Listening To Cara Dillon On Monday Afternoon.

It has been almost Spring-like here today. If it is like this again tomorrow, I will get outside and carry on with painting that wall. There is a lot to do. I took a stroll up town earlier. I got some wild bird food that I know they like, and on the way back from Morrison’s I went in Davies and got some plant food for my new yucca.

This afternoon after I had pottered around for a bit, I just sat in the kitchen watching the birds outside flying to and fro. I was listening to After The Morning which is an album by Cara Dillon from 2006. I have not played it for ages and had forgotten how good it is. Cara comes from Dungiven in Northern Ireland, but these days she lives just down the road from here in Frome, Somerset. We went to see Cara at the Cheese & Grain in Frome a few years ago. I got the poster from the door afterwards and Cara signed it for me. I had it framed and it looks great on my wall. There is a quote from Q magazine on it which says, ‘What may well be the worlds most beautiful female voice’. I will not argue with that.

I will not go through every song because it takes too long. Five of the songs are written by Cara and her husband Sam Lakeman and the other seven songs are either traditional or written by others. Cara gathered some wonderful musicians together for this project, such as the great fiddle player Cathal Hayden who I have seen playing with Christy Moore in recent years, Martin O’Connor on accordion, the master guitar player Martin Simpson, the legend who is Paul Brady and others who I am not so familiar with.

My Poster Of Cara.

You might know the opening song Never In A Million Years because it was released as a single and got lots of airplay on Radio 2 at the time. If I had to choose a favourite song it might be The Streets Of Derry which features Paul Brady on vocals. I also love The Snows They Melt The Soonest which is a traditional ballad that I first heard by Anne Briggs. When I say that I like Cara’s version just as much as Anne’s, that is saying something because Anne Briggs is Britain’s greatest ever folk singer in my opinion. Walls is a nice cover version of an American country song which Cara and Sam put their own arrangement to. Cathal Hayden’s fiddle playing is of the highest standard on this song. Garden Valley is a wonderful song written by the great Scottish singer Dougie MacLean. In fact, all the songs on this album are excellent. Well done Cara & Sam.

If you are not familiar with Cara Dillon’s work. I have shared her version of  Memory Lane to this blog site. I thought some of my Van Morrison fan friends might like it.