TV: Cork’s Gina stars in tribute to Denver

He recently announced he would be taking a break from music next year, but you can’t keep a good musician down, and crooner Daniel O’Donnell is back with a new TV series next week.

Opry le Daniel ar Thuras returns for a new run on TG4 on Tuesday at 9.30pm, and among the musicians featured will be Cork musician Gina, from the band Gina and The Champions.

O’Donnell, 63, will present six shows filled with great music, and a further two compilation programmes running across eight weeks.

The series was recorded earlier this year before a live audience over three nights in Derry’s Millennium Forum.

It kicks off on Tuesday with Classic Country, featuring Lisa McHugh (Glasgow), John McNicholl (Derry), and Gerry Guthrie (Co. Mayo).

It continues with Country ‘n Irish, on November 4, with Dominic Kirwan from Omagh, TR Dallas (Co. Westmeath), and Claudia Buckley (Co. Galway).

The Country Folk programme on November 11 features Tully from Lisnaskea in Fermanagh, Ceol (Dublin), and The Henry Girls (Malin, Co. Donegal).

The fourth show presents artists flying the flag for New Country, while the fifth episode on November 25 concentrates on The Songs Of John Denver

Gina will feature in that episode, along with performances from Marc Roberts (Co. Mayo), and John Hogan (Co. Westmeath).

The sixth show in the new series Celtic Country, welcomes Dan McCabe (Co. Kildare), and The High Kings (Dublin) to the stage in Derry.

The series rounds off with two special programmes in mid-December featuring a pick of highlights of some of the performances from across the six weeks of shows.