By Cédric Vernet 
Glen Hansard died on July 29, 2026, at the age of 56, in a motorcycle accident near Dublin. Just a few hours earlier, he had still been playing in a pub, surrounded by musicians. One final image that perfectly sums up an artist who remained down-to-earth despite his success, his Oscar and a career spanning more than thirty years. Cédric Vernet pays tribute to him.
Without pretending that I knew him, simplicity is what seems to define Glen Hansard best. He left school at 13 and learned his trade in the streets of Dublin. In 1990, shortly after forming The Frames, he accompanied his friend David Wilmot to an audition for The Commitments. Encouraged to read a few lines, he was called back and almost accidentally landed the role of Outspan Foster.
We know what followed: concerts in front of thousands of people, an Oscar and stages shared with some of rock’s biggest names. But Glen Hansard never forgot where he came from. He continued to play in the streets of Dublin, particularly during the Christmas Eve concert held every year to help those for whom the street had become home.
A musician often seen on screen
Like many people, I first encountered Glen Hansard without really knowing his name. I was blown away by The Commitments. Alan Parker’s 1991 film remains, for me, one of the greatest films ever made about soul music. There are the songs, of course, but also the humour, the energy of the band and the story of young Dubliners developing a passion for Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. What an extraordinary ending!
Glen Hansard plays Outspan Foster, one of the band’s guitarists, accompanying the powerful voice of Andrew Strong. He is not the main character, but he is part of a group of people you never forget. At the time, he had just formed The Frames, who would go on to become one of Ireland’s leading rock bands. The Commitments will be the focus of an upcoming episode of Ciné Blues, but that is another story.
I later loved him in Once, released in 2007. John Carney’s film is the complete opposite of a big-budget musical production. Very little money, the streets of Dublin, a music shop and two characters getting to know each other by playing together. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová never look like actors pretending to be musicians. They are musicians.
I loved the film for its simplicity, its restraint and, of course, its songs. Falling Slowly won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008, but the soundtrack contains plenty of other gems. When Your Mind’s Made Up, If You Want Me and Say It to Me Now all contribute greatly to the film’s power.
Once, and much more
The success of Once sometimes overshadowed the rest of his career. Yet Glen Hansard already had a long musical history behind him. With The Frames, he had released several important albums, including For the Birds, Burn the Maps and The Cost. The band mixed rock, folk and Irish music, with songs often built to reach their full power on stage.
With Markéta Irglová, he also formed The Swell Season. The duo recorded three albums, including Strict Joy in 2009 and Forward in 2025. Their musical relationship therefore continued long after Once and the end of their romantic relationship. But it was also under his own name that Glen Hansard built a remarkable discography.
Five very different solo albums
His first proper solo album, Rhythm and Repose, was released in 2012. It immediately brought together everything that made him special: an acoustic guitar, a voice that could remain very soft before suddenly rising, and songs without unnecessary embellishment.
You Will Become, High Hope, Bird of Sorrow and Song of Good Hope are among the album’s highlights. The latter would become one of his most important songs, regularly performed on stage and during the tributes that followed his death.
In 2015, Didn’t He Ramble went even further in its stripped-back approach. The album moved closer to folk, gospel and traditional Irish music. Grace Beneath the Pines, Her Mercy, Winning Streak and Stay the Road showed a songwriter who had reached full maturity. The record was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.
Three years later came Between Two Shores. A fantastic record that we regularly play on Blues Actu Radio and one that firmly established Glen Hansard among the artists I always wanted to follow.
Between Two Shores, his great solo album
Released in 2018, Between Two Shores was his third solo album and the first he produced himself. It brought together songs written and recorded over several years before taking its final shape at Black Box Studio in France. From the opening of Roll On Slow, the tone is set. The brass, organ and rhythm section give the song a genuine soul flavour. Why Woman continues in that direction, with an influence from his fellow Irishman Van Morrison that Glen Hansard never tried to hide.
But the album never remains confined to a single style. Wheels on Fire is more political and more rock-oriented. Wreckless Heart and Your Heart’s Not in It are more intimate. Movin’ On moves forward with an almost danceable rhythm, while Setting Forth gradually builds until his voice finally erupts.
Between Two Shores perfectly sums up Glen Hansard. There is folk, rock, soul, brass, stripped-back songs and his very personal way of moving from restraint to explosion. It is a rich record, but never an overloaded one. An album that has not aged and that we still naturally include in the Blues Actu Radio playlist.
Always moving forward
Glen Hansard could have repeated the formula of Between Two Shores. Yet the following year, he moved in a very different direction with This Wild Willing.
The album is darker, longer and sometimes less immediate. Strings, choirs and sonic textures play a much greater role. I’ll Be You, Be Me, Don’t Settle, Fool’s Game and Race to the Bottom show an artist who was still searching, even if it meant losing part of his audience along the way. His label described this fourth solo album as a meeting point between the sonic experimentation of The Frames and the control he had developed during his solo career.
In 2023, All That Was East Is West of Me Now marked a return to a more direct and rock-oriented sound. The album grew out of a series of five concerts organised almost in secret in a small pub. Glen Hansard wanted to test his new songs in front of an audience before recording them. A method that suited him perfectly.
The Feast of St. John, Down on Our Knees and There’s No Mountain recapture the power of The Frames, while Sure as the Rain, Ghost and Short Life reveal a quieter side.
His final project, Don’t Settle: Transmissions East & West, was released in two volumes in 2026. Recorded in front of 600 people at Berlin’s Funkhaus for his 55th birthday, it revisited songs from throughout his career with his band, joined by strings and brass. Glen Hansard explained that he had always felt more comfortable on stage than in the studio and that a song needed witnesses to truly come alive.
Low-key but essential
On Tuesday, August 4, his funeral at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin took the form of one final concert. Eddie Vedder, Markéta Irglová and The Frames performed The Song of Good Hope, Lisa O’Neill sang Old Note and Damien Dempsey performed Sing All Our Cares Away. After Bono read the lyrics of Beautiful Day, the ceremony ended with Forever Young by Bob Dylan, led by Liam Ó Maonlaí and joined by many of the musicians present, including Bono, The Edge, Damien Rice, Imelda May, Paddy Casey and Markéta Irglová. A final scene that said a great deal about the place Glen Hansard held among his peers and with the Irish public, who turned out in large numbers to applaud his wicker coffin and watch the ceremony on giant screens.
Bono summed it up in one sentence: “Everyone who met him remembered the day they met him.”
Glen Hansard may not have been a huge star with the French public. Many people knew Falling Slowly, had seen Once or had caught a glimpse of him in The Commitments without necessarily following the rest of his career.
His death now gives some of his songs a different resonance, particularly Short Life and Time Will Be the Healer. But it would be a shame to remember only the sadness of such a brutal ending. Just a few hours before his death, Glen Hansard was still playing in a pub with other musicians. Simply because he loved playing. And that is what we want to remember, because, damn, what a stupid way to go.