It’s 5.30pm and touching dark as I make my way into Killarney’s INEC. The place is freezing but that hasn’t deterred Nathan Carter’s crew who’ve been hard at work since 10am, preparing for his sellout concert. I count 10 crew but there could be more and they still have plenty to do.

By 6pm the lighting and staging is in place and it’s time for sound checks. And there I am, like the cat that got the cream, with the INEC all to myself and Nathan Carter serenading me from the stage. Magic.

What with trying to locate the cause of a buzz on the fiddle line, it takes himself and Ali Ó’Riáda (son of the famous Seán) who is in charge of sound at the INEC, about an hour before they are happy that all is right.

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Tadgh Moriarty, general manager of the INEC, joins me.

“We’ve sold 2,200 tickets and we could have filled the place twice over. Nathan doesn’t realise how popular he is at all. And he’s so nice and will stay for ages after the show signing autographs and talking to fans.”

By 6.30pm, the Bansha girl, Louise Morrissey, support act for Nathan’s concert tour, is ready for her sound check. This is her first night on stage after a break of a few weeks.

“When I realised this was coming up I had to lose weight fast,” she jokes.

Big changes

I get the call to join Nathan backstage where he has the kettle on and the biscuits out.

“Can I make you a cup of tea,” he asks. Now, there’s an invitation I wasn’t about to turn down.

As he busied himself with the tea, we chatted about how life has changed for this young man in the space of a few short years.

“You’d never think it now, but we struggled for the first two years on the road. There were nights we didn’t go on because so few people turned up. We regularly played to half-empty halls. We were here only last October and played to 600 at a dance. Tonight we’ll have 2,200 here in the INEC. To be honest, I’m still taking it all in.”

Nathan’s enjoying his concert tour and says it allows him more contact with his audience.

“I love the dances, I love watching people having a great time to our music. But the dancers just want dancing. With the concerts I can tell stories, sing some songs with just the piano for accompaniment. There’s great freedom to be myself.”

He plays the music he grew up with and Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Big Tom, Garth Brooks and Rascal Flats are favourites.

“My mam and dad brought me up on such good music, music that I’ve always loved.”

Making country cool

Last year, the 23-year-old – yes that’s how young he is – had huge success with his album Where I Wanna Be. It reached number one in the Irish charts, beating One Direction and Michael Bublé. His hit single Wagon Wheel migrated from the dance halls to the night clubs, making country cool for a whole new generation. Clocking up 1.5 million hits on YouTube in the process.

“A friend of mine had Wagon Wheel on her phone and when I first heard it I thought it was annoying. But then I tried it with the accordion, drums and base and I could see it was really catchy. We filmed the video on Rossnowlagh beach on a freezing cold day.”

“Wagon Wheel has been huge for me. And it’s funny, after one of my concerts at the Olympia in Dublin I headed to Coppers nightclub where it was played twice. Very few people recognised me and it was weird being there with everyone jumping and waving their arms to my song.”

As the concert tour continues, more doors are opening for Nathan. He’s meeting with a UK record label that is interested in signing him. Then he’s off to perform at a couple of festivals in the US and then on to Nashville where he hopes to write some songs. And, of course, he will be appearing at our sold out Country Sound Awards which take place in the Hodson Bay Hotel this Monday.

It’s busy and Nathan admits it leaves little time for a personal life. “I’m gigging five nights a week and with everything else I have to do, there’s just no time.”

And there was no more time for chat as I left Nathan to get ready for the show. And what a show it was. The mix of ballads such as Caledonia and The Leaving of Liverpool with fast jives including The Hills of Donegal and Saw You Running from where I Lay were big audience pleasers. They were on their feet for the Irish medleys and instrumentals, with Tom Sheerin having a blast with his fiddle solos.

Nathan, unaccompanied except for piano, which he played himself, brought the house down with his rendition of The Town I Love so Well. Last of all came Wagon Wheel and no one wanted to go home.

It will all happen again in early May when Nathan is booked in for three nights at the INEC. Friday, 9 May, is a seated concert for 2,200 people. On Saturday, 10 May, the seating is being taken out of the INEC to accommodate up to 4,000 dancers and on the Sunday night up to 600 people are expected to fill the ballroom for another dance. His concert tour continues and you can get the full listing of dates at nathancartermusic.com

Catch him while you can – because this guy is going to make it big.