The Mike Harding Folk Show

Just a note to let you all know that Mike Harding’s new music show is now up and running. Mike has long been a champion of Folk Music. His BBC show was essential listening to millions for over a decade. Suddenly axed by the suits, without warning or explanation, Mike has decided to continue broadcasting his own independent show.To listen click  HERE

Podcast of an hour plus every week on Sundays and then archived for download

I look forward to listening to my old friend again and thought I might share it with you.

All the best,

Christy

 

Peter McVerry Gig

I wish to thank everybody who supported the Peter McVerry concert. With the support of everyone involved in the gig we managed to raise forty-thousand Euro for the trust. As well as that we had a fantastic night.

Today, Let us Remember Victor Jara.

http://www.workers.org/2013/01/08/chilean-officers-charged-in-1973-murder-of-victor-jara/

Extra Date in Vicar Street in aid of Peter McVerry Trust

We have added an extra date in Vicar St. on Tuesday, 8th January 2013. This will be a regular Declan /Christy Gig full steam ahead no breaks, bells nor whistles.All proceeds will go to the Peter McVerry Trust, towards their work with the Homeless. Next year will mark Peter’s 30th year of working amongst those in need. Tickets are priced from €39.50  – €49.50 and are  available by clicking HERE

O Me hat is frozen to Me head … Me body is like a lump a lead …

The recent tour of England and Scotland was a memorable trip for me. It began with a visit to Liverpool’s Anfield Rd. with my son Andy and our good friend Michael Devine. The game was between Liverpool and Newcastle and, being neutral, I sat in the middle. It was an exciting prospect to be back at an English soccer game again. During my time there I visited many football grounds in the course of my travels. Looking back, it seemed as if all those games were in black and white. Now, Anfield Rd. appears to be in HD with full wrap around sound. There are numerous merchandise stalls, betting shops and fast food counters. Every aspect seems hyped to the last. The actual game itself seemed neither as passionate nor as enjoyable. Certainly, the players are fitter now and just as skilful but the spirit of the game appears diminished. There was a strange moment at kick-off. One of the highlights of a visit to Anfield is the pre kick-off rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. 40,000 people singing this great song is an uplifting experience. Everyone appeared totally caught up in the moment. That is, everyone EXCEPT the referee who blew the whistle and started the game half way through this glorious anthem. It felt like 40,000 people got a simultaneous kick in the arse. I felt that moment encapsulated the problem that is slowly destroying the great game. Sky Schedules (and mammon) take precedence over everything else. These days, all major sporting arenas seem to have ear splitting sound systems blasting out inappropriate sounds. In fairness, despite this we had a great time. (But a grumpy old man gotta have his groan.)

Next day it was back into work mode and on up to York…Great to return to The Barbican and a most welcoming Yorkshire audience. Here are the setlists for the 6 gigs;

York Nov 4th  1.City of Chicago 2.Dalesmans Litany 3.Missing You 4.16 Fishermen Raving 5.All for the Roses 6.Ordinary Man 7.Farmer Michael Hayes 8.Viva La Quinta Brigada 9.Merseyside 10.Black is the Colour 11.Hattie Carroll 12.Stitch in Time 13.Morecambe Bay 14.Motherland 15.Sun Shine In 16.Billy Gray 17.Ride On 18. DT’S 19.Butterfly 20.Don’t forget your Shovel 21.Quiet Desperation 22.Lawless 23.Companeros 24.Fairytale 25.Lisdoonvarna 26.Nancy Spain 27.Voyage

Manchester 5th  1.City of Chicago 2.Black is the Colour 3.Ordinary Man 4.One last Cold Kiss 5.North & South 6.Magdalene Laundries 7.Missing You 8.I Pity the Poor Immigrant 9.Don’t forget Your Shovel 10.Merseyside 11.Farmer Michael Hays 12.Stitch in Time 13.Sun Shine In 14.Billy Gray 15.Honda 50 16.Allende 17.Hey Ronnie Reagan 18.DT’S 19.Butterfly 20.Smoke & Strong Whiskey 21.All for the Roses 22.Joxer 23.Voyage 24.Go Move Shift 25.So Do I 26.Ride On 27.Lisdoonvarna 28.Nancy Spain 29.Bright Blue Rose

Edinburgh 8th  1.City of Chicago 2.Viva la Quinta Brigada 3.Smoke & Strong Whiskey 4.Barrowland 5.North & South 6.Magdalene Laundries 7.Missing You 8.Ride On 9.Joxer 10.Farmer Michael Hayes 11.Stitch in Time 12.Sun Shine In 13.Billy Gray 14.Hattie Carroll 15.Morecambe Bay 16.Ordinary Man 17.James Connolly 18.Contender 19.Back Home in Derry 20.DT’s 21.Beeswing 22.How Long 23.McIlhatton 24.Black is the Colour 25.Lisdoonvarna 26.Hurt 27.Spancil Hill

Barrowland 9th  1.Intro 2.City of Chicago 3.Natives 4.Smoke  & Strong Whiskey 5.Barrowland 6.Biko Drum 7.Yellow Triangle 8.Galtee Mountain Boy 9.Allende 10.Beeswing 11.Missing You 12.Black is the Colour 13.No Time for Love 14.Boy From Tamlaghduff 15.Ride On 16.Ordinary Man 17.Sun Shine In 18.Billy Gray 19.Viva La Quinta Brigada 20.On the Bridge 21.Scapegoats 22.Back Home in Derry 23.McIlhatton 24.The Time has Come 25.Sacco & Vanzetti 26.Joxer 27.Spancil Hill 28.Lisdoonvarna 29.Crowd chant/Bodhran 30.Morecambe Bay 31.Bright Blue Rose

Stirling 11th  1.North & South 2.How Long 3.Missing You 4.Quiet Desperation 5.Smoke & Strong Whiskey 6.Morecambe Bay 7.Matty 8.DT’S 9.All for the Roses 10.Merseyside 11.Chicago 12.Beeswing 13.Hiroshima 14.Companeros 15. 2 Conneeleys 16.Ordinary Man 17.Wandering Aonghus 18.Sun Shine In 19.Motherland 20.Strange Ways 21.Hattie Carroll 22. Plane Crash at Los Gatos 23.Joxer 24.Barrowland 25.Quinta Brigada 26.John O Dreams 27.Back Home in Derry 28.Ride On 29.No Time for Love

Glasgow 12th  1.Allende 2.Missing You 3.Morecambe Bay 4.Biko Drum 5.Barrowland 6.Quinta Brigada 7.DT’S 8.Michael Hayes 9.Chicago 10.Cry Like a Man 11.Ordinary Man 12.Amsterdam 13.Smoke & Strong Whiskey 14.McIlhatton 15.Back Home in Derry 16.Sun Shine In 17.Billy Gray 18.Honda 50 19.Ride On 20.No Time for Love 21.Companeros 22.Black is the Colour 23.North & South 24.Cliffs of Dooneen 25.Lisdoonvarna 26.Sonny’s Dream 27.Nancy Spain

 

I had an interesting conversation about the setlists in Glasgow. A listener was trying to figure out how the sets were chosen. I could not offer any methodology as none exists. (Except for gigs such as Electric Picnic or Glastonbury where the performances are limited to a specific time and conditions are very different) I decide the opening number as we take our seats. “Chicago” was the favoured opener on this trip. It seemed to settle us all in straight away. The second song varied on all 6 gigs. After this conversation I decided to go through the setlists out of curiosity. We seem to have played 76 songs over the 6 gigs during which there were 174 renditions. 35 songs were performed but once and 6 were performed at all 6 gigs. I like the fact that every gig has its own shape. This keeps us on our toes. In the context of this work, Declan is happiest doing new material. Over the past 12 years I may have asked him 500 times “What will we do next?” His reply is almost always the same; “Biko Drum”. I enjoy the challenge when a song appears out of the blue, it might be a quiet request or a random thought or association. Declan never flinches, even if it is a song he has not heard before. Invariably he will have found his way in by the second verse. He is a master of song accompaniment.

