His first solo album It's
Only a Long Way Across was produced by American avant-composer, Phillip Glass.
He went on to make two more albums for Beggars Banquet, The Sky and the Ground
(an unforgettable carnival of highly-charged tunes, searing, soaring, poignant
and funny) In 1991 his epic Now Is Heaven was released to great critical
acclaim, with Hot Press dubbing him "Ireland's greatest living poet" and his
awards cabinet taking possession of a trophy for Irish Solo Performer of the
Year in the Hot Press Awards by a panel drawn from the national media. In 1998
Beggars Banquet released a Best Of Pierce Turner compilation. In June 2001, 3
Minute World hit the racks, Hot Press giving it a 12 out of 12, while Tony
Clayton-Lea of the Irish Times feted Pierce as one of the most important Irish
artists of the last twenty years. Meanwhile Pat Kenny pronounced "This man's a
genius" on his national radio show, as Turner set off on a tour of over 70
private houses in Ireland for what he has called his "Parlour Tour", with a
London-based tv camera-crew in tow for a future documentary. Somewhere along the
way, other gems from the Turner canon were featured in the film Snakes And
Ladders, the HBO hit show The Wire with his extraordinary version of "Dirty Old
Town"and Christy Moore recorded Turner's songs "Among The Wicklow Hills" and
"Musha God Help Her." Indeed Christy's 2004 box set includes his generous
tribute to Turner on the track "I Love The Way Pierce Turner Sings".
