TIM HARDIN (with Twiggy) - The Lady Came From Baltimore 1974

The Reckoning by Sharon Shannon.

A cold but beautiful sunny morning. I have been dancing around the kitchen to my new CD called The Reckoning by Sharon Shannon which arrived a couple of days ago. I ordered this album because I have enjoyed Sharon’s cheerful lockdown sessions on the internet during the long months of this pandemic. Not only the music but also introducing us to her house and her pet dogs and cats. When I opened the package, I found that there was also another CD included for free. I haven’t played that one yet, so I’ll tell you about it another time. I now have five albums by Sharon in my collection. It has been a remarkable achievement to produce this album during a lockdown because Sharon and her collaborators were not able to record in the usual way. They all had to record remotely in such locations as Galway, Bath, Lanzarote, Copenhagen, London, Dublin, Quebec and other places. Craig Mulvagh deserves a lot of praise for helping to produce such an enjoyable album in difficult circumstances.

Right from the first notes of the uplifting opening track Merry-Go-Round which Sharon wrote with the great Donal Lunny you feel more optimistic and the toes start tapping. Festival goers will love this music in the summer if we are allowed out again. The title track The Reckoning was written with Jon Allen who sings the lead vocals. Daddy Shannon’s Jig / The Bealacana Polka is dedicated to Sharon’s dad. Bealacana is where she comes from in County Clare. I see that Unlocked was partly recorded not too far from me at Black Earth Studios in Bath. It features Susan O’Neill on vocals. The Beast From The East has some great guitar playing by Albert Serrano and piano by Luke Dunford. Harmony Hall is named after a venue that Sharon played in Japan last year. It features a group called Dreamer’s Circus who I think are Danish friends of Sharon because it is partly recorded in Copenhagen. I have shared a video of Sharon and Dreamer's Circus to this blog page if you would like to hear it. Silver Dollar / Audrey’s Polka features some wonderful viola playing by Maire Breathnach.

I love the next track Off To Californee (Mursheen Durkin Revisited). When I was a kid, in our house we had the original record of Mursheen Durkin by Johnny McEvoy. This version is produced by reggae legend Dennis Bovell and features spoken words by Linton Kwesi Johnson. It was an inspired idea to bring Ireland and Jamaica together, and the result is brilliant. Timbuktu is another track partly recorded in Bath with Justin Adams on guitar and drums. Refrains d’Irlande is another of my favourite tracks. It is sung in French and features a French-Canadian group called Le Vent Du Nord. Their contribution was recorded in Quebec. This album certainly is diverse multi-national world music. The Jolly Roger features Sharon on electric guitar for the first time. She had never played instruments with a plectrum before but set herself five days to master this tune. It was great fun watching her play the guitar on Facebook back in the summer. The final track is quite poignant because it is dedicated to her pet cat Pixie who sadly passed away recently and is called Pixie’s Farewell. Congratulations to everybody who worked together to produce this great album during very trying times. Listening to it, you would never have guessed that it was recorded remotely all over the world. Let’s hope that by the summer we will be back to some semblance of normality and Sharon can play her great music to a live audience again.

Sharon Shannon feat Dreamers' Circus - Harmony Hall

The Morning Star by Ger Wolfe

In the absence of any live music to enjoy during this pandemic, one of the things that has kept me going is music sessions on the internet by various artists. Among the musicians I have particularly enjoyed are sessions by Richard Thompson, Christy Moore, Cara Dillon and Sharon Shannon. I have felt that they should be rewarded for their efforts because musicians have been hit extremely hard recently by not being able to perform and earn a living. I have bought CDs or sent a tip via PayPal. A couple of weeks ago a friend posted a link on Facebook to another live session by an Irish singer-songwriter called Ger Wolfe. I enjoyed the session so much I ordered his latest album called The Morning Star which arrived a few days ago. I first heard the name Ger Wolfe about a year ago when he is mentioned in the title track on Christy Moore’s excellent Magic Nights album. I think Ger wrote that song in collaboration with fellow Cork resident John Spillane. The Morning Star is an excellent album and Ger has a unique voice with a distinctive accent. I would describe him as a nature poet. The songs are like poems set to music. The lyrics are full of references to birds, animals, the land, the sea, the sky, and the seasons. He obviously feels close to nature. This gives the album a very spiritual quality, because as you know, people who are closer to nature are closer to god.

The album is produced, engineered, and mixed by Amhlaoibh Mc Sweeney who also plays harmonium, banjo, sruti box, bass and drums. Ger has a very distinctive delicate guitar style, possibly influenced by Bert Jansch, but I do not play guitar, so it is not really for me to say. There is Spanish guitar & steel string guitar. Ger also plays nice mandolin, fiddle, and piano among other instruments. His son Diarmuid Wolfe is the pianist on one track called I See The New Moon. Colyne Laverriere and Julie O’Sullivan are guest vocalists on The Last Rose Of Summer. I do not have a favourite song, but if pushed I think the opening song Hello Gorgeous is both charming and poetic. I love the piano playing on When We Were Farming Land and the harmonium and mandolin on tracks such as Colder Than The Winter which created a nice atmosphere in my kitchen as I listened on a winters afternoon. Something Stirred A Memory is about how simple things like finding lost items in a drawer can bring memories flooding back. In I Am A Wave Ger has put new words to an American tune called The Dying Soldier. On first listen I thought that song was the most immediately accessible. The final track called Walk The Long Road reminded me slightly of another nature inspired album by Vashti Bunyan called Another Diamond Day, but I am sure other listeners will find their own magical moments in this album.

