Life & Work with Colm & Caitriona Kirwan of Columbia, TN

Today we’d like to introduce you to Colm & Caitriona Kirwan

Hi Colm & Caitriona, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
KIRWAN the band is country music’s newest husband-wife duo. Originally born and bred in the North of Ireland, Colm and Caitriona Kirwan now make their home an hour south of Nashville, Tennessee in the small town of Columbia.

Our story together began when, for the first time, we met at McNamara’s Irish Pub in Nashville in 2017.

Two Irish singer-songwriters, we came individually to Nashville, following the shared dream of working on the craft of songwriting and learning from some of Nashville’s greatest musicians, producers, and songwriters who have worked with artists such as Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Lady A, Taylor Swift, and Tim McGraw to name a few.

By the time we met in 2017, I (Colm) had lived in Nashville for seven years and was predominately touring across the USA opening shows for the late country music legend Don Williams. Those years with Don are precious to me. He and his team took me under their wings and into the family. He became a friend and mentor to me. He is deeply missed.

My (Caitriona) introduction to Music City was a little different. After winning the Pannarts Songwriting Competition in 2014, I was flown out to Nashville to work with some of Music City’s best songwriters and producers and to perform at the renowned Bluebird Café and Music City Roots. In 2015 I also had the incredible opportunity to open for Irish music legend Van Morrison at the O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland.

In 2017, I (Caitriona) was in Nashville with my parents on a songwriting trip. My parents and I accepted an invitation to McNamara’s Irish Pub to hear a friend play and to satisfy my Dads craving for good Irish food. During the intermission, Colm came and sat with us. My Dad suggested that Colm and I find time to meet up and write together, which we did in March of 2018.

It’s weird and hard to explain. During our first co-write and every one since, we just connected as artists and writers. . . It’s like it was easier than normal together. We worked well as a team. You could say it felt meant to be.

In January 2020 we got married at home in our native Ireland, and in many ways, this is where KIRWAN the band truly began.

COVID pretty much shut down all things music for us. We had to move back to Ireland but it was a good time to re-evaluate life and our solo careers and to see what the future might hold. It was during this time we decided to join forces and officially become a duo.

Still having dreams of Music City we had a major problem, the world was in lockdown and there was no way for us to get back to the USA. Since we had the time we decided to go backpacking across Northern Spain walking 550miles on the El Camino De Santiago, we saw this as a pilgrimage and a time to prayerfully discern our next steps in life. Something miraculous happened at the end of that trip. The producers of American Idol had reached out and asked Caitriona to audition for the show.

Initially I (Caitriona) didn’t want to audition as competitions make me very nervous but after much thought and prayer we felt it was too good an opportunity to turn down especially in the midst of all of the lockdowns during covid. Most everything was done online in the early stages and then I was asked to come audition in front of the celebrity judges in Ojai, California in November 2020. I made it to the Hollywood rounds but if I’m being honest, deep inside my heart I wasn’t enjoying any of the process and was glad when it all came to a close. The whole American Idol experience, although exciting for a hot second, gave me great clarity and peace that moving forward I desired to work with my husband as a duo and not pursue a solo career.

Several months later with the help of friends, family, and of course our fans, we raised money via a successful Kickstarter campaign to make an album with our producer Matt Johnson. I (Colm) had met Matt years earlier through my dear friend Rory Feek, and we quickly became friends. Matt got his break into the industry working at world famous FAME recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He co-produced Rory’s most recent album Gentle Man, which is amazing.
We loved Matt’s vibe, his heart, and vision for our record, and since we had co-written so many songs together, he felt like the right fit for our new sound. The whole process was so much fun.

We would describe our sound as a cross between pop, country and singer-songwriter. Our songs detail love, faith, and hope, a country way of living life, the journey together so far, and the dreams we have for the future.

Since the day we met our lives together have been one awesome epic adventure, but the greatest adventure so far has been becoming parents to our beautiful children Chiara (age 2) and Cillian (8 months old).

We continue to write and perform together from our home base in Mule Town, also known as Columbia, Tennessee.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road and it seems that life is always presenting challenges, but our faith is strong and we trust that God is in the details and so we persevere one day at a time,

Honestly our greatest obstacle to date was directly after we got married in 2020 we had returned to Nashville in late January and by March 17th we were on a plane flying back to Ireland due to the Covid pandemic. At one point during covid we were both working as janitors in a department store, yes literally cleaning toilets and sweeping floors, wondering what the future might look like, it was a humbling experience but now looking back from where we are it has taught us to never give up and to trust that God has a plan, we’re living proof!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are a country, pop, singer-songwriter music duo. What sets us apart is that we are both Irish living in Tennessee and we get to perform together as husband and wife. We are most proud of our two beautiful children and this life we are building together as a family. We also are very proud of our self-titled debut album ‘KIRWAN’ which was crowdfunded by our fans and Friends.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
In 2020 we walked 550+ miles across the North of Spain on one of the most ancient Christian pilgrimages, El Camino De Santiago. Colm has actually walked it twice and would love to do it again a third time, Caitriona’s says not until all the babies are grown (it takes a full month to walk) she says Colm and the kids can walk it and meet her at the beach after.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kirwantheband.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirwantheband/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KIRWANtheband/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kirwantheband?si=RC0u9agcV1tMkkgc
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7usbvvRlPV0G498Fd7JkUV?si=8wHuqt5PRQmfMB6YsXxkuQ