The PoguesBruce Springsteen and Hozier are among the star-studded roster of entertainers who will honour the late The Pogues frontman, Shane MacGowan, in a tribute album.
The album, 20th Century Paddy – The Songs of Shane MacGowan, is scheduled for release on Friday, 13 November, via Rubyworks. The album arrives three years after the singer’s passing in November 2023.
Artists paying tribute to the late singer include Bruce Springsteen, Hozier, Dropkick Murphys, Tom Waits, Primal Scream, Glen Hansard, The Libertines, and Steve Earle. Entertainers Jessie Buckley, Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, and Imelda May also feature on the album.
Representing the UK and Ireland alongside a number of performers mentioned above are artists including David Gray, Camille O’Sullivan, The Murder Capital, The High Kings, Liam Ó Maonlaí, and Garron Noone. Members of The Pogues also play throughout the album.
Victoria Mary Clarke – a writer and MacGowan’s long-time partner – co-organised the tribute album.
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The first taste of the album arrives courtesy of Bruce Springsteen, who honoured MacGowan with a cover of A Rainy Night In Soho. You can check out The Boss’s cover of the classic below.
20th Century Paddy – The Songs of Shane MacGowan will be released digitally, as well as on CD and vinyl. Pre-order/pre-save your copy here.
50% of artist royalties from the album will continue MacGowan’s legacy by being donated to the Dublin Simon Community, which provides housing and healthcare for people experiencing homelessness in Ireland.
Bruce Springsteen said of paying tribute to MacGowan:
Every once in a while, every once in a great while an artist comes along whose voice seems to speak to history itself. Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Coltrane, Patti Smith, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, John Lydon, Hank Williams, Sinatra. Geniuses all, they were both timeless and the embodiment of their moment in time.
Many, unsurprisingly, led difficult lives not easily bound by the shackles of convention. They were natural rebels unable to stifle or heed the impulses that led them to their glory and personal hardships. Great art is by nature lawless. We do not get to choose our obsessions. We do not get to dictate our blessings or our transgressions. It’s a little joke the gods play on us.
Shane’s voice was so deeply real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator. The dangerous joy, the glee and courage, the humor in the face of fate, the wild ramble of a life driven towards the artistic heavens and the daily balm of self obliteration.
Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically. He was raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound. His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints. I don’t know who’ll be listening to my music in 100 years but I know they’ll be listening to Shane’s.
Though I did not know Shane very well, I spent a lovely afternoon in his presence shortly before he passed. He was not well but he and his wife Victoria proved warm and gracious hosts. As I left, I thanked him for his beautiful work, his music, his songs, his life. I stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him.
In December, Hozier honoured MacGowan by covering Fairytale of New York on Saturday Night Live.
Hozier was joined by strings and a trio of backing vocalists alternating their take on Kirsty MacColl’s lyrics. Wrapping up with fake snow falling from the sky, the performance was one of the finer Christmas performances of 2025.
