Music News

Peter Doran – highlights ‘Steamboat Captain’ as focus single ahead of headline shows at Whelan’s & Monroe’

Irish singer-songwriter Peter Doran has announced Steamboat Captain as the new focus single from his most recent studio album, released in May 2025. The track will be given a full single push from August 27, 2025, arriving just ahead of Doran’s highly anticipated headline shows at Whelan’s (September 13th) and Monroe’s (September 20th). TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM https://www.peterdoran.com/

The folk-pop gem was co-written with Mullingar songwriter Jimmy Broder and has quickly become a standout moment from the album. Featuring Doran on guitar, vocals, and synth, the track also showcases Fiachra Kinder on drums, Aongus Ralston on bass guitar, and Colm Lynch on harmony vocals. Together, they bring the world of the “Steamboat Captain” to life with vivid language and an energy that stands apart in Doran’s catalogue.

Speaking about the track, Doran says:

“This song was a co-write with a great writer friend of mine from Mullingar called Jimmy Broder. The song began life as a word-play songwriting exercise taken from a Jeff Tweedy book on songwriting. I’ve never written this way before and it was a fun way to approach a song. The exercise produced phrases such as blood-whip / Bowtie Princess / Smoke & Rumour and Steamboat Captain. With this sort of language in place, we set about building a world for our steamboat captain that juxtaposed the discipline and seriousness of his work against the lusts and private desires of his married life. The private flesh and blood animal versus the public figure. The song was a lot of fun to write and record and has a different energy to a lot of my work.”