Don Baker In Concert

Riverbank Arts Centre Newbridge

Thursday 26 June
8.00pm (Tickets €18)
Booking 045 448333
boxoffice@riverbank.ie

Enjoy what promises to be one of the best concerts in the county as the Riverbank Arts Centre plays host to one of Ireland’s legendary Musicians and Actors, Don Baker, the man Bono named "the greatest harmonica player in the world". Don’s stunning harmonica performances and blistering finger style guitar mesmerize audiences. Don has seven albums under his belt and is now working on his eighth, so there is no shortage of original material.

Don Baker was born in Whitehall, Dublin in 1950, into a dysfunctional family. Essentially abandoned and left to fend for himself, largely due to an alcoholic father, the desperate conditions of his early childhood resulted in TB and hospitalisation at age seven. Whilst in hospital Don came upon a harmonica player and was quickly charmed by the instrument.

Frequently in trouble with the police, Baker was in and out of prison until the age of 19. While in prison, he took up the guitar and according to himself "never looked back". Leaving Ireland, aged 22, he spent ten years travelling across Europe, playing all the while.

Baker has since built a wide reputation as a harmonica player. Mark Feltham (who has played with Oasis, Joe Cocker and Rory Gallagher) rates him as the greatest acoustic harmonica player in the world. A fine guitar player, Don learned blues guitar by listening to the great country blues players - Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, and Scrapper Blackwell.

Internationally known for his major role as Joe McAndrew in the acclaimed film 'In The Name of The Father' starring alongside Daniel Day Lewis. Don also recently traded his harmonica for a role as a hard man in RTE’s long running and popular soap FAIR CITY.