The Man Whom is the signature name of Ian Doyle, singer songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer from Wexford. He recently announced details of an April / May tour in support of his third single release ‘Sing ‘till there’s no songs left’ from his debut album The Greatest Event. Ian took time to share five faves with us.



1. Tom Waits – Innocent when you dream
Tom Waits is a genius. Its not often I would use that word to describe an individual or his music, I reserve it for Tom Waits only. I was lucky enough to catch him on his Glitter and Doom tour and he did not disappoint. A lyrical master, part musician, part actor, part chameleon. Favorite Waits quote – “they say I have no hits and I’m difficult to work with and they say that like it’s a bad thing”

2. Nick Drake – From the Morning
I first heard of Nick Drake while living in Holland in a student city called Nijmegen. I played a gig in the student union bar and they paid me in records, one of which was An Introduction to Nick Drake. Up until that point I had never heard proper examples of fingerstyle guitar playing. After that I burned all my plectrums, grew the nails on my right hand and became obsessed by fingerstyle guitar playing.

3. Nic Jones – The Humpback Whale
There’s a man from Wexford whose name is Jack O Leary. He’s famous for his taste in music and his huge record collection. A few year ago I challenged his son to dazzle me with some folk/acoustic guitar music that I wouldn’t have heard before and on his father’s advice he presented me with a copy of Nic Jones’ Penguin Eggs. I was blown away and I’m sure I’ve listened to this album at least once a week since. An amazing and unique guitar player with a sublime voice and a storytelling, songwriting style which would have you believe you were a whale-hungry trawler-man yourself. Nic Jones was injured to the point that he could no longer play guitar – when driving home from a gig one night his car was hit by a lorry carrying a load of bricks. Finding any live Jones material is a treasure.

4. Neil Young – Old Man
I learned to play guitar to Neil Young songs and so began a life long obsession. This is a great clip of a young Young at the BBC in 1971.

5. Sparklehorse – Saturday
One of my favorite songs of all time. Mark Linkous sadly missed.

The Man Whom brings his “No Songs Left Tour” to The Pavilion, Cork on Wednesday 9th May, with special guests Karrie, Chris Campbell and Anna Mitchell

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