 in just two capsules a day. Ask for men and men at health stores and pharmacies or learn more at cleanmarine.ie I'm glad I did. Around the Northwest for this Wednesday afternoon now time for some live music and it's been a while since actually we had live music in the studio so I'm delighted that I'm joined in the studio by Keith Harkin. Keith is a singer-songwriter from Derry and he now lives in Los Angeles and he's been over there for a number of years now and his musical talents have brought him all around the United States and to all places around the United States not just there but Canada as well and Australia and he has performed for President Obama at the White House for Richard Branson out on his private island Necker Island. He's played for the Secretary of State at the Pentagon and we'll hear about that in a minute hopefully and even for Muhammad Ali at a celebrity fight night so Keith you've squeezed in a lot. How've I? How are you? I'm now Highland Radio more importantly. Yeah I'm just gonna add that in out of this list in just a second yeah. So anyhow you're back on home territory you have a gig coming up in O'Flaherty's Friday week. 27th yeah okay I could tell from that that that tan that you didn't get that around home. Sadly not no if home had the weather like that I would probably be here more often. I lived in LA for 12 years and now we moved last year we came home for three years with a place in New Zealand that we buzzed us out there and we moved to Portugal. I'm living in living in Portugal now actually. We had enough of America for a while and we swapped it up you know. You know we'll talk about the United States in Portugal and and home in just a second but let's have some music. No worries. Maybe a song. This is a song called Call Me in the Morning it's an original song off my next record. Fantastic Keith Harkin is with us in the studio and and playing live. In the States Keith you had a lot of um you were lucky and well so you know so much is down to look but after that then it's it's other factors that kick in but you you bumped into a David Foster and uh and then David worked with you on your first album is that right? Yeah I got signed to Verve Records David took over Verve and uh I was the first person they signed back to Verve when it get reinstated and I done my first album for a solo record with David and Joachim van der in uh in David's house out in LA and that's what I ended up they kept putting me up in these hotels and stuff and I was just tired it so I just ended up moving there because it took so long they record the record and that was sadly long over 10 years ago but it's been a number of albums since that yeah I'm thinking I've got album that song there's actually on a record it's finished now and that'll be out this year I think that's album number six or seven or something like that solo yeah okay yeah um so uh obviously you you don't have a problem with writing material no or do you? It is a problem because I write so much that I haven't got the time to record it especially now I've got a three-year-old kid and another business and I just finished a seven week tour of America I'm only back about three weeks I just done 28 shows all across the States that's my first tour back since the start of the plague but it was great to get back out on the road again you know and when you tour in the States the distances are huge but you know massive yeah we don't you know maybe comprehend so are you traveling was it a coach we're driving we have a huge sprinter van that we use and it's all catered out I just keep it at my father-in-law's house um I used to have tour bosses and I've had done it always but I love having the big sprinter van and me and the guys get into it and we sleep on it we eat in it um but the drives I mean yeah for example that role now is gone for six and a half weeks and the in four weeks it was 9800 miles and that's 26 shows in four weeks yeah so you haven't got time to bless yourself like it the driving alone would be it would be tiring enough but then you obviously have to perform and most nights and smile yeah tell us a bit about Celtic Thunder as well because that was a huge success and you're the lead singer in that yeah I was the first guy they chose for CT back and I was only 20 when I got the go for that that that involved uh there was tv specials and there was a lot of well back then would have been cd sales yeah yeah we don't yeah I mean like yeah Celtic Thunder I think we done I don't know 10 or 12 pbs specials uh which were aired all across Canada America and Australia and then we done thousands and thousands of shoes and then I think we had I don't even know probably like 16 albums or 17 albums can't even remember it was just non-stop you know and uh among the shows over the years as I mentioned there at the start you've played at the the White House for President Obama how did that come about we get asked whenever Obama got in the office um there was nobody allowed in the White House up until that point with Bush in administration beforehand and then when it was open back up again they had a massive some patty's day party and we walked in and it was very surreal to be honest with you actually when we walked in there was another band playing we weren't allowed to tell anybody that we were even playing because of security and when we walked in you couldn't make noise about it you couldn't tell anybody there was all these checks down on us me and the boys were all sweating so we were then you then you turned away and on the way up the drive they literally opened the main doors of the of the White House like the big gates I thought they'd