I have had time on my hands since returning frae Glasgow. I had a wisdom tooth removed. It was recommended that I lay off singing for ten days. The tooth was fractured and had to go. There were potential consequences which, thankfully, did not arise. In the aftermath I hit a dark patch. Sometimes my confidence wanes and my enthusiasm for singing evaporates. New work loses its appeal and I am not drawn to the workbench. However, experience has taught me that this too shall pass. I gotta ride it out with patience, tolerance and faith in the power of healing.

There is much to be done. Recently I have been re-recording all my own songs and collaborations with a view to presenting them as a body of work. My songs have been scattered across decades of recording. Most of the repertoire has been gleaned from other writers and from the Tradition. It is my intention to “mark” my own work while I am still able to do so.

On a separate project I have been playing occasionally with a quartet of musicians. Namely Mairtín O’Connor, Jimmy Higgins, Cathal Hayden and Shamie O’Dowd. There is no specific plan at this time other then the sheer pleasure of sitting amidst this ensemble and singing. We had an outing in Lisdoonvarna last month and are planning another in Galway in early January. I love the buzz and thrust of singing with these great players.

I was invited to be part of the Simon Community’s Christmas campaign. The piece we recorded is currently being transmitted on the radio. Every day people stop me to talk about Simon. I simply urge them to follow through if they can.

We went to hear Rodriguez at Vicar St. last week. Having seen his film “Searching for Sugarman” (highly recommended) it was simply beautiful to sit listening to him sing. A kind and gentle man with beautiful songs and a wonderful band. At 70, and having gone below the radar for several decades, it was inspiring to see his resilience and hear his delivery. There were a small number of loutish boors in the room who insisted on shouting him down each time he tried to speak. This was a pity but he handled it with dignity and humour. Perhaps there is a lesson there for me. The concert was opened by Lisa O’Neill. Lisa came out unannounced and started to sing. By the end of her first song she had us all in the palm of her hand. She delivered a great set and cleared the way for Rodriguez. A great night. Thanks to all concerned.

We have added an extra date in Vicar St. on Tuesday, 8th January. All proceeds will go to the Peter McVerry Trust, towards there work with the Homeless. Next year will mark Peter’s 30th year of working amongst those in need.

Here are some new dates:

2nd & 3rd January 2013 Ardilaun Hotel, Galway (with Declan Sinnott, Mairtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden, Jimmy Higgins and Shamie O’Dowd)

8th January 2013 Vicar St. Dublin (for the Peter McVerry Trust)

22nd & 23rd February 2013 Glór, Ennis

8th March 2013 Park Hotel, Mullingar

14th March 2013 Mount Wolsey Hotel, Tullow, Co. Carlow

20th & 21st March 2013 Waterfront, Belfast

29th March 2013 INEC, Killarney

11th May 2013 Shearwater, Ballinasloe

17th May 2013 Fairways, Dundalk

23rd May 2013 Pavilion, Rhyl

24th May 2013 Hay on Wye Festival, Hay on Wye

26th May 2013 Bath Pavilion, Bath

27th May 2013 The Riverfront, Newport

7th June 2013 Opera House, Wexford

6th July 2013 Marquee, Cork

Later there will be gigs in Limerick, Trim and Portlaoise.

If all goes well, see you along the way.

Shine On,

Christy

PS … I found the following Scottish Reflection on 4711ers.org

This website is a meeting place for many of our constant listeners. It was posted by Hilary Scanlon whose permission I sought before posting here.

 

The tour in Caledonia in November flew so fast, between family & gigs & 4711ers! It was some week, and was really great to be based in Glasgow. Four very different gigs, great company travelling around and so many different songs… each venue unique, with its own dynamic. I first went to Scotland in 1985 in my red Renault 4L! The four Scottish gigs were the final part of a tour that started in the historic town of York then onto Manchester before heading north. Three UK based 4711ers were joined by Adam for the full tour, with various Paddies, the Dutch supplier and the native Celts at the four Scottish gigs.

Edinburgh 9/11/12 was interesting. The Festival Hall is an old theatre with a very modern exterior just up the road from the railway station and near other recent venues in that city. Brian was good enough to offer Adam & I a lift to and from the gig. They sang 28 songs, Declan & Christy arrived on stage, acknowledging Auld Reekie to rapturous applause and opened with City of Chicago, the same song they had opened with the two previous nights. It was a very mixed setlist some old favourites mixed with some rare gems, Allende, Butterfly, Go Move Shift, This is the Day, and Declan’s regular now is Sun Shine In from his new solo CD, followed by the lovely duet Billy Gray. Then just half way through the gig CM declared that he remembered while driving to the gig that James Connolly was born in the town in 1868 and proceeded to sing a wonderful acapella version of Patrick Galvin’s ballad of James Connolly, you could hear the proverbial pin drop, then that special split second silence until the thunderous applause exploded. CM then dedicated the Contender by Jimmy Mc Carthy to an Alan O Connor from Macroom and saying “those Macroom boys like to stick together!” Coincidentally both these songs have Cork connections as James Connolly was written by late Patrick Galvin who CM has referred to as the “Poet of Cork”, a mantle which he has since passed onto John Spillane. Things proceeded then till Lisdoonvarna and more thunderous applause demanding an encore, and what an encore? after all the singing and foot stomping and clapping they stilled the night with Hurt followed by a very special and rare outing of CM’s own unique version of Spancil Hill drawing the gig to an end at about the two hour mark.

Fri 10/11/12 the day of the Barrowlands gig will stay with me forever, Brian and Adam & I were around town and Iggy B arrived in from Galway via a very early morning flight from Dublin! There was much discussion about the cold and the rain and what time would be good to start to Q outside those famous metal detectors and some prayers that the rain would clear!

