Nathan Carter explores themes of drink and divorce in new Radio Ulster series

Songs about dancing, drinking and divorce will feature in a new Radio Ulster series presented by country music star Nathan Carter.
Nathan Carter will be back on Radio Ulster this Sunday eveningNathan Carter will be back on Radio Ulster this Sunday evening
Nathan Carter will be back on Radio Ulster this Sunday evening

The Liverpool born singer, now based in Co Fermanagh, kicks off a six-part series on Sunday night looking at themes within country songs.

He said: “We could have done six episodes on drinking songs alone because there is that many of them in country music. The same with divorce and cheating songs.

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“We picked what we thought were the best – male and female, some modern and some old as well.”

Nathan got a bit of practice for the upcoming series when he filled in for Hugo Duncan on Radio Ulster recently.

He said: “I really enjoyed that week filling in for Hugo.

“I was chucked in at the deep end, and thankfully I enjoyed every minute of it.”

He said the new themed country music show got him back into music again: “I hadn’t listened to music in months and months in the middle of lockdown. I had to go looking through new artists and old artists.

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“This give me a chance to fall back in love with music again, I know that sounds like a bit of a cliche.

“I don’t listen to music that often, I listen more to podcasts when I go walking or on my bike. I’d listen to a lot of stuff about mindfullness. Niall Breslin has a great podcast every week. It puts you in a better frame of mind.”

Nathan said lockdown had been hard on the music community: “To have all of the gigs taken away from you – the gigging is kind of a drug, to go from doing so much to not doing anything was pretty tough, but there’s a lot of us in the same boat.

“That’s one of the things that’s helped, chatting to other musicians, other lads in the business, not just musicians – lighting men, sound men, promoters. The business has been obliterated for so long.”

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Nathan is looking forward to his next show – an outdoor festival in Manchester on July 31. “That’s our first gig in 15 months,” he said.

Of his musical career Nathan said: “It’s been a random enough journey to be honest, to go from playing dance halls, to not being able to afford to pay the band, to then selling out the SSE Arena and 3Arena and TV shows and all that type of stuff. I never imagined it would be like all that.

“I just got into music to gig in the pubs and clubs around northern England. I came over to Donegal, put a band together and the rest is history.”

Nathan Carter’s Country Themes begins on Sunday, May 23 on BBC Radio Ulster at 6.30pm.

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The first episode is on the theme of dancing and will feature waltzing with Billy Jo Spears, line dancing with Brooks & Dunn, while Lee Ann Womack, The Chicks and Brad Paisley will all be taking to the dancefloor.

The series, produced by Jackie Neill, is a Headgirl Media Production.