Wexford musician Gordon Barry, who won the prestigious International Songwriting Competition.

WEXFORD SINGER / songwriter Gordon Barry is set to soon release his single ‘Devil & St. Jesus’, after the song’s powerful lyrics claimed it first prize at The International Songwriting Competition held in Nashville, Texas.

Dubbed ‘the songwriting competition to take note of’ by The New York Times, the annual competition is judged by music figures as esteemed as Tom Waits, the late Chris Cornell, Lorde, Rickie Lee Jones, Donovan and many others.

Barry is only the third Irish artist, after Mick Flannery and Jack O’Rourke, to have won the award.

The win places him in a category with globally-successful stars including Gotye, Passenger, Bastille and Gregory Porter.

Read more in the Wexford Echo.