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I hate being late to a party, especially one starring an Irish generational talent in CMAT. I’m not going to lie, when I realised her November 2025 Brighton gig clashed with a trip to Rome, I was gutted for weeks. Luckily recently she released the full St Anne’s set, and I’ll hope future tours are announced soon.
I first discovered CMAT in the summer of 2025, very late in my opinion considering I pride myself in supporting up-coming irish artists. I found her doom-scrolling TikTok with the viral I did the Butcher, I did the Baker, I did the home and the family maker dance trend. And it turns out that song (about probably one of the worst time in her life), gave an uplifting tune that pushed her career up a few levels.
CMAT has found a song in a celebrity chef, an unhappy relationship or the feeling that the place you call home is changing beyond recognition. The subjects are specific; the feelings travel. Her combination of country storytelling, pop ambition and an eye for the ridiculous gives new listeners several ways in. And she’s not shy of a political statement either. And while she proclaims her music is for the girls and the gays, it’s really fun music for all.
The Irish singer and songwriter has built that world across three studio albums, from If My Wife New I’d Be Dead to EURO-COUNTRY. If you know the name from a festival clip or a friend’s increasingly insistent recommendations or constant plays (sorry), here is where to start with the songs, the musicians in the Very Sexy CMAT Band and the performances that make the live show such a crowd pleaser.
THE LEISURE SOCIETY · PRESS PLAY
Three CMAT favourites
Three favourites, from the early singles to EURO-COUNTRY. Play them in this order, or follow your mood.
01 · THE POP SPARK
Take a Sexy Picture of Me
EURO-COUNTRY · 2025
A bright chorus with a darker subject: beauty standards, public scrutiny and the pressure to look desirable.
02 · THE BIG FEELING
Stay for Something
Crazymad, For Me · 2023
Big emotions and a bigger chorus. Save this relationship reckoning for a full-volume, end-of-the-night singalong.
03 · THE EARLY GEM
I Don’t Really Care for You
2021 single · on the 2022 debut
Bright pop with a guilty conscience. The person telling the story can be part of the problem.
Who is CMAT?
CMAT is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, an Irish musician whose stage name comes from her initials. She was born in Dublin and grew up in Dunboyne, County Meath (where there is a big mural in the town). Country and pop are both part of her musical vocabulary. In an early NME interview, she placed Dolly Parton, Weird Al Yankovic and Katy Perry in the same description of her style.
That combination is a useful starting point I guess. It allows room for her emotional storytelling, broad humour and a chorus with ambitions beyond a small room. You do not need to know country music’s back catalogue to follow the stories, and the comic details give them a recognisable everyday setting.
CMAT is also known as the Dunboyne Diana, a lyric from the song When a Good Man Cries.
Meet the Very Sexy CMAT Band
I personally think CMAT’s big appeal is the energetic stage performances, and while she’s the clear entertainer, she’s very ably supported by her band who often match her outfits.
The band are more than just sexy eye-candy, they also provide the fiddle, piano, pedal steel and rhythm section that let CMAT move between country balladry and full-throttle pop. The seven-piece line-up at Brighton Centre on 9 March 2026 was CMAT plus the six musicians below.
A note on the line-up: these profiles cover the EURO-COUNTRY-era band seen in Brighton. Touring personnel can change: UCLA Radio’s September 2026 Los Angeles review lists Morgan Karabel on drums.
Hannah “Tazlar” Morgan — drums
Hannah Morgan’s route to the CMAT stage began with a drum kit at the age of six. Her British Drum Co artist biography dates her touring career to 2017 and lists work with Cassyette and GRACEY alongside CMAT. That background helps explain the range of a drummer whose work has taken her through pop, heavier guitar music and country-influenced songwriting.
The UK Drum Show’s profile describes five years touring with CMAT, with appearances spanning Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, Coachella and London Stadium. It also lists work with Reuben James and with Daniel Vildósola and saxophonist John Waugh. Away from the stage, she mentors younger drummers, focusing on confidence and creativity as well as technique.
For a longer introduction in her own words, the September 2025 Drum Social interview covers her childhood musical beginnings and the journey towards playing Glastonbury.
She’s actually a very good drummer too.
Colm Conlan, also known as Púca — keyboards and vocals
Púca is a longstanding part of CMAT’s live world. Hot Press’s Electric Picnic report from 2022 already describes the pair dancing together during “I Don’t Really Care for You”, placing him in the band during her debut-album era. I assume the connection goes back further, and it’s great he’s still involved.
His role reaches beyond the piano stool. In a Roland interview at Glastonbury 2025, he discusses keyboards, percussion, backing vocals and dance breaks, including taking John Grant’s part in “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”. He has also recorded piano for CMAT, and talks about translating those recorded sounds into the live show. The comedy and choreography between them is a clear highlight.
