Since the legendary Shane MacGowan passed away in 2023, a substantial number of artists have paid tribute by covering his former band the Pogues: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, and many others. By contrast, relatively few have chosen to revisit Shane MacGowan & The Popes, the group that MacGowan briefly led during his era of wandering away from the Pogues in the 1990s. This is precisely the niche This Is Lorelei fills.
After years of notoriously destructive behavior, the Pogues ultimately dismissed Shane MacGowan in 1991 for being too drunk and unreliable. MacGowan assembled a fresh lineup from the Pogues’ extended circle and formed Shane MacGowan & The Popes. They released two albums, 1994’s The Snake and 1997’s The Crock Of Gold, while the Pogues carried on without him. The Popes mostly went dormant when MacGowan rejoined the Pogues in 2001. Although the band’s two records weren’t major successes, they contained some standout songs.
Last month, Nate Amos’ consistently excellent solo project This Is Lorelei released The Singer In My Band, one of this year’s standout albums. While promoting the record, Amos did a live-in-studio session for SiriusXM. Wearing a Slipknot shirt, he delivered a graceful solo rendition of “The Song With No Name,” a 1994 Popes single that MacGowan built upon the melody of “The Homes Of Donegal,” an Irish folk song composed by Seán McBride in 1955. Below, you can watch This Is Lorelei’s cover alongside Shane MacGowan’s original video.
The Singer In My Band is out now on Matador.
