Irish-rock fan Alvin Youngblood Hart was born on the same day as Rory Gallagher, says it’s “mandatory” that he love him

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 22, 2012

By Steve Newton

Memphis bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart’s affinity for underrated ’70s-rockers Thin Lizzy is well documented, as his 2005 album Motivational Speaker was partly meant as an homage to former Lizzy mainman Phil Lynott. Hart saw Thin Lizzy perform three times as a kid, including the lineup that boasted Gary Moore, who would invite Hart’s band to open for his on a tour of Germany in 2009.

But Hart’s fondness for Irish rockers doesn’t end with the members of the Emerald Isle’s finest band. As he explained on the line from New Orleans last week, he was also huge into Rory Gallagher.

“I was born on the same day as Rory, so it’s mandatory,” he said. “I got to see him once too, when I was a teenager. I was living in the Chicago area at the time, and it’s funny—it was like he was only doing a few limited shows here in the States. At the venue where he was doing his show you had to be 21 to get in, and I couldn’t get in, so we actually had to go see him open for Rush. We had to go see Rory Gallagher open for Rush, and that’s all I’m gonna say to the Canadian press.”

At his peak in the ’70s, Gallagher was known to blow headlining bands off the stage, as he famously did to Aerosmith in Central Park in 1974. So did he do the same thing to Geddy Lee and Co. when Hart was in attendance?

We’ll never know.

“We left after Rory was done, to tell you the truth.”

For more from Hart—including his thoughts on Vancouver roots great and collaborator Steve Dawson—see the feature article here.

To hear the full audio of my 2012 interview with Alvin Youngblood Hart–and my interview with him from 2000 as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 400 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with musicians since 1982.