Travel and performing is just music to Kieran Goss’s ears

Kieran Goss will have enjoyed Germany’s eleventh hour World Cup triumph. The Sligo-based acoustic songwriter has toured Mitteleuropa for years, routinely selling-out 1,500 capacity venues from Dusseldorf to Dresden. He has, in some ways, become an honorary German.

“Last year I did 200 shows — of which less than 10 were in Ireland,” says Goss, 52. “It’s maybe 16 years since I focused on Ireland. If you speak to musicians, a lot will have the same experience. Overseas tends to be the bread and butter.”

While he’s far too humble to acknowledge the fact, Goss’s success in Germany is groundbreaking. Focused on the UK, Irish artists often give short shrift to bigger markets on the Continent, even though they generally welcome (and are less inclined to stereotype) music from Ireland.