Article Contributed by Devious Planet
Published on 2026-03-28
Gráinne Duffy continues her steady rise as one of modern blues and roots music’s most compelling voices with the release of her new single, “Streets of Love” off her forthcoming Spring release, recorded at 64 Sound Studio in Los Angeles and co-produced by Justin Stanley and Marc Ford (The Black Crowes.) “Streets of Love” has been premiered by Rock & Blues Muse here.
Gráinne explains “This song was inspired by a beautiful bike trip around Amsterdam. I was there to see Lucinda Williams playing one of my favorite venues, The Paradiso. While I was cycling around I was watching the life of the people on the streets and all the beautiful interactions people were having, waving hi to one another, lovers kissing goodbye on the street, friends meeting each other at the traffic lights with their kids in the wooden baskets in the front and it was all so peaceful and humane. I loved that feeling of being an observer of that kind of humanity which exists everyday around us. We are constantly in these times bombarded with all the negative aspects of life from war to murder to horrible injustices in the world that we can forget that there’s actually another way to see the world in the very ordinary everyday exchanges between people which are often beautiful and full of love. That’s what this song is about really, my internal hippie speaking out I suppose!”
The Spring release was made in Los Angeles with producers Justin Stanley and Marc Ford (The Black Crowes), and you can hear that lived-in, analog warmth right away. It’s got some serious players behind it including drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney), bassist Jørgen Carlsson (Gov’t Mule), keyboardist Peter Levin (Blind Boys of Alabama), Marc Ford, and Duffy’s longtime collaborator Paul Sherry.
Duffy’s story starts back in County Monaghan, Ireland, where music filled the house instead of television — everything from Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton to B.B. King and Fleetwood Mac. You can still hear that mix in what she does now: blues at the center, but always pulling in other colors.
She first gained international attention with her debut Out of the Dark (2007), with The Sunday Times calling her “a blues singer of real integrity.” Subsequent releases, including Test of Time (2011) and Where I Belong (2017), expanded her reach across Europe, North America, and beyond. Her 2020 album Voodoo Blues broke into the UK IBBA Top 10 and the U.S. Roots Music Report Top 50, earning her the Independent Blues Award for Best Modern Roots Artist in 2021. Her last record, Dirt Woman Blues (2023), hit #1 on the U.S. Roots Music Report for seven weeks.
What stands out most is how natural it all feels. Nothing forced, nothing chasing trends — just someone following the thread of what moves them and letting the music land where it does.
