It's been a year since the popular Irish folk band the High Kings visited Bloomington-Normal.
This Friday, they're back for a concert at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, playing classic ballads and up tunes, plus a healthy dose of original songs from the band's 2023 album, The Road Not Taken.
The LP was two years in the making, begun during COVID-19 lockdowns. It is the High King's first all-original album — and turned out to be their highest grossing ever.
On the heels of their 15th anniversary, the quartet [Darren Holden, Finbarr Clancy, Brian Dunphy and Paul O'Brien] accepted pitches from cross-genre collaborators, landing contributions from Irish heavy-hitters like Sharon Corr, Kodaline and The Script, the latter co-writing the album’s catchiest tune, Chasing Rainbows.
“In order to grow the genre, as well as the band, I think you need to stretch out and expand your wings — and just go for it a little bit,” said songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Darren Holden in a phone call. “I don’t think any fans of the band came back and said that’s not really the High Kings. Everybody said this is where we want you to go now.”
A notable American jumped on board, too.
“One of the songs we recorded, it was called Streets of Kinsale,” Holden said. “It was heard by Steve Perry from Journey in California. He reached out to us from his home in San Diego and asked if he could sing backing vocals on that song.”
The result is a blend that’s mainly High Kings with a splash of Perry’s singular vocal.
Holden said Irish music is “ever evolving,” but the band remains “deeply rooted in where we came from and why we started the band in the first place.”
The “why” is aimed at giving standard Irish folk tunes a contemporary twist, something they hold onto despite spending more time away from Ireland than in it.
“If you're born and brought up there, I don’t think it ever leaves you for one second,” said Holden, who is from Mooncoin, County Kilkenny — and thus by birthright is obligated to cheer for Kilkenny’s hurling team. Holden now keeps a home base in Dublin.
It’s likely no accident the band brings high theatrics to the form — Holden’s career first skyrocketed on Broadway as a lead vocalist Riverdance and later as the Piano Man in Movin’ Out. Add to that the mass appeal of Irish music worldwide, and you get something like the High Kings.
“It’s something in the message of folk music,” he said. “There’s something real in there. People connect to it very easily. It’s every emotion — from happiness to heartbreak — and everything in between. And then, obviously, you have the element of drinking.”
The High Kings play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, 600 N. East St. Tickets are $29-$59 at 309-434-2777 and artsblooming.org.
