Pierce Turner, back in Cork City after three years of forced absence.
Pierce Turner loves Cork, but was trapped in New York for the Pandemic years. He kept performing through his world-wide lucrative Facebook concerts though, beginning with over seven thousand viewers. He also signed with a new Manhattan label called StorySound during this period of unexpected renaissance.
Last Summer he was in Cork County though with Joe, from Fred. Patti Smith’s musical director, Bassist Tony Shanahan, joined Pierce in Levy’s of Ballydehob, coming fresh from a Smith Concert at the Pompeii Amphitheatre. Tony was part of the line-up on Turner’s critically acclaimed last album “Terrible Good”
The Sunday Times critic Liam Fay, wrote “it is in live performance that Turner always seems to strive for and attain another level of communication; one minute, for instance, reducing his audience to pin- drop silence with the desolation of All Messed Up, the next leading them through a rollicking Musha God Help Her. Expect the unexpected is amongst the hoariest of
clichés, but when it comes to Turner’s live performance, nothing could be nearer the truth. Programmed percussion, rambling yarns, acoustic ballads, blaring brass, string quartets, hymns dredged up from childhood, surprising cover versions, table-dancing mayhem, bits and pieces of Latin and Gaelic have all, at one time or another, featured in his live shows”. Liam Fay, Hot Press, originally.
Coughlans Liv Presents;
Pierce Turner with Aongus Mac Amhlaigh on Cello and Vocals.
Coughans Cork City,November 9th
The Aquarian New Jersey- review of Terrible Good
“His tone as an artist builds out that idea in a Johnny Cash meets The Cure sort of way. Reflective ..sixties artistry with the production quality and electricity of the eighties illuminate where Pierce Turner is going and what he wants to say in his jam-worthy music”
The Irish Times **** - 2/25/22
Album of the Week, RTE RADIO
“Gestated in a tough, tenacious brew that begins with a bang, and offers no letup throughout…a rugged repast that’s part and parcel of Ireland’s old country attitude”
- American Songwriter - May/June 2022
* “Terrible Good is indeed terribly good, born into a musical paradise where Van Morrison might co-exist with The Radiators and The Undertones. And even if that doesn’t immediately ring the right kind of bell for you, give Pierce Turner’s latest salvo a listen. He is, after all, a unique and fascinating talent –and always, but always, worth hearing”
- Hot Press Ireland- 3/29/22
No Depression Magazine A quarterly English journal.
introduces the single “Set a few things up” March 14 - 2022
“Pierce Turner — whose life, work, songs, and stories span the Atlantic from Wexford, Ireland, to Manhattan’s East Village — has made his most rocking album to date. Produced by former Bowie guitarist Gerry Leonard, Terrible Good is an edgy guitar album that forges an extraordinary alloy of ’70s downtown New York punk and Irish alternative rock. The songs offer reflections on love, friendship, immigration, mortality, and the need for resilience against hard times. Somehow pounding and soaring at the same time, the songs soulfully testify to the awful and awesome everyday, the human predicament — it’s Terrible Good.
“Being a musician is a dodgy way to make a living, just like anyone who is self-employed I suppose. But it is a portable job, so there is always a gig around the corner that gets us out of trouble, so long as there is a guitar or a piano to play, I can make a few bob. Being a songwriter requires a certain amount of living outside the box I suppose, the trouble is, sometimes you live there too long, and then you have to get up, shake yourself, hunt for a gig, and set a few things up.”
March 17, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003
Terrible Good launch.
Irish performer Pierce Turner just released his new album, Terrible Good! Working on this album with a fellow NYC-based Irish artist Gerry Leonard created this Irish rock album. In celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day and the album’s release, Pierce Turner is performing at Joe’s Pub with an all-star band including Gerry on guitar, Tony Shanahan on bass (Patti Smith), and Yuval Lion on drums (David Byrne).
AM. New York- Things to do in NYC
