Irish singer Karan Casey to perform Nov. 3 in Las Cruces

“I’m really looking forward to it,” world renown Irish singer Karan Casey said about her upcoming performance in Las Cruces.

Casey will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, at Unitarian Universalist Church (UUC), 2000 S. Solano Drive.

She will be joined by guitarist Seán Óg, and fiddler/singer Niamh Dunne for the show.

“I just feel this is a really special trio. We’ve worked together for nearly 10 years,” Casey said. The three have collaborated in writing many of the songs they will perform in Las Cruces, she said.

Casey has released 11 albums, including 2023’s “Nine Apples of Gold.” Casey said the Las Cruces concert will include songs from that album, along with songs about nature, female activism and camaraderie, and anti-colonialism – “songs that welcome immigrants,’ she said. The performance will also include new songs Casey has written.

“Hopefully, people will be singing along,” she said.

To find inspiration for her songwriting, Casey often visits a glen near her home that is filled with egrets, herons and other birds and wildlife – “the natural world,” she said. She also finds traveling to be inspirational, along with her work on “historical songs” to honor women.

“I’m writing more,” Casey said. “I’m always trying to evolve.”

“A lover of ballads, love songs and searing versions of social justice songs, fond of a good yarn, she has toured the world making deep connections with her audience connecting via Ireland’s past but crucially repositioning women and songs in a universal and a modern setting,” Casey’s website said.

A native of Bayllyduff Lower, Killmeaden, County Waterford, Ireland, Casey moved to New York City in 1993. She is the founding vocalist for the Irish group Solas. In 2018, she helped found FairPlé, an organization working for fairness and gender balance for female performers in Irish traditional and folk music.

The Las Cruces concert is part of the "Songs, Stories, and Social Good" performance series sponsored by the nonprofit makerspace Cruces Creatives and UUC, along with High Desert Concerts and Ramada Las Cruces Hotel and Conference Center.

Casey’s performance in Las Cruces is part of a 10-stop tour that includes Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Silver City; Tucson and Phoenix; and four cities in Oregon.

Tickets to the Las Cruces concert are $15-$30.

To purchase tickets, visit www.crucescreatives.org. Click on “EVENTS,” and, in the November 2023 calendar, under Friday, Nov. 3, scroll down and click on “Karan Casey Trio Performance.”

Visit karancasey.com.

Lyrics from ‘Chasing the Sun,’ by Karan Casey

The stars they all stand up in the sky
Make me want to fly away with you
The winds pile themselves into my dreams
Reminding me only of the lack of you
I could be up there with the best of them
Me the clouds and our shadows
Chasing the sun
The wind takes me up into her arms
Wraps herself around me away we go
While outside the snows they fall away
Slowly saying goodbye, goodbye to you
I could be up there with the best of them
Me the clouds and our shadows
Chasing the sun