‘There’s a record that came out about called Twilight by John Hegarty here in Ireland and it blew me away. I love that record and that singer’.Glen Hansard

“…..a pop force to be reckoned who mines from the motherlode of Bacharach, Big Star and The Beatles, channelling them into such bright, upbeat songs as Such a Thrill, The Sound and Let Love In…” The Irish Times

“….with a wonderful collection of gentle, sun-soaked songs, Hegarty supported Canadian stalwarts Patrick Watson in what was a brilliantly rousing show in Dublin’s Sugar Club …” The Irish Daily Star

As a songwriter, John Hegarty has made his name with collections of songs written on open-tuned folky guitar with broad, ambitious musical arrangements featuring strings and woodwind on albums like Twilight and Into the Great Unknown.

His latest record, Daydreaming reprieves his trademark classic songwriting style and weaves a rich tapestry of pastoral landscapes, hazy summer days and happy sad memories.

The new songs are written on piano with strong musical narratives that also have the freedom to wonder, that kind of imaginative drift is summed up by the album’s title track “Daydreaming”, an Impressionistic song based on childhood summer days lying in fields of long grass staring at clouds.

The song lifts off with strings that seems to float into the sky and soar back to the ground, backed by a light improvised piano and the expansive, soulful drumming of Dave Hingerty. John plays a mini-grand piano accompanied by a string quartet comprising the talents of violinists, Kenneth Rice and Maria Ryan, viola player, Gawain Usher and cellist, Orlaith Ni Challanain.

With an adventurous song structure and the warm acoustic glow of albums of the early 1970s, Marty Whelan immediately got the song and played it on his show, Marty in the Morning on Lyric FM describing “Daydreaming” as “very fine”.

The albums was recorded in 2023 in The Barn Studio and Twilight Studio in Kilkenny and produced by Leo Pearson and John Hegarty. String arrangements were written by the talented cellist and songwriter, Mary Barnecutt and John Hegarty, and the project was part funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.

Daydreaming is Kilkenny based Record label, Rollercoaster Record’s newest release and reinforces the labels continuing commitment to Independent music with a roster of artists that includes Aborist, Malojian and Dave Murphy.

John Hegarty is a gifted songwriter who has released three albums, Twilight in 2000, Guiding Light in 2007 and Great Unknown in 2015 which gained glowing reviews from Hot Press, The Irish Times, The Irish Daily Star and the Dublin Event Guide.

John Hegarty’s debut album, Twilight was released in 2000. The album was produced by Bob Lamb who previously worked with UB40, and The Lilac Time. 22 Musicians in all worked on the album featuring the talents of classical musicians like Martin Riley and Kenneth Rice, traditional musicians like Martin Furey, jazz musicians like Lisa Mallet and rock musicians like Kevin Murphy and Mickey Greaney.

John Hegarty featured in the first season of Other Voices and his song ‘Limerick’ was featured on the Other Voices: Songs from a Room album. In the second season of Other Voices Glen Hansard covered ‘Limerick’ for his appearance on the show.

Guiding Light was released in 2007 and was produced by Stephen Shannon. The strings were arranged by Cork composer, Linda Buckley and featured the Crash Ensemble’s Kate Ellis. A video for single from the album, “You See” was directed by Adrian Crowley.

John Hegarty’s third album Into the Great Unknown was released in 2015 and was produced by Stephen Shannon. Kevin Murphy from Slow Moving Clouds guested on cello with Joss Morkens on drums and Michael Murphy on bass. “Down on Murtagh Road” was directed by John Hegarty with photography by Aoife Phelan.

An accomplished arranger, multi-instrumentalist and session musician, Hegarty has been working in the Dublin music scene for the last 20 years and has guested on 17 albums playing guitar, piano, bass and organ and toured with The Pernice Brothers, Favourite Sons, Mark Geary and The Frames.

John Hegarty has featured on the Choice Prize winning Adrian Crowley album Season of Sparks and Cian Nugent’s critically acclaimed album, Born with the Caul where the Independent added a ‘special word for the organ-playing of John Hegarty, which is understated and beguiling’.

John Hegarty moved to Kilkenny in 2014 working with Americana songwriter, John Murry for a residency in Cleeres, a festval appearance, recording and dates around the country.

John Hegarty has also worked with the box player, John Fogarty and was in the process of recording an album when the Covid pandemic struck. They have supported Yorkston/Thorne/Khan and played the Kilkenny Arts Festival with a line up that included James Yorkston, The Lost Brothers and Malojian.

In 2022, Kilkenny based Record label, Rollercoaster Records released a Vinyl Gatefold Edition of Twilight by John Hegarty which was followed by performances with string players like Mary Barnecutt and box player, John Fogarty around Ireland.