Formed from the duo previously known as Berries Blue, The Hard Ground are Marlene Enright (keys, vocals), Pat Carey (guitar, vocals), Dave Duffy (bass), and Davie Ryan (drums). Friends from their years spent in college in Cork city, and in various bands in the Cork music scene, The Hard Ground came together in earnest in 2011. The Hard Ground, whose sound can best be described as folk-rock with strong undercurrents of blues, are on the cusp of releasing their debut studio album, Broken Conversations, which is set to be released in Summer 2012.

"The Hard Ground are unique, charming and utterly captivating." - raritiesandb-sides.com

"...Classy Stuff and worth tracking down." - Jackie Hayden, Hot Press.

"the Cork quartet are quite different from anyone else active on the Cork circuit at the moment with Carey and Enright effortlessly switching vocals on top of quite lavish orchestration. Eager to hear more....” – The G-Man (blog)

"....a sound that sits somewhere between Tom Waits and Lisa Hannigan. There’s even a touch of sinister songstress Anna Calvi about debut single ‘Pawn’, a song that’s equal parts sweet and sour.”
– Celina Murphy, Hot press