As it turned out Adam and I got there very early to be sure to be sure, after the doors opened the front Centre stage was commandeered by Martin Mac, Anuk, Deirdre, Adam, Angela, Brian, Primula, Iggy B and I, Paul and Linda were there too as were Susie and Steph with their own gang, later Adam identified Michael Hayes (not the Farmer, who did the full tour). Even though we had been in Barrowlands before and have watched the DVD several (dozen?) times nothing prepares for the real thing!! The gig was mad and good and hot and noisy, a WONDERFUL gig. It was yet another UNIQUE night, but then aren’t they all?? but Barrowlands is really unique as CM has said many times “it’s his spiritual home” It was a really long gig with so many memorable moments, the sheer energy of the gig, the singing by everyone in the hall it seemed, the songs, with nods to emigration, global migrants, power hungry politicians, victims and perpetrators of injustice, not to mention weekends in exotic Amsterdam, the gig was something else and finished off with a raucous rendition of Lisdoonvarna. Until the encore, while the stage was empty the choir spontaneously hummed / clapped/ stomped The Lonesome Boatman when CM came back on stage he joined in on Bodhran, and declared “you can beat an egg, but you can’t beat an encore!!” This was followed by great hush & order for Morecambe Bay and the grand finale Bright Blue Rose, now tell me how do they do it? For over 2 hours and 10 mins?? We then had a small gaggle, how nice to sit down and drink cool, cool water after a Barrowlands gig? there was even a verse or two of “Take Me Home to Mayo” … then off we went out into the night air to review the gig and a few drinks the HQ hotel…

The Stirling gig on 11/11/12 was held in the Albert Hall, what another lovely room?? And a grand surprise – filled gig. Lar (aka Elvis) had arrived at this stage from a family wedding in Birmingham (is he ever @ home ??), Lar & Adam & I had great seats up on the front row of the balcony on stage left… a totally different perspective, it was great to watch the stage and side stage action, as well as the audience. They were a respectful audience, I think they were pleased that CM/DS had come to play in their neighbourhood, they seemed to know all the songs. All for the Roses was special on Remembrance Sunday. They really nailed other songs too Matty, Nancy Spain, Ride On, John O Dreams, Quiet Desperation ,North & South was a great start. They also shared some gems Two Connelleys, Strange Ways, Plane Crash at Los Gatos, Wandering Aonghus and the final song of the night was a rousing No Time for Love.

I found it fascinating to watch the audience from my perch high up in this horse shoe shaped room, those who were obviously engaged and those who sit so still and yet are absorbed and then to hear the singing from our perch was so, so different. No doubt the audience in Stirling was pleased that CM & DS came and played in their town, they were very receptive and engaged, it was such a different energy from Barrowlands only 2 nights previous.

There was a convoy of cars on the road that night, Brian and Lar in the Dutch Skoda and Jan in her Scottish Skoda, I was driving my sister’s car with Adam and Angela and Deirdre. I was convinced that a very special Vehicle sped past us on their way back to base and I tried to catch up with them, much to the consternation of my passengers who may not be used to Kerry drivers, anyway that other car remains a mystery!! By a strange co incidence I think I also met a special vehicle near Stirling in 2007 on the way home from a gig in Perth, but that may be my memory playing tricks on me now!

Glasgow Concert Hall gig

So the final gig of the Scottish tour was the Concert Hall, a very formal hall and not my favourite venue, I think it’s hard to engage with the gig there. Perhaps to acknowledge the international 4711er gaggle that had assembled to follow the tour we were invited to the sound – check. It was indeed a privilege to see the “men at work “in that situation. Off we went about 6.30 pm to return at 7.30 or so for the final gig, it turned out to be my favourite gig ever in that Hall, they were both up for it and it seems that Hamish Imlach’s family were there. Primula was at the 4 Scottish gigs, Jan was at three and was in Concert Hall with 2 friends, and Steph and Susie were also at some of the gigs. This gig started with Allende and included Cry Like A Man, Smoke & Strong Whiskey, No Time for Love,, the final quarter of the gig was a great send off and epitomised the range of the whole tour, Companeros, Black is the Colour, North & South, Cliffs of Dooneen, Lisdoon, Sonny’s Dream and the last song of the tour Nancy Spain. Two hours non stop singing of 27 songs and buckets of energy & emotion! Then off we went into the night air yet again and a few drinks, and seeing it was the last night, a trip to the chipper, no deep fried Mars bars but there was some late night haggis!!

These Scottish audiences really love them, of course there are lots of Irish connections, any mention of Donegal or Derry or Packie Bonner gets them going, not to mention any Northern Irish reference. However these two musicians also have the ability to connect with all lovers of good music, this was very evident on Remembrance Sunday in Stirling, unlike other venues there were no GAA county jerseys in evidence, no obvious Irish community there and yet there was a very strong connection to the songs.

In all six gigs there were over 170 individual songs, covering every known emotion from hilarity to sadness from pathos to empathy and many nuances between. There were dedications to people not present, in the Glasgow Concert Hall City of Chicago was dedicated to the memory of Collette Boyle who had a ticket for the gig but didn’t make it, also that night a request for Steve Biko that was forgotten in Barrowlands in the hopes that that guy was present!! In Stirling a request for Sally from California who was sitting in the front row.

So now it’s nearly time to face into Vicar St and all that 2013 promises, new line ups & old line ups & new halls & familiar venues. Let the music keep our spirits high!!

Thanks to Christy and Declan for the music and to all the crew for their great welcome always and for reaching out to the 4711ers in so many ways. Mile, mile buiochas , beir bua agus beannacht.

Hilary Scanlan 1/12/12

 

 

 

Keep Dublin Bay Oil Rig Free

 

KEEP DUBLIN BAY OIL RIG FREE

An application for an exploratory licence to drill for oil just 6km from the coast of Dublin Bay has been granted by the Minister for Environment, Phil Hogan for Providence resources, headed up by Tony O’Reilly. Despite a lack of public consultation and over 250 submissions made by concerned individuals and organisations earlier this year, the government has once again ignored the will of the people and granted the licence.. Please sign and share this petition if you object … Click HERE for petition.

Also, there is a public meeting on 13 November at 20:00 at Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, Killiney. All are welcome to attend.

For more information click HERE for the Protect our Coastline webpage.

Click HERE for their facebook page.

All the best,

Christy

 

Autumn Chat 2012

We started back in Dingle on August 24th. A great night in The Hillgrove, first time back there in 22 years and it’s still as lively as ever. Moving Hearts did a few stints there, most memorably the night of Cid’s 40th birthday back in1981.We performed what turned out to be quite a pagan ritual. Keith and I played the high priests, Donal and Eoghan shared patten and thurible. Later I did regular solo gigs there and had some memorable escapades round Dunquin, Ballyferriter, Ventry and, on up over then down into Brandon.

 

After Dingle it was back up the Midlands for the Electric Picnic for a lash in the big tent. It was great to meet the anti-frackers there. We agreed to support the campaign with a gig in the near future. It’s a very good festival. Something for everybody. Some anecdotes; one bewildered lad stumbled into the tent but could not figure out whether we were Ed Sheeran or Sigur Ros. We did a version of “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, Bob Dylan’s 40 year old classic. We dedicated it to the victim of a recent sexual assault. One who’s assailant was given a 6 month sentence. Not everyone approved.

 

This film came my way recently…it’s a beautiful piece that illustrates the music of the time. Lovely to see so many of the participants again. Enjoy and share some feedback.

Watch it HERE

 

I also happened upon Planxty’s 1981 Timedance on YouTube. I had not realized that the opening sequence contained moments of pure Spinal Tap. Seeing it again I was reminded of how bizarre it felt to be in such a fit up. At the time we found it difficult to reach a consensus upon our participation, but once we made the decision Donal Lunny and Bill Whelan wrote and arranged a beautiful suite for us to perform. It has been said that Timedance was the precursor of Riverdance. Certainly that may have been the case with the music. As for the dancing, that’s a different story. When Michael Flatley and Jean Butler exploded onto the stage a new phenomenon was created, one that still reverberates around the world.

