Derek Ryan is neither Old nor Grey but the Carlow songwriter is happy to sing about two of the things in life that many people fear.

‘Old and Grey’ is the title of one of his two newly released singles; a track he co-wrote with Woman’s Heart writer Eleanor McEvoy. The pair have teamed up in the past on other songs and even performed the track together on last year’s TG4 show Opry an Luir. The track is taken from Derek’s Happy Man album, one of two he released last summer.

The second track on the double single is ‘Connemara Sky’, taken from the album ‘This is Me’ which he recorded in Nashville.

Speaking today Derek said it felt strange belting out the words to Connemara Sky in Music Row Nashville at the same time as the musicians who worked on the recording where checking out the beautiful West of Ireland tourist attraction on their phones and iPads.

Derek makes a return to Nashville this month to re-unite with Jeff Balding, his producer in the home of country, for a number of writing sessions including one with the writer of ‘Bless the Broken Road’ which was a massive hit for Rascal Flatts.

Next week he returns to the UK for the second leg of his national tour and in March played to a huge audience at Trafalgar Square as part of the city’s St Patrick Day Festival.

This summer he continues to appear at the country’s leading festivals and also undertakes four special summer seaside location concerts in Newcastle, Dungloe, Westport and Waterford.

Last night Derek was crowned ‘Male Entertainer of the Year’ as voted by the viewers of Sky TV’s Hot Country video show.

Full tour date listings & ticket information are available on the website www.derekryanmusic.com