Blues great Rory Gallagher’s music inspires new Rankin crime noir project

Writer Ian Rankin and actor Aidan Quinn have teamed up for a new crime noir project set to the music of late blues legend Rory Gallagher. The three-CD package of Kickback City, which has been written by Rankin and narrated by Quinn, will be released in October (13).
It will feature the crime novel-influenced music of noir fan Gallagher, and it will include an exclusive new novella by Rankin, fully illustrated by graphic artist Timothy Truman.
A spokesperson for Eagle Rock Entertainment, the company behind the release, says, “Kickback City is a brand new kind of concept album – a must have for fans of Rory Gallagher, Ian Rankin, graphic novels and newcomers alike.
“Throughout his life, Rory Gallagher was a great fan of the crime noir genre and much of his work was inspired by the characters and themes found in the cult detective novels of authors such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Examples of Rory’s best crime-inspired material are central to the Kickback City album, providing the soundtrack to Ian Rankin’s newly-created novella The Lie Factory. Rory’s lyrics and song titles are cleverly woven in to the story.”
Rankin adds, “I was approached by Rory’s brother Donal Gallagher, who asked if I knew that Rory was a big fan of crime fiction. When you look at it, the songs, the lyrics and especially the titles – Kickback City, Continental Op (the title of a Dashiell Hammett book) it all makes sense. Donal mentioned that he was thinking of putting together an album of Rory’s songs that are to do with crime and thriller elements and asked if I wanted to get involved.”
He adds, “Timothy Truman has really captured the nuances and the noir feel, I’m hugely impressed. It really works and Aidan Quinn has also done a great job. He really got into the character and narrative voice but it’s subtle and allows the listener to bring their own perspective to what’s going on.”