Watch it HERE

 

There was a great night in Vicar St. on Sunday the 7th of October as we celebrated the music of Steve Cooney. It was one of those very special nights. Many turned up to honour Steve’s contribution to our music over these past 35 years. It was Conor Byrne who organized the event and I was very happy to get the invitation to participate. I have been a fan of Steve’s unique style of playing for many years. He remained centre stage for the entire evening during which time he accompanied Tommy Sands, Tony McMahon, Iarla Ó Leonard, Mary Black, Luka Bloom and myself. He also introduced us to his new band ÉINÍNÍ. I look forward to hearing them again. They have an original and unique sound featuring Steve on acoustic and electric guitars, Joe Csibi on Bass, Odhran Cassadaigh on fiddle and uileann pipes, Vinnie Kilduff on whistles, Dermot Byrne on accordion, Rob Harris and Rob Perry both on percussion. This band really cooks, rocks and dye dills in a seductive groove. Steve leads with great style and knowledge of everyone’s part, he also sang and recited his own writing… this is a band to watch, catch ’em if you can.

 

So much has happened since we last spoke that I can hardly remember any of it. It’s an interesting time of life, this 68th year. As a younger man I never thought I’d make 41 which was the age at which our Daddy was taken from us. Now I observe the slowing down process of the various systems that go to make life worth living. I cherish many things now, that for decades I simply took for granted. However, all this observing is not a full time occupation. So much remains to be done… At the moment I am in Lisdoonvarna in The Royal Spa Hotel. I’m here with Mairtín O Connor, Cathal Hayden, Shamie O’Dowd and Jimmy Higgins. We are rehearsing for a couple of gigs this weekend. I get a great buzz from singing with a Trad. Ensemble. It brings me back to sounds that have been a central part of my life. Back to Prosperous, to Fulham Broadway, to Planxty, to all those times of my younger life when I was so entranced and enchanted by this music.

 

Not everyone gets this music, nor hears it, nor likes it, but that’s understandable. It’s such a broad canvas, such a huge landscape of sound and colour cascading in from all sides. Today, in the course of our playing, we referenced Mary Bergin’s first tin whistle album. We talked of Tom McHale, that young whistle player from Tulsk, taken so tragically and so young all those years ago. We remembered the whistle music of Mick McGuane and Sean Potts, the former gone, the latter still to the good. I thought sadly of young Michael Dwyer whom I knew In London in 1966. As we rehearsed today, Mairtín and Cathal celebrated his memory with a rendition of Michael Dwyer’s Jig, it was joyful and heartbreaking. Michael was the lonesomest whistle player I ever heard. I told them of Mickey Carroll from Allenwood who silenced many nights with the sheer controlled madness of his glorious playing. We spoke of Christy Barry and the style of his playing over the years. The tin whistle – such a simple humble instrument yet capable of producing such exquisite music when in the hands of the gifted few. We also talked of box players, fiddle and flute players, we referenced pipers, harpists, guitarists and singers- Singers who possess the “sweet note”. But not everyone gets this music and what matter? … Let there be no panic! It has come through the hardest of times, the most desperate of situations, it has survived penal times, rome ruling it to be devil music, wrath and ridicule from “betters”… it has survived all this and more, yet it still flourishes… it is all there in the simple turn of “The Silver Spear”…..it was there in Barney McKenna’s music and tonight, at this very moment, it is on the fingers and lips of a thousand practitioners.

 

I keep returning to this Spa town, to its well of Spring Water. I first arrived in Lisdoonvarna in the winter of 1965. I returned in 1978 and have been here every year since. The battery that drives this rhythm gets charged here… it’s not a definable charge; it is made up of many elements. The Doherty Family; Paddy, Chris, Anne, John, Tiarnan, Cian and all the team in this venue are at The Hearth of it… over the years this fire has been stoked by legions of players, singers, listeners, publicans, restaurateurs, goboys, hacksaws, hayknives, Skippy, The Sheriff, Eoin O’Neill, Tommy and Tony McGann ,Micho, Willie… I could be here all night recalling the half of them. Played a “Smash H Block” gig here in 1980, Moving Hearts played here on our first foray outside The Black Lagoon in 1981. We held a 4711 gathering here some years back with guest spots from Wally Page, Doug Lang and Small Town Talk…took “the waters” here once and had the seaweed bath… (I was drinking at the time and thought it might cure my jitters …it only pointed up my thirst, I was soon back up the hill festooning myself with large bottles of loose porter) When Planxty reformed in 2004 we gathered here to nail the parts together. Each time Paddy Doherty and his family made it possible. They enable us to focus upon the essence of the music. There is no better place on earth to find the turn of a tune.

 

Things change much quicker these times. Items become redundant at an alarming rate. We master a device only to discover that it has become obsolete. I tried a smart phone once, the worst 3 days of my life… got sucked into an iPad there a while back, even used it on stage once – then I lost the buckin thing! Truth is I don’t miss it. I have become reliant upon THIS device. It is wonderful to wake up at three in the morning and with 2 clicks access a lyric, write a chat and before you know it zzzzzzzzzzzzz …

 

Its 3 hours from gig time now. The sound check has commenced. People are gathering around the town. Many have travelled a long way. The sun is shining out over The Atlantic as evening descends; it’s that time once again…

 

Royal Spa Lisdoonvarna, Oct 19th…19.45 – 15 mins to go…

 

The nerves don’t get any easier. I hear the buzz below. Excitement as curtain up approaches. one more time I close my eyes and think of those who have gone before… it’s being part of a continuous thread that constantly renews itself with each new song, with every singer and every tune that starts to blossom… just a small part to play. I have never yet been let down; tonight will surely be no different. I bow my head and hand it over to the power that sustains us all.

 

Black is the Colour

Ruby Walsh

Lakes of Pontchartrain (For our dear comrade Skippy… R.I.P.)

Stitch in Time

Tyrone Boys

Flickering Light (for our young 4711ers Colm and Róisín)

Ordinary man

Bright Blue Rose

Hattie Carroll

 

Then I was joined by Mairtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden, Shamie O’Dowd and Jimmy Higgins…we slipped into;

 

Pity the Poor Immigrant

The Crossroads Set

Butterfly (So Much Wine)

Missing You

Catwalk

Magic Nights

As I roved out

Farmer Michael Hayes

City of Chicago

Fairytale of New York

Merseyside

Back Home in Derry

Nancy Spain

Raggle Taggle

Cliffs of Dooneen

Reels of Good Fortune

 

It’s been a long day, time to let the shutters down…

 

Lisdoonvarna, Saturday 20th October

 

The sun has been shining all day on the tranquil town. We rehearsed again this morning… a very different energy now that we have last night’s gig under our belts. These are four great men with whom to play music. A couple of songs literally appeared out of the ether this morning and we nailed them in one go, they simply fell into place. Jimmy Higgins is a beautiful percussionist. He listens very closely to the song, not just the rhythm but the essence. His beats simply meld everything together. Shamie O’Dowd has a unique style of playing. He seems to know every song I have recorded inside out. His accompaniments also seem to reference the original recordings without submitting totally to them. His approach is fresh and inspiring. Mairtín O’Connor and Cathal Hayden are two tunesmiths who bring all their colour and mastery to the ensemble. In the great broad world of Irish Traditional Music it is rare to find players who are comfortable in the accompaniment of song. Many of our greatest players struggle with the very concept. I sympathize totally with their dilemma for I myself am hopeless as a spontaneous accompanist. If I have the time to learn and if someone writes out the parts for me, then I can play along. However spontaneous accompaniment has always eluded me (except when the auld drum is lying about). Mairtin and Cathal are exceptional in that they hold on ’til they find a groove… when they arrive into the song they are like welcome visitors coming in through the hall door, you feel so happy to see them.

