Paul Brady

Prolific Irish singer/songwriter Paul Brady moved through multiple prominent groups before launching an extended and prosperous solo path. He began performing at 16 as a hotel pianist in Donegal, then joined several rhythm & blues ensembles during the mid- to late '60s such as Rootzgroop, Rockhouse, and the Kult. After those experiences came his role as guitarist and vocalist with the Johnstons, which concluded in 1974, followed by a briefer period in the Irish folk ensemble Planxty that involved widespread touring. While with Planxty he first encountered Andy Irvine, leading the pair to issue the 1976 album Andy Irvine and Paul Brady. His initial solo release arrived two years later as the folk set Welcome Here Kind Stranger.

In 1981 he issued Hard Station, signaling his turn toward commercial rock. Four additional pop/rock albums appeared throughout the '80s—True for You, Full Moon, Back to the Centre, and Primitive Dancer—before Trick or Treat reached the Billboard 200 in the U.S. in 1991. Spirits Colliding came next as a studio album in 1995, after which Rykodisc issued the closing-'90s best-of collection Nobody Knows: The Best of Paul Brady. By that point his collaborators already included Bonnie Raitt, Richard Thompson, and Béla Fleck among others, prompting Compass to sign him in the new millennium and re-release his catalog along with the best-of package.

While continuing to create fresh material, he worked with songwriting partners such as Carole King, Will Jennings, and Bob Thiele on the 2000 album Oh What a World. The following year The Missing Liberty Tapes preserved a 1978 concert from Dublin's Liberty Hall, and The Paul Brady Songbook in 2002 drew from live appearances tied to RTÉ’s six-part television series devoted to his work. Say What You Feel, his 2005 studio album, reached the Irish Top Ten.

That release marked his last for Compass before Hooba Dooba introduced him to Proper Records in 2010. The same label later put out Dancer in the Fire: A Paul Brady Anthology in 2012 and the 2015 live album Vicar St. Sessions, Vol. 1. Guests on the latter included Raitt, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, and Sinéad O'Connor. Unfinished Business arrived in 2017, presenting nine new compositions together with the traditional pieces "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" and "The Cocks Are Crowing."