His solo work offers another way in. A 2024 Kildare Now profile introduces the Kildare-born musician as a cattle farmer and funeral singer whose own music draws on dance, folk and pop. “And I Gleam Along a Knife Edge” belongs to that self-described funeral-pop world, shaped by Irish traditions of mourning and celebration.
Jack Wolter — guitar and vocals
The Manx musician and producer is also one half of Penelope Isles, alongside his sister Lily. Manx Radio’s report on his Jimmy Kimmel appearance connects that independent music background with his work as CMAT’s guitarist.
His solo project, Cubzoa, combines guitar music with electronic textures. Bella Union released its debut album, Unfold in the Sky, on 24 October 2025. It grew from music begun in Cornwall and completed in Brighton, where he lives. Try the record if the guitar parts catch your ear and you want to follow the musician into a different setting.
Daniel Vildósola — pedal steel and guitar
Pedal steel gives the band some of its most recognisably country colouring. Vildósola brings a broader musical background to that role: his official biography describes him as a Mexican-American composer, producer and guitarist based in London.
He is a member of HÆLOS (who are genuinely on my playlist), and his work with saxophonist John Waugh explores the meeting of jazz and Americana. Projects including Time for Home and Noise & Faith offer further listening beyond the CMAT set. His session credits also include Passenger, Will Young and Willow Kayne: useful context for a player moving between atmospheric textures and a tightly arranged pop show.
Holly Carpenter — fiddle, violin and vocals
Holly Carpenter brings violin and backing vocals to CMAT’s live band alongside a career in eyewear design. Not to be confused with the Irish model of the same name, this Holly is Welsh and far more beautiful in my humble opinion.
From what I can work out, Holly Carps played violin with Jack Wolter’s Penelope Isles, and I suspect that connection led to her joining the CMAT tour in May 2025 and fulfilling her lifelong dream of prancing about on stage. She’s not credited on the Euro country album, that honour belongs to Reid Jenkins, but she is in the video for When a Good Man Cries.
An eyewear designer during the day (hence the sunglasses they are often wearing), Holly brings an infectious energy to her fiddle playing to accompany her backing vocals and TV appearances (notably the Jimmy Kimmel Live Gilbert O’Sullivan episode).
Away from CMAT, she plays violin on Los Campesinos!’ “Feast of Tongues” and appears on In My Dreams You Were Golden, the 2025 album by Michael Clark’s Lichen project. Both offer a chance to hear her playing in a different setting.
The EURO-COUNTRY timeline
- September–December 2024: the album was recorded in Brooklyn with Oli Deakin, according to CMAT’s own announcement.
- 30 May 2025: Carpenter’s Instagram post documents her with the live band.
- 29 August 2025: EURO-COUNTRY was released.
- 8 September 2025: the US headline tour opened at the Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles. Following postponements, the rescheduled UK leg began at Nottingham’s Rock City on 14 November.
William Bishop, also known as Willy Bish — bass
Bishop supplies the bass foundation, but his work extends beyond one instrument and one touring band. In an April 2026 StageLeft Podcast interview, the multi-instrumentalist discusses a route from studying maths to playing Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage with CMAT.
The episode also covers work with The Japanese House and Declan McKenna, alongside recording, production and touring. For anyone curious about the careers behind a backing band, it gives a longer perspective on the different musical jobs that can sit behind one evening’s performance.
Why CMAT’s stage performances deserve your attention
The dancing and costumes are part of a deliberately constructed show. In a July 2025 Interview conversation, CMAT described wanting to road-test her Glastonbury production at least 15 times before taking it to the Pyramid Stage. She discussed expanding to a seven-piece band, investing in costumes for a daytime slot and making space for the musicians’ personalities.
She also explained that the band plays without backing tracks, leaving room for spontaneity. That combination means presentation is theatrical, while the musicians can still react to one another. Watch the BBC’s “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” performance for the choreography and crowd connection, then follow the song back to the harsher subject beneath its inviting chorus.
“Take a Sexy Picture of Me” at Glastonbury 2025, via BBC Music.
Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert
CMAT made her US television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 9 September 2025, performing “Take a Sexy Picture of Me”. Hot Press documented the appearance, while RTÉ traced the matching knitwear and brown skirts to Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Matrimony” performance. The outfits gave a short television slot its own insight into Ciara’s love of performing.
On 26 February 2026, she brought “When a Good Man Cries” to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The staging included Irish hills and a miniature pink car, with gestures and physical comedy woven into the vocal performance. The official clip below is a good introduction to that mixture of theatrical detail and emotional scale she delivers.
“When a Good Man Cries”, from the official Late Show with Stephen Colbert channel.
Sam Morris’s dance and CMAT’s Brighton shows
The dance associated with “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” was created by Sam Morris, who posted it as @justsammorris in May 2025. Official Charts credited his choreography as the routine spread under the “woke Macarena” nickname. Here is his original post.
