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Gráinne Hunt at Celtic Junction (May 11, 2025)
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International tours are expensive and difficult with all of the travel logistics. Having organizations and partners that help sponsor and/or support musicians is crucial for many artists to ever have a chance at getting that international opportunity. On an evening with Graínne Hunt playing at St. Paul’s Celtic Junction, that support was obvious in making the event possible.
Culture Ireland (Cultúr Éireann) is a governmental agency that, you guessed it, supports and promotes Irish Arts on the international stage and were a key supporter of Hunt’s North American tour. On this side of the Atlantic, the Celtic Junction is a St. Paul based organization supporting concerts, classes, and events throughout the year. Though they sponsor events at many locations, they also have a physical location, the Celtic Junction Arts Center. The CJAC hosts Irish dance and music events, and has a performance hall that holds around 250. Hunt’s concert was the final in the CJAC’s Women’s Concert Series.
Graínne Hunt is a Kildare based songwriter and folk singer. She had a 2019 album, This Secret, and supporting it had many of the challenges of those released near the start of the pandemic. Hunt was performing alongside Jules Stewart on the tour. With Hunt on guitar and Stewart on drums, the pair started with the song Lilacs (in June). It’s worth pointing out right away, Hunt is a great singer; a strong alto with that Irish accent playing softly on her folk singer ways. Between the Pines, the first track off of This Secret, was a lovely number, and the lyrics “with California on my mind” makes more sense knowing Stewart lives in San Diego. Some hilarious banter from Hunt about her accent and crowd sourcing what some lyrics from the song actually were demonstrated Hunt’s ability to bring the crowd along the journey and her overall professionalism as a performer.
Don’t Let the Truth Get in the Way was a funkier sound and was a biting story of an ex-collaborating musician. Given the limited instruments, this was an impressively full sound. Hunt and Stewart are fantastic together. At one point, Hunt went to start a song and Stewart simply said “that’s a different one”. Hunt quickly recalibrated and if she hadn’t brought notice to it, “she (Stewart) knows them better than me”, you might not have even noticed. Musically, this is similar to some of the best contemporary folk music out there. Solid lyrical stories with intricate vocals and harmonies, it’s just top-notch musicianship. Tipping Point highlighted Stewart’s harmonies, riding above Hunt’s.
Hunt spent the pandemic, “very productively”, and part of that was working in online song writing groups. She co-wrote and released an album of 15 songs based on James Joyce’s The Dubliners. We got to hear one of those songs, Evelyn, a tragic love song. Hunt ended the first set with an a cappella song in Gaelic. After a brief intermission, we jumped back into the action with Magnets, a cute love song of dealing with the differences in a partner. This Secret was “another song about the sea”, but to me was really about those things you hold dear. It was clearly a song that means a lot to Hunt and featured a more finger picking style on guitar. I Wasn’t Quite Ready for Love was a song inspired by a Tom Waits song and was maybe the best pairing of Hunt and Stewart’s playing together. A late song, So I Could Leave was the requisite folk singer’s break up song, but worked well. An encore with Hold On Hard had Hunt and Stewart thanking the audience and finishing a great night of folk music. If you enjoy this kind of music, you should absolutely look her up.
I spoke with Hunt and Stewart and asked how the tour was going. Besides having issues with the CD’s arriving (a shipping fiasco of legendary proportions), it has been a great time. Hunt noted that Stewart lives in the US, and I have to believe that makes some of the logistics and scheduling easier. They also did an 11 city Northeast to Midwest tour last year, during which they met and re-met a number of acquaintances at the concerts as well as at the Folk Alliance in February 2024. One of those people was Cormac Ó Sé, Board President of Celtic Junction. They talked and the date and venue for this show was agreed upon, and this was now her first time in St. Paul. And that network gave them other, similar experiences to find places to perform. And so far, at least, it’s a positive feedback cycle, where each concert stop gives them more people to meet and building future possibilities. They are excited to be expanding the audience and sharing their sound with others. Hunt also mentioned how much Culture Ireland’s financial support helps make this really work. I got the feeling that Hunt will be back through in the future, and hopefully will swing through Minnesota again.
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