Ron Kavana is an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist from Fermoy, Ireland. He is active in folk and related traditions, and his work also draws on blues, country, Cajun, rock, soul, rhythm and blues, and folk-rock influences.

Career

Kavana begins his music career in an R&B band called the Wizards before moving to London in the late 1970s. He works there at Rock On Records, replacing Philip Chevron when Chevron leaves to work full time with The Radiators From Space.

In 1977 he forms Kavana's Krisis Band, which plays regularly at Islington's Hope & Anchor. The group develops into Juice on the Loose, with Kavana as bandleader and producer, and becomes closely associated with Ace Records. During this period he tours and records with a wide range of American performers, including Big Jay McNeely, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Willie Egan, Dr. John, Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, Flaco Jiminez, Wallace Davenport, Gatemouth Brown, Memphis Slim, Champion Jack Dupree and Slim Gaillard.

Albums and collaborations

Kavana appears on Juice on the Loose's self-titled album, released on Line Records in 1981, and later uses other Juice on the Loose recordings on his first solo album, Rollin' & Coastin' (In Search of America), released in 1985 on Appaloosa. He also plays with Panama Red, The Thunderbirds, The Balham Alligators and The Alexis Korner Band through the 1970s and 1980s.

After a European R&B package tour with Alexis Korner, he appears at a Boogie Woogie Band anniversary show at Dingwalls in an all-star line-up that includes Charlie Watts on drums and Jack Bruce on bass. In the mid to late 1980s he opens several tours for The Pogues, and is considered as a replacement for departing bass player and singer Cait O'Riordan, though the band chooses Darryl Hunt instead.

Kavana contributes several appearances to The Pogues' If I Should Fall From Grace With God and co-writes two songs with Terry Woods: “Every Man Is A King (In The U.S. of A.)” and “Young Ned Of the Hill”. The first appears originally as a B-side, while the second later appears on The Pogues' Peace and Love. He and Woods also record Home Fire, released in 1991 as Kavana's second solo effort, and later form The Bucks, whose album Dancing to the Ceili Band is released in 1994 on WEA.

Kavana also plays guitar in an early version of Shane MacGowan's band The Popes. His guitar work appears on “Haunted”, a duet with Sinéad O'Connor, and he also comes up with the tune for “Snake With Eyes of Garnet” from MacGowan's solo album The Snake, although he receives no credit for it.

Alias Ron Kavana and later releases

By the late 1980s, Kavana forms the eclectic group Alias Ron Kavana. Folk Roots Magazine names the band “Best Live Act in the World” in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Their debut album, Think Like a Hero, is released in 1989, followed by Coming Days in 1991.

In 1990 he produces For The Children, a fundraising album for LILT (London Irish Live Trust), a charity working for peace in Northern Ireland. The album features 29 guests, including several members of The Pogues.

In 1995, frustrated by problems with record labels and the wider music business, Kavana steps away from the industry for three years and studies full time in Humanities. He graduates with first-class honours in Irish Studies and Film Studies. He later releases the two-disc set Irish Songs of Rebellion, Resistance and Reconciliation in 2006 and the four-disc set Irish Ways: Story of Ireland in Song, Music & Poetry in 2007, both credited to The Alias Acoustic Band. These releases follow Irish history through songs and poems from 1796 to the present.

Film work

Kavana appears in and/or composes music for the soundtracks of films including Sid and Nancy, Ryan's Daughter and Hidden Agenda. He also appears with Terry Woods in Ken Loach's 1990 film Hidden Agenda, performing the Wolftones' “The Ballad Of Joe McDonnell”.