With the summer of 2018 in the rearview mirror, the Young Dubliners have changed gears from the big outdoor festivals back into the clubs. Although the venues have changed, the tour goes on and will now focus on the western half of the US with shows from Utah to California, Nevada to Alaska. The slightly slower pace of live performances in the winter months means that the band can now begin work on their tenth album with new guitarist Justin Pecot who has been a Young Dub for almost a year. “It’s an exciting prospect for us to write and record with Justin. He has been incredible in the live shows all year and now we get to check out his writing and recording skills, as will all of you” says frontman Keith Roberts. He adds “We have a lot of new stuff to sort through. As usual we are our own biggest critics so it’s a daunting but ultimately rewarding task that we go through every album” In recent years the Young Dubs have appeared on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, had songs featured in TV shows (Sons Of Anarchy, Human Target) and toured extensively as a headliner and as the opener for such a diverse list of artists as Collective Soul, Jethro Tull, Johnny Lang, Los Lobos, Chris Isaak and many more. Although the Young Dubliners sound is most commonly called ‘Celtic Rock’, that label, as labels can often be, is misleading. The Irish influence is there, certainly, but it’s not the only influence that contirbutes to their albums, or the live shows. After all, several of the band members have no Irish roots of any kind. “That was always the idea”, explains Roberts. “The sound was always intended to be a hybrid because we all come from different backgrounds. Even though two of us are from Ireland, a lot of the music we listened to growing up wasn’t Irish at all. But when we got here we got homesick and developed a new appreciation for Irish music. In truth the Celtic riffs can just as easily come from the American band members. Everyone writes now so you never know what you’ll end up with” The band will be drawing from all nine albums at these upcoming shows including quite a few songs from “With All Due respect, The Irish Sessions” which turned ten years old this year.