It goes without saying that Ireland is Britpop’s home away from home. In fact, if you take the bloodline of rock legends as disparate as the Beatles and Oasis into account, you could even call Ireland the motherland of Britpop. For years, the Irish pop charts have borne a striking resemblance to their British counterparts, but it’s also not uncommon for an act to reach superstar status in Ireland before it makes a dent on the British pop charts. The success of the Corrs is the most obvious example, and it illustrates the enduring influence of traditional music on Irish taste: even at their most commercial, the Corrs let their folk roots shine through.

Like the Corrs, British pop singer David Gray is a folk musician at heart, so it’s no surprise that he too began his journey to international stardom on the Irish pop charts. After spending his youth in Wales and Northern England, Gray moved to London to try his hand at writing and performing music. He released three albums in the mid ’90s and went on several grassroots tours of the US and the British Isles. He struggled to make a name for himself everywhere except in Ireland, which latched onto him with the release of his ’93 debut, A Century Ends (Caroline), and hasn’t let go yet.

"Ireland provided some support for me when I was having a hard time getting the time of day anywhere else," Gray explained over the phone from London a few weeks before the start of his current North American tour. (Next Thursday, he’ll play a sold-out show at Tsongas Arena in Lowell.) "The first time I went there, it blew me away. They gave me a bigger cheer when I came on than I had ever had walking off. And it got better from there — these days, it’s hard to get the music across at times because people get so excited. In relative terms, I’m biggest of all in Ireland."

With the international release of his fourth album, White Ladder (RCA), a few years back, Gray started playing to screaming fans all over the world. Propelled by the hit "Babylon" — which put a bright electronic spin on his Van Morrison–influenced guitar and vocals — the disc was a smash in Britain and Ireland and also went platinum in the US.

Gray’s American success was partly the result of a new deal with RCA that was brokered by Dave Matthews — a man who knows a little something about conquering adult-alternative radio. Gray met Matthews during his first US tour in the early ’90s, when both performers were just starting off. Matthews has been a vocal supporter ever since, and when RCA gave him a boutique label of his own (ATO), Gray became the first signing.

"It made perfect sense," Gray observes of his business arrangement with Matthews. "I had a record ready to go, and we were looking for a home for it. It was a way of Dave starting his record company without having to wait. I liked the no-bullshit approach of his people, because it’s not like Dave hyped his way to the top. He was a square peg in a round hole in much the same way I am. All they could say was, ‘You need to go out and work, and we’ll support you.’ It sounds rather basic, but that was an assurance I’d never really been able to believe in when I’d heard it before."

In November, Gray released A New Day at Midnight (RCA), the long-awaited follow-up to White Ladder and his fifth album overall. Unlike its predecessor, which was recorded at his home studio when he was between record deals, the new disc was made at pro studios with a major-label budget. But Gray and his long-time producers, McClune and Iestyn Poston, don’t deviate much from the White Ladder formula of smart, personal folk songs dressed up with classy electronic flourishes.

A New Day at Midnight is a more personal album than its predecessor, and Gray readily admits that its melodies and subject matter are more melancholy. "White Ladder had a lot of big tunes on it that left you with a feeling of being light and uplifting. But this one is more serious, for want of a better word. The themes are a little darker. The objective is to do what’s in your heart, and the things that happen to me all come out in the music. If I had my way, it would be a damn sight more downbeat than it ended up.

"Nevertheless, I think it’s got quite a few big melodies. It’s not an exercise in total misery — there’s a glimmer of daylight all the way through it. So I think it’s going to be good for people in a different way."

The first single, "The Other Side," is a ghostly lament with Gray on piano and vocals and little other instrumental accompaniment. "Honey now if I’m honest/I still don’t know what love is," goes the refrain, and by the end it sounds almost like an epitaph. But the opening "Dead in the Water" isn’t as morbid as its title implies, and "Caroline" is an upbeat country-rocker with jittery electronic beats and an otherworldly pedal-steel solo by veteran London session player B.J. Cole.

Gray built his reputation on the road, and he’s counting on his current tour to boost sales of A New Day at Midnight, which debuted at a respectable #17 but isn’t exactly tearing up the charts. "I don’t really make any attempt to make commercial records. The fact that White Ladder happened wasn’t by design, it just sort of grew that way. If I happen to make another one, it’s all well and good, but that’s not the objective.

"I think what makes a difference with my music is I’ve got to be there. I haven’t been to the States, and also they’ve had to go with the most difficult single first. But now hopefully we’ll get more of a reaction. Because I’ve really got to be there standing and shouting for anyone to take notice of me."

LIKE DAVID GRAY, Boston’s Rubyhorse are an adult-alternative act with Britpop leanings who got their first taste of pop success outside their native land — which happens to be Ireland. The group’s major-label debut, Rise (Island), is less than a year old, but their story is already part of local rock history. They moved here in the late ’90s from Cork, where they grew up together and started a band with dreams of American stardom. They crashed on floors with whoever would have them in the early days, then landed a weekly gig at the Burren, in Davis Square, that led to a big-time management deal and a bunch of Boston Music Awards.

But Rubyhorse’s first record deal went sour, and their buzz had just about died out when Rise finally came out last May. Their debut single, "Sparkle," didn’t get much national airplay, but it was worth the wait for fans: frontman Dave makes all the right moves on the song’s dreamy new-wave chorus, and guitarist Joe cops a handful of choice licks from the Edge. Last summer, the band supported the album in style with a couple of amphitheater dates on the Jeep World Outside Festival package tour.

Now Rubyhorse are giving radio another shot with their second single, "Any Day Now," a bittersweet ballad that substitutes acoustic guitar and strings for the electro-bombast of "Sparkle." Next month, they’re celebrating the Irish release of Rise with a short tour of their native land. But before they head overseas, the band will warm up for those gigs with a couple of East Coast club dates, including one at Paradise next Thursday.

Rubyhorse’s Irish heritage and Joe’s Edge worship have earned the band countless U2 comparisons — something that probably doesn’t bother them very much. They took their name from a song by late-’80s British cult faves the Wonder Stuff, and their music recalls ’90s Britpop more than anything else. They steal from the best on "Happy in the Sunshine," the flawless Oasis homage that opens Rise. "I’ve had enough to last a lifetime/I’m never happy in the sunshine," mewls Dave, cheerily rehashing the famous sunshine metaphor that kicked off the first Oasis album but leaving out Liam Gallagher’s era-defining sneer. They don’t waste time proving they can dig deeper than Oasis, either: the techno beats and psychedelic vocal hook that start the song look back to the Stone Roses and Primal Scream.

The way Rubyhorse casually integrate rock and dance rhythms in Rise sets them apart from most American pop bands of their generation, who weren’t raised with the kind of mass exposure to electronic dance music that kids receive in Europe. "Evergreen" is a reflective coming-of-age anthem set to a driving trance beat. "Teenage Distraction" is a druggy disco workout with a sharp new-wave hook.

But they pull off the ultimate Britpop coup on "Punchdrunk," a melancholy ballad with a classic slide-guitar contribution from the late George Harrison, who agreed to play on the song after hearing it from a friend. That pretty much cancels out any rookie mistakes on the rest of the disc: even Oasis never got a Beatle to play on one of their albums. Assuming their countrymen forgive them for moving away, Rubyhorse’s Irish homecoming should be a happy one.

David Gray performs next Thursday, January 30 at Tsongas Arena in Lowell; the show is officially sold out. Rubyhorse perform next Thursday, January 30, at the Paradise, 969 Commonwealth Avenue; call (617) 562-8800.