Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award recipient Robbie Cavanagh announces the release of his eagerly awaited third studio album ‘Tough Love’.
The album will be available on Friday 26 May 2023 and is heralded with the release of ‘Helpless’, which is the first single from the album and is now available on all streaming services.
‘Helpless’ is a funky track with smooth melodies and the soulful vocals of Robbie Cavanagh.
There is something intangibly vibrant and uplifting about Robbie Cavanagh’s latest track, especially when the tempo gets turned up a notch or two halfway through.
A self-confessed devotee of ‘real music’, Robbie Cavanagh is not defined by genres. His only rules are good musicians, real instruments, great microphones and performance with emotion. Capturing sound, not producing it.
Believing we live in a world where music is produced and consumed like fast food, to fill a hole where speed and value for money is prioritised over quality, Robbie is in the game for what he coins “fine dining music”.
Whereas Robbie’s previous record ‘To Leave/To Be Left’ (2017) grappled with emotions of loss and self-pity from leaving or being left behind, Tough Love’ comes as an invigorating reality check.
It’s a grittier and stronger-minded letter to himself and to anybody else who may be in need of a heavy dose of tough love.
Written over the course of the past 5 years, each track explores a new perspective on the record’s overarching theme and documents Robbie’s own journey of self-reflection and maturity, both as a person and as a songwriter.
About ‘Helpless’, Robbie explains, “When I play this song live, I joke that it’s about helping your ex find a new partner, similarly to how you might help find your replacement if you leave a job role. Really though, I suppose it’s about that feeling of desperation when something ends. ‘without you I’d be helpless, but I know you’d be helpless too’ is quite a child-like response to being left. Deflecting I guess. But it’s about the panic that sets in when a situation changes and it’s out of your hands.”
His releases have been championed by Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 and supported by BBC Radio Manchester, Absolute Country Radio and Chris Country Radio.
Robbie and his band have made their way onto many UK festival stages including Black Deer, Cornbury, Silverstone Woodlands, British Country Music Festival, and Buckle & Boots, and have performed in the UK, Europe and USA alongside such artists as The Shires, Charlie Winston, Ferris & Sylvester, Mary Gauthier, Fiona Bevan and Aaron Lee Tasjan.
2023 LIVE DATES
Thursday 27 April – Sacred Trinity Church, Manchester
Wednesday 24 May – Nashville Meets London
Friday 25 August – The Long Road Festival, Lutterworth
Sunday 3 September – The British Country Music Festival, Blackpool
Plus more UK live dates to be announced for autumn 2023.
