Derek Ryan

One of the most popular Irish country singer/songwriters to emerge in his homeland in the 2010s, the County Carlow-born Derek Ryan is a former member of the mid-2000s boy band D-Side. His five years with that act -- as well as a near-obsession with the music of Bryan Adams -- meant that he added both a pop and a radio rock sensibility to a solo career that drew heavily from the traditional folk and country music on which he was raised. By the time of his 12th studio album, 2021's Soft Ground, Ryan had placed six inside the Irish Top Ten.