@justsammorris My apple dance TikTok choreographer moment 😭
Original choreography and video: Sam Morris / @justsammorris.
That online connection became a live one at Brighton Dome on 20 November 2025. CMAT welcomed Morris to join her on stage during “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” to perform the dance.
From the Dome to the Centre
20 November 2025 · Brighton Dome
Sam Morris joins CMAT on stage for the dance he created.
9 March 2026 · Brighton Centre
The larger venue follows less than four months later. The November review had already reported this show as sold out; the Centre’s own event page confirms the date.
The March show brought CMAT back with the band profiled above, playing all three of our featured favourites in the set, with “Stay for Something” closing the night. Those two Brighton dates offer a tangible picture of growing demand. The dance brought another audience into a career already built through albums, touring and television performances.
Three albums, three ways into her music
If My Wife New I’d Be Dead (2022)
The debut is the place to begin if you want to follow the catalogue from the start. Its songs include “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!”, “No More Virgos” and “I Don’t Really Care for You”. In her Apple Music album commentary, CMAT described writing as a response to whatever was troubling or upsetting her. That personal starting point gives the record its thread through loneliness, relationships and self-questioning.
Crazymad, For Me (2023)
The second album spends more time with the aftermath of a relationship. CMAT told Apple Music that an intended record about forgiveness became an acknowledgement that she was still angry. John Grant joins her on “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”, while “Have Fun!” closes the album with the possibility of moving on. Choose this one if you enjoy a record that follows an emotional story from beginning to end.
EURO-COUNTRY (2025)
Released on 29 August 2025, the third album broadens the subject matter to include identity, ambition and social pressures. Oli Deakin produced it, with CMAT also taking a co-production credit on the title track. It reached number two on the UK Official Albums Chart. For a newcomer wanting the clearest route into her recent work, this is the album to choose.
Why EURO-COUNTRY matters to her story
The third record connected with audiences and awards panels. It became her third consecutive Irish number-one album, and at the ceremony on 5 March 2026 it won the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year 2025. CMAT also received Irish Artist of the Year that evening.
In May 2026, EURO-COUNTRY won Best Album at the Ivor Novello Awards. The Academy highlighted its balance of personal writing with political and cultural themes. Both Crazymad, For Me and EURO-COUNTRY also appear in the Mercury Prize shortlists, for 2024 and 2025 respectively.
For a listener, the useful point is the range of subjects. The songs leave space for a person to be upset about a relationship, irritated by everyday life and worried about a changing society. Those feelings can coexist, and CMAT gives them names, places and sometimes very funny titles.
Five CMAT songs to start with
1. “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!”
For the wish to be somewhere else. This early single also appears on the debut album. When it was released in 2020, CMAT explained its subject as urban isolation: having possibilities around you but finding yourself unable to act on them. That gives the cowboy fantasy a purpose. Listen for the distance between imagining a freer life and being able to step into it. Find the song on her Bandcamp page.
2. “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?” featuring John Grant
For a duet and a change of perspective. On Crazymad, For Me, this song turns towards the passing of time and the startling realisation that you are becoming like your parents. CMAT’s album commentary places it in the record’s more reflective middle section. Try it between the earlier cowboy song and the later singles: it offers another subject to follow beyond romance.
3. “Take a Sexy Picture of Me”
For the pop entry point. CMAT told Apple Music that she wanted an accessible pop song to carry difficult words about the cruelty directed at her appearance. Keep that intention in mind when listening. The invitation in the title sits alongside a much less comfortable account of being looked at and judged.
4. “The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station”
For her sense of humour. The title is an excellent reason to be curious. In the same Apple Music commentary, CMAT explained that it came from becoming irrationally annoyed by images of Jamie Oliver during touring stops. She said she had no personal grievance with him. The song turns the scrutiny back on her own irritation, which makes it a revealing companion to “Take a Sexy Picture of Me”. What did Oliver think of the song? Well he’s in the official video playing the drums.
5. “EURO-COUNTRY”
For the wider picture. Finish with the title track of the third album. Its place in a record concerned with Ireland’s cultural and economic changes makes it a useful next step after the more personal stories. Give it the space of a full song, then return to the album’s beginning. Watch CMAT’s official “EURO-COUNTRY” video.
Where to go after those five songs
Choose the album attached to the song you want to hear again. Starting with a full record lets you follow CMAT’s sequencing and hear the less familiar tracks around the singles. There is no need to turn discovering an artist into homework: one album that holds your attention is a better start than a long playlist you barely notice.
For another route into her performances, her official website currently highlights the live EP EURO-COUNTRY (Live at St Anne’s). Use her official live page for current show announcements and ticket links; older tour posters can remain in search results after their dates have passed.
Then go back to the song that brought you here. The appeal of this catalogue is having room for the joke and the uncomfortable feeling that follows it. A cowboy fantasy or a petrol-station stop can be the beginning of a much bigger story.
