JOHN BLEK -

The Grand Social Presents 

John Blek + Guests 

Feb 17th, 2023 

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Blek is an artist with a story to tell. With his timeless emotive voice and layered fingerstyle guitar you will be

transported from scene to scene as his expansive songbook unfolds.

John Blek is Cork City born and bred currently residing only a mile or two from his childhood home but listening to his

music you can hear the influence of travel and experience. His parents, both of whom were primary school teachers,

had to bribe him to stay in school after his 16th birthday with the promise of a new guitar on the completion of his final

exams. Such was John’s belief in his ability and chosen path in life that he was willing to forgo the more traditional

education sought by his peers. This conviction carries through to his art. His music is written from such a personal

place that it creates the sense that he grew up with these songs, that they are in his blood – and in a way he did, they

are his thoughts, his words, his sounds and his stories. Though not all autobiographical, like many of the great

painters, an element of the artist exists in every portrait.

While Blek is a solo artist he regularly collaborates, and indeed will write new music with collaborators in mind. As a

result, it never feels like another artist is merely gate crashing his music instead it works as a beautiful harmonious

meeting of artists who understand each other. Recent collaborations include Kris Drever & Kit Downes who both join

John on his album “On Ether & Air”, Joan Shelley who embodies Laura, one of the characters in Blek’s duet “The

Body”, Nathan Salsburg of the Alan Lomax Archive who, with John is currently investigating lesser known folk songs

that traveled from Ireland to America in the mid 1800s with the support and funding of the `Arts Council of Ireland and

fellow Corkonian Mick Flannery who duets with him on Revived a single from the 2020 album “The Embers”.