have brought us on like a secret entrance or something and we heard there was another band playing and walking out of the White House was my friend Michael from Belfast and I seen him and he's seen me and we just started laughing I saw you the other band he's oh what are you doing here I'm playing too what a place to meet I know but it was a great experience surreal amazing experience yay and they came out and we met them and the the daughters were out and Michelle came out and they couldn't be nicer to us you know yeah and you've played at the Pentagon as well uh huh the I think the Pentagon being the biggest office building in the world is it might not be the highest but it's the biggest or you don't know how many floors space oh well let's not go there um I once had my hair cut in the pentagon believe it or not that's another story yeah and that's back at the time when they used to do tours I'm not sure they do tours anymore they might have got a bit more security conscious since that but I know you want one better and you played there yeah for the secretary of state I think so you think so would you get to play there we did I remember playing there yeah yeah I do remember playing there right um was that was that with Celtic Thunder yeah it was a Celtic Thunder gig that one uh yeah very good and the Muhammad Ali that was a celebrity fight night and Ali was there yeah I got to sit right next to him wow it was really obviously the man wasn't well you know and everybody was kind of grabbing him for photographs like walking up the table and I literally was sitting luckily so they're so in front of him and I'm never under that whole grab and people for photographs think it's just not I'm not on that but I try and look at him and I winked at him and he sort of winked back at me and I'll never forget it and I was like turning around he's like wow that's my Muhammad Ali and he can see it in his eyes he still had all the the balls on Satan did you get the photo no I wouldn't no I got to hang out with him was better I'm watching yeah well yeah I suppose so um I'm watching a documentary BBC about him there's six or seven parts to it and uh he's a fascinating character and you know it's just one of those celebrities one of those people forever just yeah absolutely anyhow I'm back to the music so here we are on what did you say album six possibly seven something like that I think so and and now you're in Portugal yeah contrast Portugal with Los Angeles we have this image of LA I suppose and you know lying by the pool and everything is you know class and if you're there and you're working and you're gigging it can be a different experience I'd imagine yeah it's a cool place you know I love the LA I still do love it I love all I've loved most of my adult life there you know all my great friends are there but you know when you have a kid and you want to start thinking about buying property and stuff and there's a big homeless thing going on in LA and I just we just wanted to get our kid out of there so we came back to Ireland for three years you know and then we um we've always wanted to move to Portugal and Portugal kind of looks like California before all the houses came there you know yeah that's good great weller and good food and nice people and and how has how's the language been I'm getting there I can walk on down order everybody's food which is which isn't easy it's a really difficult language but my boys in school there and his two teachers they're it's a Portuguese school and he's only three but they speak to him in Portuguese and he's like yeah okay yeah no problem and he's fine he's he seems to be dealing with it way better than us he's learning Portuguese yeah well he's at that age he's at that age yeah as long as he's not fussy about what he eats if you order for him well that's true as well I god knows what'll come out now um yeah your new album is coming out when probably sometime in the uh I would say the fall because that's made the American come at me sometime this winter all right autumn winter okay probably october november I'm guessing for that you know well you're a lot in your play at the minute uh here gigging at the moment is is it uh just a gig in O'Flaherty's yeah um they reached out this and they just as we do a gig and I wasn't sure when I was coming back and I haven't done a show here now since party's day like three four years ago in Ireland um I'm just looking for an excuse to get all my friends together and play like I love playing music you know as simple as that then I can't wait to get out apparently it's got a great venue it's called out the back in O'Flaherty's um and I've got a bunch of bodies coming down and say it's gonna be a great evening great great well it's on friday week and O'Flaherty's busy time between uh portugal and here and uh inch and you know I'm keeping your foot in in the united states and uh a new album coming out later on in the year so um you're gonna play another song for it I can yeah uh let me see I'll play a song it's a song I wrote with uh friends of mine the four of us and a friend of mine called Enda who owns a studio in uh Collie Baggy it's a song called I am the hurricane I got these blue jeans the hurricane that is Keith Harkin will be in O'Flaherty's in Bunkrana on the friday week with a very special gig there Keith the best look with it thanks for coming in thank you very very I just want to say one thing you'll all be original songs I do Irish and americana and it'll be a fun pike show it's not just original songs yes okay okay yeah no harman throwing that all right Keith thanks very much there's a gaggle of monsters you'll see around town