 

That Saturday feeling is coming down like a warm glowing mist. The listeners are gathering once more. Car doors open as they clamber out, tickets in hand, murderin’ the last cigarette before entering “The Hall”. I’m peeking from an upstairs window. There’s Gerry Brady, my auld companero of 45 years ago. We soldiered the ballads around Manchester. We hit The Pennine Way and The Ho Chi Minh Trail. There’s Hilary from Tralee rounding up a few stragglers… I see my sister Anne Rynne coming across the park with her fancy man, young Davoc Rynne. He busks out at The Cliffs these times and will shortly release his first album. We all played on it. I see a couple of Backpackers coming up the street. They will have a job getting their 2 rucksacks into the gig. Hope they have their tent pitched, me thinks tis gonna be a late night tonight! There’s after-shave in the air and a nice bouquet of 4711… it’s dark and lonely work but someone has to do it…

 

Black is the colour

Lisdoonvarna

In praise of Mullaghmore

Ruby Walsh

Mc Ilhatton

 

Then Mairtín’s Band came out and we played;

 

As I roved out

The Plane Crash at Los Gatos

Tippin it up to Nancy

Missing You

Hurt

Crossroads Reels

Nancy Spain

The Well below the Valley

Fairytale of N.Y.

Planxty Irwin

Michael Hayes

City of Chicago

CatWalk

Cliffs of Dooneen

Raggle Taggle

Ride On

Then it was all over in an inst… I found myself back in the dressing room, still mesmerized by the 2 hours of sharing… it seldom gets as good as this for me. It’s so long since I sat in a Trad. Ensemble. Sweet notes coming at me from both sides….low trembling notes from accordion, the sweetest riffs from Pomeroy’s fiddle, Sligo’Dowd givin me bits of Tex Mex one minute, Django and Mícheal O Domhnaill the next… then from the wing some beautiful crosses sailing over from the skin and bone man himself. Just like “Klaus in Continental Ceilí” Jimmy can play a slow air on the Bodhran. After three such intense days the parting feels a bit bereft but lives must go on. Those 3 boys are heading off in the morning to play in Stockholm and Berlin. Jimmy H has work to do with The Walls…..I’m heading home with Michael Devine up the M7. We are listening to Tony Smalls superb new album Mandolin Mountain (for copies of the album contact; smalltalktony@hotmail.com )

 

Gonna spend some time at home now, lie low with my loved ones… peel spuds, hold our grandson, catch up on sport stuff, gotta a few new songs cookin on the back burner…turn my gaze onto Waterford and Clonmel this week. Get ready to meet up again with Doctor Sinnott – bit of catchin up to do …

 

Sending good juju to all you songsters out there on the Highways and Byways…

love to Kaiserslautern, Wollongong, Cutbush, Ashby de la Zouché, Moscow (in Fife) Aberystwyth, Brest, Bergen Op Zoom, greetings to Princess Nora Von Lichtenstein, Lord of The Todge and The Mangled Badger,

 

Christy

 

 

Declan Sinnott Live Shows

Declan Sinnott Solo Live Dates …

Declan Sinnott will be doing some solo shows over the next while.   More dates to follow so keep an eye on his website: www.declansinnot.com

October:

Thursday 11th : The Crane, Galway

Thursday 18th: Boyle’s, Slane, Co. Westmeath

Saturday 20th: Balor Arts Centre, Main St. Ballybofey, Co. Donegal

Sunday 21st: Whelan’s, Wexford St. Dublin

Thursday 25th: DeBarra’s, Clonakilty, Co. Cork

Tuesday 30th: Bush Hall, Uxbridge, London. Click HERE for tickets.

 

November:

 

Friday 16th: Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co. Cork

 

January 2013

 

Thursday 10th: St. John’s Theatre, Listowel, Co. Kerry

 

Ireland: A Nation’s Memory (1973)

Fantastic documentary about Ireland in the 1970’s, wait until 40 minutes to see some very familiar faces.

 

Steve Cooney at Vicar St. – Sunday 30th September

Steve Cooney & Guests at Vicar St. – Sunday 30th September

A great clatter of us singers and musicians are gathering to celebrate and honour Steve Cooneys music. It promises to be a very special night. Please consider joining us all as we pay tribute to our comrade in tunes.

Click HERE for a clip of Steve on YouTube

As I went out by Galway Town, to seek for recreation

“As I went out by Galway Town, to seek for recreation”

One night last May, in Nuremore near Carrickmacross in the County of Monaghan, a woman’s voice quietly requested “The Curragh of Kildare”. I made mental note and continued to sing out into the night. It was a great gathering. My first time back in Kavanagh’s County for almost 10 years. Some time later the call came again “Please sing The Curragh”. Whatever way the woman asked, as her voice rang out alone in the midst of a cacophony of requests, I could not resist. I took a chance and fingered the opening chords; Declan followed me and broadened the canvas. Memories came flooding back. Visions of Donal Lunny and I working out this song (back in 1961) as we pored over P.W. Joyce’s collection of songs and melodies. That night, there in Nuremore, the memories flowed again as I segued carefully into Robbie Burns beautiful paean to absent love. Soon after, from way down the back of the hall, a man called out for the “Chinese Cockle Pickers”. We played Morecambe Bay and it was probably the song of the night. Recently the sets have been longer. That night 33 songs ran for 2 hours 14 minutes. It’s not something planned or discussed. It simply happens.

I was in Dublin City the other day. Inside the Black Lagoon doing a bit of banter for Newstalk FM with Tom Dunne. He does a daily talk show and also sings the music himself. Back in the mid 80’s Tom was in a band called Something Happens. They never broke up. They do a gig every year to keep the hand in, in case the day jobs fold. Tom also does a special bank holiday radio gig. A desert-island-disc sort of affair. I’m the castaway lined up for the August Bank Holiday or whenever. (You can listen to the show by clicking here) Anyways, I was in there for two hours rawmaishing amongst the rapscallions. Afterwards I went to the guitar shop for plectrums, strings, capos, a tuner, a strap and a bit of a yarn. Down the street I tried to buy a shirt but had to run out of the shop for it was full of magpies. I was ambling up Drury Street when I spotted a man I don’t meet every day. He was perfectly situated on the corner of an interesting intersection. Standing back into the corner he was in the sunniest place in The City. As I came towards his eyrie I quietly sang the opening verse of “The Boys of Barr na Sraide”. He never even looked my way but replied with a lovely poem from Sigerson Clifford. He spoke of Lyracrompane and Mickey McConnell, of days on the bog and of Civil War. How that awful war divided friendships and families. He spoke of John Joe Sheehy and his mid-field partner. He thought that Kerry would play The Gooch at full forward (they did). I shared a few words about The Lily Whites and then told him of a great song I got from Mick Blake of Leitrim Village. Going back to the bog I then described a song of my brothers that I was learning. We talked of John B Keane until the sun moved away from that perfect loitering corner. We both knew that it was time to part. I left him with a verse from John B’s. “O Cricklewood you stole my heart away”. It was Brendan Kennelly. That Kingdom Man of Poetry, of Trinity and of Humour, Kindness and Observation.