If you want to hear a taste of this album, I have shared a beautiful video of Hello Gorgeous to this blog site below. 

Ger Wolfe -'Hello Gorgeous' (official video)

Night -Time Radio by Willow Springs.

So, I was wondering what to do with myself on this grey December day when a new CD popped through my letterbox. It is the new album by Willow Springs called Night-Time Radio. Willow Springs is the brainchild of Mark Crockard who is a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland. I first heard of Mark when he played with an excellent Van Morrison tribute band called Celtic Soul who I saw at the party to celebrate Van’s 70^th birthday in 2015. This is Willow Springs second album and I have spent a very pleasant afternoon listening to it. As well as singing, Mark plays harmonica, acoustic & electric guitars, percussion, keyboards, banjo, and upright & electric bass. Also on the album are Lisa Brady on vocals, Rik Gay on drums & percussion, Keith Ward on piano & keyboards, Marcus McAuley on acoustic guitar & mandolin, Richard Nelson on pedal steel guitar, Vic Bronzini-Fulton on guitar, John McKinley on trumpet and Jim ‘The King’ Brown who sings on two songs.

I suppose you could describe the music as Americana. If you like country-rock I am sure you will love this album. Once I started listening, I forgot about genres and just enjoyed it as great music. The opening track is called Together, a duet between Mark and Lisa with tasteful piano and pedal steel guitar accompaniment. Same Old, Same Old Thing features Lisa again, in a jazzier bluesy mood with Richard’s pedal steel guitar to the fore. It Takes A Little Time is much rockier, driven along by electric guitar and great piano playing. Hello Friend has the great voice of Jim ‘The King’ Brown. You would swear it was Elvis singing. On Willow Springs Facebook page I saw that Jim has been suffering from Covid 19. I wish him a full recovery and hope it has not affected his great voice. Lisa sings again on I’ll Do Whatever It Takes. What a nice voice she has. This song also has a wonderful guitar solo by Vic Bronzini-Fulton. The eponymous title song Night-Time Radio is next and is possibly my favourite track after two listens. It reminded me slightly of Michael Nesmith’s early solo work or the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It is a great song anyway. The heartfelt A Darker Shade Of Blue is accompanied by tasteful discreet harmonica and banjo. To Be With You is another Elvis style big ballad by Jim. I love it, especially the Duane Eddy twangy guitar sound. I wonder what Elvis would have thought of this song.

Boulder, Rock Or Stone is a much quieter affair. Why Did I Ever Fall In Love With You? Is a simple arrangement which again features effective acoustic guitar playing by Marcus McAuley. The laid-back mood continues with Thanks For Believing which is perfect music for a cold winters day. A Party On Saturday Night is much livelier. A Tex-Mex flavoured dance tune featuring frenetic trumpet playing by John McKinley. Marcus’s acoustic guitar is again featured on the final track I’ll See You Somewhere Down The Road which brings this most enjoyable album to a close. Congratulations to everyone who worked on this project, especially the multi-talented Mark Crockard.

Patrick & Hilda.

Patrick Kavanagh died on this day November 30^th in 1967. He was one of the finest Irish poets and a novelist. Arguably second only to W.B. Yeats as the greatest Irish poet of all time. He also was a huge influence on Seamus Heaney. Patrick met and fell in love with a young medical student called Hilda Moriarty and in 1946 wrote a poem inspired by her called ‘Dark Haired Miriam Ran Away’. It became one of Ireland’s best loved songs when in the 1960s he met Luke Kelly in the Bailey pub in Dublin and Luke sang the definitive version known as ‘On Raglan Road’. Van Morrison, Sinead O’connor, Mark Knopfler, Dick Gaughan, Billy Bragg and many others have recorded this song.

On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew

That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue;

I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way,

And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge

Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge,

The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay –

O I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away.

His love for Hilda was unrequited, mainly because of the age gap. She was only 22 when they met, and he was 40. Dr Hilda Moriaty later married Donogh O'Malley who became Ireland’s education minister. His reforms made him one of the most popular members of the government; he was affectionately known as 'the School Man' for his work in education. His sudden death in Limerick on 10 March 1968 before his vision for the education system was completed came as a shock to the public. He was buried with a full Irish state funeral. They had two children, the actor Daragh O'Malley, and Suzanne, a fashion designer.

Also, I found out just last night that  that the famous singer Dido wrote a song called Grafton Street in memory of her father, who was a nephew of Hilda Moriarty. The Irish Times said that as a young girl Dido was obsessed with great-aunt Hilda, the tales of her beauty, and her role in Raglan Road, and that she sang Raglan Road to her father as he was dying. So, I am incredibly pleased that Patrick met Hilda and it just shows that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.