Glen Hansard Sings ‘Lowly Deserter’ on ‘Stephen Colbert’ and Rocks It (Video)

glen hansard lowly deserter stephen colbert

The fabulous Irish singer songwriter Glen Hansard was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night where he sang his latest single ‘Lowly Deserter‘.

The track is from his second solo album Didn’t He Ramble released in mid-September, and has a somewhat New Orleans jazzy blues kind of feel to it, which I love. His backing band is superb too.

And, about the meaning of the song, Glen Hansard has said, “The song refers to the one who claims he was there fighting alongside his brothers and sisters. Whereas he spent the whole time drunk or in hiding, with a head full of ghosts to haunt him through the years.”

Hansard, of course, is also the frontman for The Frames, a former half of The Swell Season with ex-girlfriend Markéta Irglová, and an Oscar winner for one of the songs he co-wrote with Irglová for the movie ‘Once‘.

Yep, this man is incredibly talented and, if he’s new to you, once you get to know his work, you’ll wish you’d heard about him long before.

Watch Glen Hansard sing ‘Lowly Deserter‘ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the video below, and just luxuriate in the incredible energy this guy has singing live. He is one of those performers everyone should see on stage at least once.

As for his new album, Didn’t He Ramble, you can pick it up on Amazon on most major music sites.

Edit: July, 2017Sadly, as usual, Colbert has deleted the video from his YouTube channel, which is why we don’t showcase musicians performing on his show any longer. I have substituted Hansard’s performance of ‘Lowly Deserter‘ on David Letterman instead. It is just as powerful of a performance. Enjoy.

About Michelle Topham

I'm a Brit-American journalist, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I'm also obsessed with music, anime, manga, and K-dramas. Help!