Three Nights in the Button Factory, Temple Bar, Dublin.

I wanted to do something a bit different. Paddy Doherty and Conor Byrne came up with the idea of doing 3 Monday Night Gigs in The Button Factory. (Conor is my nephew. He is a musician who also runs The Liffey Bank Music Sessions) I saw it as an opportunity to play with, and to hear, some of my favourite musicians. We contacted Liam O’Flynn, Laoise Kelly, Mairtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden, Seamie O’Dowd, Jimmy Higgins and they were all up for it so Paddy and Conor got to work and pulled it all together. We had three great nights of music. The whole process left me wanting more. Singing in the midst of these players is pure pleasure. I liken it to being wrapped up in a cosy blanket of comfort and intense colour. We just gotta do it again.

Monday July 2nd

Liam O’Flynn and Laoise Kelly arrived into the venue at 5 and we got straight down to picking some tunes and running through the various pieces. So many memories came back when Liam began to play. Perhaps more than any other musician Liam’s music affects me deeply. It’s been 6 years since we last played together. The final concert of the last Planxty tour at the RFH London. I have never sung with Harp before. Since hearing Laoise Kelly play at The Bantry Masters a few years back I have wanted to sing with her accompaniment. All my hopes were fulfilled. Laoise has focus, discipline and great enthusiasm. Add these facets to her beautiful playing and singing with her was indeed a great experience. We had a great gig. We played…

1. Conor Byrnes Reels.

2. Magic Nights

3. Gortatagort

4. Amsterdam

5. Tyrone Boys

6. Veronica.

7. Michael Hayes

8. Wicklow Boy

9. Ruby Walsh

10. Stardust.

11. Brendan’s Voyage

12. Yellow Furze Woman (joined by Laoise Kelly)

13. Achill Air.

14. Wandering Aonghus

15. Back Home Derry

16. Puttin it off

17. Honda 50

18. Liam O Flynn’s Foxchase

19. The Gold Ring.

20. Ensemble… Sí¬ Bheag Sí Mhór

21. Cliffs of Dooneen

22. Raggle Taggle Gypsy

23. Chattering Magpie

24. Easter Snow

25. An phis fhliuch

26. Lord McDonalds

Monday July 9th

I was very excited by the prospect of playing with Mairtín O’Connor’s band. I had heard them playing earlier in the year and just loved their sound. I wrote a review of the gig (see chat Oct-Nov 2011).We met up at 4pm on the day of the gig and got down to it straight away. From the off it just clicked – 4 musicians all with an ear for the songs. The accompaniments fell into place quickly with lots of grace notes, rhythms, supporting riffs, lovely breaks. All the things a singer dreams of were here in abundance. We had a great time. It was like singing whilst flying on a magic carpet of sound. Not everyone agreed with me on this but I only consider my own feelings when writing these few words about my own experience. We played…

1. Conor Byrne’s Jigs

2. This is The Day

3. Morecambe bay

4. Sacco and Vanzetti

5. Magic Night

6. Tyrone Boys

7. Casey

8. Curragh of Kildare

9. Yellow Furze Woman

10. Voyage

11. Victor Jara

12. Suffocate

13.Ordinary Man

14. Barrowland

15. Well below Valley (with Jimmy Higgins)

16. Pity the Poor Immigrant (Ensemble)

17. Road West

18. Cat Walk

19. Cedars of Lebanon

20. O’Connor’s Reels

21. Los Gatos

22. As I roved out

23. Missing You

24. Johnny Jump Up

25. Chicago

26. Draggle

27. Cliffs

28. Cathal Hayden’s Selection

Monday July 16th

It had been my intention to make this a solo gig.as the days approached I began to get a bit shaky. By the time Monday came around Declan had agreed to come along. We both did solo sets and then played it out together.

1. Wounded Hussar (Conor Byrne)

2. Conor Byrnes Jigs

3. Go Move Shift

4. Spanish Lady (Adam Sherwood’s call)

5. Down by the Liffeyside.

6. Hey Ronnie Reagan.

7. Natives.

8. Suffocate

9. Swans

10. Joxer.

11. Lawless.

12. Nancy

13. McIlhatton

14. Gortatagort

Declan Sinnott Set

15. The Noise it makes

16. Sun Shine In

17. Broken Glass

18. I see the world from here.

Band set

19. Billy Gray

20. Missing You

21. Quiet Desperation

22. Honda 50

23. Duffy’s Cut

Woody Guthrie Set

24. Ludlow massacre

25. Sacco and Vanzetti

26. Los Gatos Valley

27. Michael Hayes

28. Beeswing

29. Lisdoonvarna

30. Ride On

31. Chicago

32. Motherland

33. Cliffs of Dooneen

There was so much to like about these three gigs: Meeting up and playing with so many great musicians, gigging in a Dublin city centre club space again. Memories of Coffee Kitchen in the 60’s, The Meeting Place in the 70’s, The Baggott Inn in the 80’s, Mother Redcaps in the 90’s. There were some in the audience that have followed the songs right through all those times and lived to tell the tale. Once the Button Factory Gigs were done I began to focus on the upcoming gig in The Galway Arts Festival.

July 20th 2012.Galway Arts Festival the Big Tent on Fisheries Field

The Concert was opened by Four Men and a Dog who are Gerry O’Connor, Cathal Hayden, Gino Lupari, Kevin Doherty and Donal Murphy. They kicked off the night in style and had the audience bopping… after “The Dog” Declan and I played…

1. This is The Day

2. After the Deluge

3. Ordinary Man

4. Black is the colour

5. Missing You

6. City Of Chicago

7. North and South of the River

8. Ride On

9. Joxer goes to Stuttgart

10. Sonny’s Dream

11. Go Move Shift

12. Nancy Spain.

13. Quinte Brigada

14. Bright Blue Rose.

15. Biko Drum.

16. Back Home in Derry

17. Voyage.

18. Lisdoonvarna.

(Set with the Dog)

19. As I roved out.

20. Raggle Taggle.

21. Cliffs of Dooneen.

It was very much a juke box of a set. I realised early on that familiarity was the order of the night. The tent was a heaving mass of songsters’ young and old and everywhere in between. Right down to the very back canvas they were ready to sing. Any attempt to perform new or recent work brought on a rapid decline in interest so I succumbed to the demands of the night and rolled out the auld reliables. Declan and I could hear little or nothing on stage but we hung on for dear life and kept the gig going (a few times I hoped that were we playing the same song!)”The Dog” joined us for the finale and that was sweet. I first met this band in a lay-by Finland 25 years ago and then did a gig with them in Helsinki. It’s taken all this time for us to play together. Speaking of lay-bys in Finland, I wish to offer the wooden spoon to our National Roads Authority who oversees our new road systems. Our new highways suffer a disgraceful lack of facilities to park, rest and freshen up before continuing on a journey. what few “pull ins” do exists have nothing to offer but discarded rubbish, overflowing bins, nappies and dog shite and, maybe, the opportunity for a quick illegal toilet at the side of your vehicle. The Board of Directors number 14. They are all political appointees. It is sometimes baffling to try and figure out the lack of joined-up-thinking that exists in Government and Bureaucracies.

