Rory Gallagher was a crime novel reader. I didn’t know that, and I’m betting neither did you. However rock artists, when traveling, waiting for soundchecks (seen a lot of this reading going on when I promoted concerts back in my younger days), or in-between whatever else rock artists are expected to do, have a tendency to read to fill in those moments. For Rory Gallagher, that was crime novels.
Eagle Rock Entertainment is creating a unique collection of Gallagher tracks suggested by Rory’s brother, Donal. Donal Gallagher was the one who came up with the idea of fusing collected Rory’s Gallagher’s crime-inspired songs with a new crime story, which eventually was written by Ian Rankin. The story is written incorporating many elements found in the lyrics of the collected tracks. The 44-page novella (The Lie Factory) is graphically illustrated by Timothy Truman of DC Comics/First Comics fame.
The set is entitled Kickback City and will include an extra CD with the novella read by actor Aidan Quinn. But after this, it’s all about the music. There will be two CDs filled with familiar Gallagher songs (see track-list below).
The set will be packaged as a hardbound book with the three CDs found within. To round out Kickback City, there will be a set of four crime-scene postcards. What enhances this set will be the addition of seven live tracks (on the second CD, and called Kickback City Live) from performances at the Cork Opera House, all of which have been previously unreleased.
Kickback City is scheduled for release on October 29, and will be available as physical and digital Deluxe Editions, and a standard digital download (without the book, cards).