Dónal Donohoe

Born in Dublin Dónal Donohoe started playing guitar around the age of ten. His early influences included folk music and blues, later embracing the sounds of rock, Latin and jazz music. He went on to develop his own unique and original guitar style. Dónal started playing in small clubs around Dublin, then travelled in Europe before settling down in Denmark for some years. There he lived from his music all the while perfecting his art. He played both solo and with bands at a variety of venues and events around Denmark.

He also played support for the boogie woogie piano player Diz ‘The Honey Bear’ Watson and for the Ron Kavanagh Band, Jan Toftlund Band as well as performing live on one of the Danish television channels. Other engagements included playing at open air events during the summer in the squares in the old part of Copenhagen and on a couple of occasions playing for the inmates in The Danish State Prison.

It wasn’t San Quentin and I’m not Johnny Cash, but they were a captive audience…

He also had a residency for a couple of years in a piano bar where one of Denmark’s most famous contemporary song writers, John Mogensen, composed his most famous song.

While Dónal was based in Copenhagen he got to hear and sometimes meet many different musicians who would pass through on tour. It was during this period that he met and became friends with the musicians featured on Midnight ‘til noon. It was also during this period that he started to play from time to time in Ireland again, performing at the Clifden Country & Blues Festival a couple of times and playing the occasional gig at ‘Án Béal Bhócht’ in Dublin while that venue still existed.

Returning to live in Ireland he settled in County Wicklow where he bought an old house on the right hand side of the valley as you travel west along the road. He began to write songs in Irish for the first time and it was these songs that were to form the greater part of Dónal’s second album Ceol’s Rann. At the moment, apart from performing live Dónal is concentrating on writing and recording new songs.