I would like to include here an interview with Kernan Andrews which took place in the run up to Galway Arts Week. I first met Kernan 35 years ago when I visited his parents’ home in Craughwell Co Galway. He was just learning to walk. Kernan is a son of the late Joe Dolan, founder member of Sweeny’s Men with Johnny Moynihan and Andy Irvine. I thought it a fine piece and asked his permission to include it here…

Interview with Kernan Andrews of The Galway Advertiser

His first time in Galway was in 1962 as a teen folk singing wannabe. A decade later he was back as part of Irish trad’s first “supergroup”. Ten years later he was a controversial supporter of the Hunger Strikers. And tomorrow he headlines the Galway Arts Festival Big Top.

Christy Moore is no stranger to Galway and has played the city numerous times across his near 50 year career as a folk singer and songwriter. The first time the Kildare man set foot here was as a teenager in 1962.

“My first visit was Race Week that year”, Christy tells me. “I was a 17-year-old with a guitar. The late Christy O’Connor got me up in O’Connor’s out in Salthill where I sang “Roisín the Bow” and “The Jug of Punch”. He invited me back the following night and myself and John Flood got off with two nurses. Ten years later I came back with Planxty to play in The Hangar where Leisureland now stands.”

At that now legendary show, the quartet of Moore, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, and Liam Óg O’Flynn blew headliner Donovan off the stage, and from there would dominate the 1970’s Irish folk revival as one its most brilliant and inventive acts.

Those were also days of wild and outrageous behaviour. In his book, One Voice, Christy mentioned dropping a tab of acid while playing with Planxty and The Dubliners during the Galway Races in 1972 and “seeing strange stuff, not all of it friendly”.

“I have put all that behind me now” is all Christy will say today, before adding mischievously, “these days you are more likely to find me at confession with the Redemptorists, at the side entrance to the cardiac unit, or coming out after a bit of after-hours reiki…all that acid stuff was but a figment of my imagination…”

Throughout his career, Christy has never been afraid to take a strong stand on highly controversial issues, most famously against the proposed nuclear power plant at Carnsore Point in Wexford in the late 1970’s, and in support of the republican Hunger Strikers in 1981. Taking such positions met with a vitriolic reaction.

In “One Voice” Christy recalled how Galway had a “very vocal anti-Republican element back then and he was “taken aback at the way people turned on me”. However the city’s musicians did not abandon Christy and one who stood by him and played the concert was the late fiddler Mickey Finn.

“I can remember that he put all his money in the basket, that he played his heart out and that Galway has never been the same, for me, without him” says Christy.

Playing Galway these days is a different experience and Christy has regularly played Leisureland over the last couple of years to near instant sell-out audiences. How does he feel the city has changed in that time?

“Everywhere has changed in my life time”, he says. “I remember Galway winning three-in-a-row; the Bishop of Galway banning “mixed bathing” – the dirty minded bollocks; Des Kelly and The Capitol being Number 1 in The Irish Charts; when there was only one De Danann; Michael D presenting me with a platinum disc; Moving Hearts falling asunder in St.Patrick’s Hall, and reforming two hours later in The Skeff.”

Christy’s companion at many of his Galway shows over the past number of years, and the Big Top show will be no different, is guitarist Declan Sinnott. How and when did the two men meet?

“I first met Declan at Hyde Park Corner in London in 1972”, says Christy. “He was after leaving Horslips and I was greatly impressed by his Afghan jacket and flares. He let on he did not recognise me. I thought that was really cool”.

What does Christy most value about having Declan by his side at the shows? “He always has spare plectrums and plenty of good movies on his Mac”, he replies.

Christy says he and Declan are determined to “take the Galway Arts Festival by storm”.

“It is our intention to drive the snakes from the field back down The Corrib”, he declares, “to awaken the spirits of Mickey Finn, Pete Galligan, Corky and “Mate” Lydon. Myself and Declan are hoors for the bit of art.”

As well as playing many of his best known and loved songs, Christy will also be performing songs from his critically acclaimed Folk Tale album, which was released late last year. Not surprisingly, given the turmoil of the times brought about by the recession, issues of emigration and eviction abound.

The album opens with “Tyrone Boys” which ends with images of people sitting in an airport waiting to leave: “All the young ones are leaving the island”.

“This is a reworked version of a song I wrote and recorded in 1986 for an album called Unfinished Revolution”, says Christy. “We still export the cream of the crop, people still being hunted from the land”.

Continuing the theme of eviction is “Michael Hayes”. It is not hard to see this as a song where the past echoes contemporary concerns for people fearing their homes may be taken from them if they cannot keep up mortgage payments.

“Eviction can be a cruel weapon of oppression”, says Christy. “Michael Hayes could take no more and struck out in anger and fear, it was his last resort”.

The album is not all doom and gloom though; there is plenty of Christy’s trademark, irreverent humour in “Weekend in Amsterdam” and “My Little Honda 50”.

“Weekend in Amsterdam” was written by my old neighbour in Newbridge, Paul McCormack, who is the resident bard of my home town”, says Christy. “He assures me this song is based entirely on hearsay and second hand information. I am indeed familiar with Amsterdam but, of course, not with the areas referenced. I tend to visit the galleries and churches of the old city. You’re more likely to find me on my knees in prayer than on my back in some coffee shop…

“My Little Honda 50” written by Tom Tuohy, perhaps the greatest songwriter ever to come out of The Bog of Allen. My first ride on a Honda 50 was in 1961 when Slicey gave me a pillion over to Lawlor’s Ballroom in Naas to hear Brendan Bowyer.”

(End of interview)

After Galway I bade farewell to Declan, Paddy, Michael, Dickon, Johnny, David and Geoff as we all went our separate ways until we gather again in Dingle later this month.

Keep in touch; see you along the way …

Christy

away til Dingle

A quick note to all our listeners …

Here are some further dates for your consideration;

Already up on the website on the gigs page are the following:

 

Friday October 12th – Knocknarea Arena, Sligo

Saturday October 13th – Slieve Russell Hotel, Cavan

These will be up on the website in the coming weeks – as soon as possible:

Solstice Arts Centre – Navan – September 14th & 15th

Forum – Waterford – October 26th

The Park Hotel – Clonmel – October 27th

Vicar St – Dublin- December 19th & 20th, Jan 1st & 2nd

All the best,

Christy

Dark End Of The Street

By the time we got to do this album we were all a bit fucked. I certainly was. I had some throat problems that required surgery. I was doin’ too much toot and I was tryin’ to be a rock singer to keep up with the arrangements the arrangers were arranging!†

There was fuckin’ chords to bate the band and Ayrton Senna was being overtaken in every chorus. But there were fantastic nights too. The Half Moon in Putney, the Lake of Shadows in Buncrana, The Green Briar in Belfast and The Baggot ran and ran.

