter’s phone features thousands of people in jam-packed Denny Street in Tralee. By any standards, it is a most impressive sight. It was taken two years ago when Nathan and his band entertained the huge crowd during the Rose of Tralee celebrations.

But like all good country stories, it was not always like that. Nathan’s early forays into the Irish country scene were mixed, to say the least.

“It took a while for the whole thing to take off for me. There were some nights we did not go on stage as only eight or nine people, or something like that, turned up. You could easily get discouraged.

“But I always believed it would get better and had that bit of confidence in myself. We stuck at it and luckily it progressed from there. I suppose The Rainbow in Glenfarne, a song written by my manager John Farry, was the first one that gave me a decent lift. It was especially popular with the older followers.

“Then he came up with One For The Road and that proved popular with the young people, so the blend was in place and things moved on nicely from there.”

Then along comes the Wagon Wheel, an old American song given a bluegrass flavour by Old Crow Medicine Show in the USA. The song was acquiring something of a cult status in the third level colleges at the time. Nathan picked up on the buzz, recorded the song and the rest is history.

“It surpassed our wildest dreams,” reflects Nathan. “Not only did it take off for us on the country stations, but crossed over to the pop stations. It swept through the nightclubs. It now has over 2.5 million views on YouTube. The song has just been remixed and released in the UK. It got playlisted in recent weeks on BBC Radio 2, which is a huge station with a major outreach.”

Born in Liverpool, with strong connections to Co Down (his grandmother, who is one of his greatest supporters, was born and raised in Warrenpoint), Nathan has a soft spot and strong affinity with Liverpool and UK audiences.

“We have no plans for America at this stage. We are concentrating a lot on England and Scotland, where our concert shows are doing so well. We had a great tour there in March.

“I’m really looking forward in a special way to my first visit to the Orkney Islands, where the show has completely sold out well in advance. We are playing the Pickaquoy Centre (1,200-seater) on 30 May. I feel there is a shared natural affinity with country music and Celtic music in many parts of Scotland.”

Growing up in Liverpool, Nathan was immersed in Irish traditional music. He was a member of the Liverpool branch of Comhaltas and also joined the Liverpool Céilí Band.

“Johnny McEvoy and The Dubliners were special favourites in our home and they continue to influence me to this day. I won an All-Ireland Fleadh title for solo singing at the age of 15. The songs I sang were The Boys From Bar na Sráide and Erin Grá Mo Chroí. I love the buzz of the Fleadh.”

Nathan has teamed up in the song-writing stakes with John Farry and others in recent months.

“I normally write in the middle of the night. That’s when I get ideas. We have a good few songs ready to record right now. We have just finished a new song called Temple Bar, all about the place in Dublin. It is a folksy, country-style number and we are very excited about it,” says Nathan.

Having heard the song performed for the first time during rehearsals in Castlebar last week, I can see why Nathan is enthused about this number. It will be another surefire winner and it looks set to become a popular standard.

Nathan has put the disappointment of the cancellation of the Garth Brooks well behind him at this stage. He was booked to play support for one of the shows in Croke Park.

“There are talks that Garth might be coming back again. We’ll see what happens. I’m delighted to be booked by Peter Aiken for The Marquee in Cork gigs in June. I’ll be recording my new DVD, Live from the Marquee, on 21 June so we’re all looking forward to a full house that evening.”

The Cork gig is just one of a host of major festivals that Nathan and his band will headline in the coming months.

“We are back in Ireland for the summer, where we are playing numerous festivals. We are also delighted to have been invited back to the Rose of Tralee week, the Ballymore Country Festival in Westmeath, the Marquee in Drumlish, as well as Belfast and various other festivals in Northern Ireland.”

Beautiful Life is Nathan’s first album with Decca Records and it was released last week. The title song, an old Kenny Rogers number, has also been issued as a promotional number.

The album has shot straight to the top of the official Irish sales chart, beating off stiff competition from international selling artists Mumford & Sons and Taylor Swift.

Not bad for a young lad from Liverpool who got his first major break from Gerry Flynn, Dermot Hegarty and the folks at Enjoy Travel, who took him over as a guest artist to their Fleadh Ibiza at the age of 16.

• Nathan will be the featured guest in the studio with Terry Wogan on his hugely popular BBC Radio 2 programme on Sunday morning, 28 June, at 11am.