Gearoid McCarthy rocketed to social media fame in 2025 as he amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across the world. The Irish folk singer has fans as far as Canada and Australia and released his first studio album, Tip of the Hat , in October – with it racking up over half a million streams so far.
However, the year had its low points too, with Gearoid learning the news that his beloved father suddenly passed away just minutes before he was set to go on stage for a gig.
Here, the Limerick native speaks to RSVP Country about being recognised worldwide, bringing his family on tour, and the loss of his dad.
Gearoid, you’re super popular on social media and it has really helped your career reach new levels. How did that start?
The end of 2024 and the start of 2025 is when I would have started my TikTok account. Everything kind of blew up from there. I set up TikTok and that grew to 550,000 people, and then my Facebook took off because of that as well.
Why did you decide to set up your TikTok account?
I got a text from my landlord to say he was going to be selling the house, it was actually on Christmas Eve. He said he would be selling the house in the next 18 months to two years if we wanted to buy it. I went straight to my missus and said, I’m going to go upstairs and start a TikTok. I did, and everything just blew up from there!
What was it like when it blew up so quickly?
I started putting up old Irish songs. I was very lucky that I didn’t get any of the hate that people can experience when they put stuff up online, it was mainly people reminiscing about their grandfather or their grandmother or their mother singing those songs to them when they were younger. It was really nice, to be honest, to see it all coming together like that. I had always been trying to do stuff, but it never really worked out. But it worked out once I set the TikTok up really and it’s all over the world now. I was always based in Killarney and that was it.
What is it like to have that kind of reach? I know you’re a big hit in Canada, the US and Australia.
It’s kind of mad. My fiancée is from LA and when we went over there, people even recognised me. It was a bit surreal to be honest. We thought we’d be safe enough in Los Angeles, because there’s so many people. Even recently I was in Dublin Airport and it was strange; it still doesn’t register when people are looking at you. You’re like, what are they looking at? But then you figure out they follow you or like your music.
2025 was a big year for you. You released your first studio album, Tip of the Ha t, as well.
I did. We brought it out in October and I think it’s been streamed over half a million times, so we’ll take that! We knocked out 15 tracks in about a week or two weeks. Then we went back, did a few bits on top of it and released the album and we haven’t really looked back since. We had the first leg of our Irish tour from September to November and that’s going to continue from February. We’re halfway through it.
You were recently in Australia too, with some gigs to kick off the New Year. What is it like being on the road so much?
It’s nice. I bring my missus and my young fella with me, and we were actually given camper vans from Camper Vans Ireland so we could travel around and be together all the time, and if we needed somewhere to go we could go to the camper, if we needed to get away from the madness of a gig.
That is so lovely. A lot of musicians have to be away from their family for weeks if not months at a time.
I wouldn’t have it that way. Absolutely not. My young fella is seven and the missus and myself are getting married in August.
Congratulations! That’s something nice to look forward to after a hectic few months of gigging this year and a busy year last year.
Yeah, last year was rough. My father passed away when we were touring Canada. On St Patrick’s Day, 10 minutes before I was to play a gig, I got a phone call from home to say he had passed away. I did the gig anyway, and that went really viral in Canada and Ireland, all over really. There were people at the gig who were sharing videos; I told them they could because my mother would have wanted to see it and I couldn’t be sharing videos, and I wanted her to know I was alright I suppose. It was because I couldn’t get out of Canada, it was about 30 hours before I could get a flight home. They waited to have the funeral until I got back, and that was a rough year. We weren’t expecting him to go, he wasn’t sick or anything.
That must have been really difficult for you and your family, especially in the midst of a tour.
It was a bit of a suckerpunch alright. But you take comfort in the fact that he saw us starting to take off. The night he died, we were playing to a thousand people in Canada. We’re going back for his first anniversary this year, we’re going back on Paddy’s Day but we’ve actually sold out a six and a half thousand seater stadium. It’ll be a big day. And it’s lovely to have the wedding to look forward to. There is a lot to be excited about! I miss my father every day, but I know he’d be proud of what we’re doing so that makes it a little easier.
Where did your love of music come from?
That would have started with my family. There were actually 24 full-time musicians on my dad’s side of the family, so I grew up with it and I was the youngest of them. Everything aligned and I was the one that made it. We recently had a family night where we all played together for the first time, and we raised €20,000 for charity. It’s cool to be a part of it.
You have such a full-on schedule, does being able to bring your family on tour with you help you balance gigging with your personal life?
It absolutely does. Especially for the trips around Canada where it’s a month long, I wouldn’t be able to be away from my family for that long. I wouldn’t like it. My son loves it, he sells mocktails in the green room and he’s happy out! He loves going to the gigs. More often than not I would bring my family along, and if any of the lads in the band wanted to bring their families I’d have no issue with it because the way I see it, everyone’s happier when their families are with them.
I don’t really go out that much because I’ve gigged for 20 years, so the pub is the last place I would like to go when I have a chance to go somewhere else. I don’t really drink.
You can get dates and tickets for Gearoid’s upcoming gigs at ticketmaster.ie.
This interview originally appeared in the Spring edition of RSVP Country
Want to see more of the stories you love from RSVP ? To add RSVP as a preferred source of news on Google, simply click here
