Release Date - 5-12-2010. Pat Dam Smyth is from Northern Ireland. He knows the country well, and the country knows him. He has spent his formative years busking in Belfast and other soggy streets in cities throughout the UK. After years of touring with the cult duo Belfast’s Pat and Nipsy - and later with London’s Smokey Angle Shades - Pat broke loose and returned home to Belfast to record The Great Divide working with a host of local musicians and producers. The Great Divide is an album that holds the past close both in concept and sound. It is a great big nostalgic romp that tips its cap to Dennis Wilson, Elliott Smith, Will Oldham, Wilco and the Kinks. It is a deeply personal album filled with intense, mostly melancholy songs. The death of a parent, lost love and mental illness are mused upon, Pat’s honesty is brutal and unsettling. Then all of a sudden the clouds part and a glimmer breaks through promising that tomorrow might be a better day. Pat has been known to guest appear in unusual situations and walk through walls. He continues to busk and play incognito piano on the streets and in random hotels around Northern Ireland and London as well as tour with his band. Or you might just as easily catch him guest appearing on piano, organ, bass or guitars with bands like Rodeo Massacre and other outfits and organizations of players. His Father told him to “practice two hours a day and look after your teeth if you want to go to Hollywood”, and he’s managed to do both. “A