All I Remember 127074626272_alliremember

Allende 127074628471_allende

Half Moon 127074631452_halfmoon

Come All You Dreamers

Come All You Dreamers Live At Barrowland Glasgow[dvd]

Planxty Live – 2004

Sleeve Note from Leagues O’Toole:

Amongst other things, the year 2004 will be remembered for the public re-assembling of Planxty for twelve concerts – two in Glór, Ennis, in the music heartland of County Clare, and ten in the plush confines of Vicar St, Dublin – their first live performances in twenty-something years. †This is an event of some considerable historical and cultural magnitude, rendered all the more pertinent given the seamless realignment of Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Liam O’Flynn and Christy Moore.

Surreptitious rehearsals in Paddy Doherty’s Spa Hotel in Lisdoonvarna the previous October had revealed to the Planxty players that the chemistry was alive and well and ready to blow. And so it did, as each night the music tumbled magically from their fingers, smiles stretched across our faces, heads bobbed, feet tapped, Christy ‘hupped,’ and we all set adrift on a musical journey that would sail us through the full gamut of emotions.

A cast of odd characters starred each night; lusty blacksmiths, murderous Lords and adulterous Ladies, mighty mariners, raggle taggle gypsies, and shillelagh-wielding latchecos. There was drama, laughs, slagging, jubilation, reflection, and love coming from every corner of the room. The songs and tunes came to us from decades and centuries gone, from 17th century harp music, to the singing of John Reilly, to the priceless pages of the PW Joyce Collection.

As I walked through the Poison Glen, I stumbled into Heaven

June 15th 2012.

It’s a crazy old world these days. Hard to know what to believe, who to believe, where we will all end up, what’s going to happen…. But this beautiful day the sun shines, there is great singing going on in the trees and bushes. There is a gang of Magpies lurking around. They are up to no good but they have mouths to feed.

Went to hear Declan O’Rourke in the National Concert Hall last week where he performed a set with the full Symphony Orchestra…it was a most courageous undertaking and he gave it his very best shot. I like his work a lot. After that we scooted over to the Goilin club where Barry Gleeson was the guest singer for the night. He has just released a new album and he turned in a night of great ballads.

I’m writing these lines above in Gweedore, Co. Donegal. We will play two gigs up here tonight and tomorrow in the Dunlewey theatre. It’s an exciting prospect as I have not played here before. I did come to Gortahork as a 12 year old lad in 1957. Along with my sisters Eilish and Anne we attended the Gaeltacht Summer School. Many years later, circa 1980, I came to the Heavenly Glen to play a concert which was organised in opposition to proposed Uranium mining in that beautiful place. I have played often in Johnny Boyle’s Highlands Hotel in Glenties where we had some great nights with Moving Hearts and oft times cavorted ’til dawn. There is music in the air up here…. Clannad and Enya grew up nearby, Michéal, Mairead and Tríona Ní Domhnaill took their inspiration from here as they flew with Skara Brae, the heart of Altan beats amongst these hills and glens, The Lunnys – Donal and Manus, spent a lot of their formative years up here with their mother’s people, Goats Don’t Shave lather up locally while Margo and wee Daniel are just up the road in Kincashlagh. Music thrives here. It is a vital part of everything that makes this place so special.

 

Later…

The venue is in a unique building in a beautiful setting. It has the feel of a community based Theatre – no frills or uppity brouhaha, just a feeling of a lovingly-cared-for performance space run by and for the people who live here. There was a buzz about the place as the listeners gathered early. Declan and I were playing in the dressing room and we could hear the chatter outside as the people entered the hall. The music from Cal was reverberating quietly as we went into our final preparation. One more quick run through Duffy’s Cut as Michael Devine gave us our 5 minute call. I wanted to try a new version of this song tonight, to open with it for the first time, to try and bring it back down a few notches, let it be more a lament then a rouser. David Meade made his opening remarks over the tannoy and we were on…

Duffy’s Cut
Pity the Poor Immigrant
Missing You
Come all you Dreamers
Ordinary Man
Beeswing
Honda 50
Morecambe Bay
Joxer in Stuttgart
Matty
Bright Blue Rose
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Nancy Spain
City of Chicago
Sunshine In
Billy Gray
Shovel
Voyage
Stitch in Time
Ride On
Viva La Quinte
Veronica Guerin
No Time for Love
Black is The Colour
Lisdoonvarna
Allende
Cliffs of Dooneen

The audience were superb, great listeners and, when asked, the requests came fast and furious… sorry we did not get to play them all.

(A flashback)

Last week I was invited to attend the launch of an RTE/ RAAP joint initiative. A new bursary was being announced which will help 5 young musicians, from different musical backgrounds, to develop their music. (rte.ie/breakthrough). It was a happy event held in the Irish Film Institute’s Cinema in Temple Bar (our favourite cinema). I met up with many old friends there and also made some new acquaintance among them Ryan Sheridan. Great too to catch up again with Paddy Cole, Aonghus McAnally, Fiachna Ó Braonáin and many others. The coffee was flying, the cameras were flashing and the Crack was 90.

Amongst all the good vibrations there lurked a hack that had no interest whatsoever in this Bursary for young musicians. The gannet was foraging around for a story. Full of the joy and excitement of the morning I was off-guard and unprepared. He introduced himself to me as an “arts correspondent”. He sweet talked me until he landed his little nugget. Then he slinked back to base with a remark I had made about the Eucharistic Congress. There he wrote little or nothing of the Bursary we had just launched, preferring to expand upon my distaste for puffed-up clerical panto. Many people had worked long and hard to create this RTE/RAAP initiative and to organise its launch. In times such as these, when the Arts are being decimated by cutbacks, it is unforgivable that a so-called arts correspondent would forego such an event for a paragraph of cheap hackery.

June 16th…

We had a lovely spin around today. Up to Gortahork where I tried to find the school I attended in 1957. I think I spotted it but failed to find the house where I stayed lonesomely. Paddy Doherty and I drove the coast road back towards Bunbeg. (I have memories of visiting there way back in Planxty times when John “half-shaft” McFadden was our tour manager). We drove on and stumbled upon a hidden gem in Bunbeg Harbour, a lovely coffee shop in The Old Boathouse. Well worth a visit if you like peace, quiet and really good coffee. I bought a good second coat there too for 9 euro… then back to our base in Óstan na Cúirte in Gaoth Dobhair where Declan joined me for a rehearsal and we got ready to do it all again. One more time, each time like the first, every time bringing that sweet anticipation, that tinge of nervousness that brings on the beautiful adrenalin from which performance does flow. The welcome tonight was pure Saturday enthusiastic … away we went.

Yellow Furze Woman
Duffy’s Cut
Immigrant
Missing You
Ride On
Honda 50
Gortatagort
Biko Drum
Faithfull departed
Hiroshima
Matty
Casey
DTs
Magdalen Laundry
Back Home in Derry
Barrowland
Joxer
Voyage
Sunshine In
Billy Gray
Ordinary man
Brown Eyes
Shovel
Merseyside
City of Chicago
John O’ Dreams
Lisdoonvarna
Stitch in Time
Black is The Colour

Afterwards I met with Manus Lunny and his family. He has lived here for many years. He commutes to Scotland where he plays with his band Cappercaile; he also runs a recording studio and recently recorded a very fine solo album with Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. I also met up with some good friends from earlier times and left Dunlewey armed with Rhubarb and a bunch of good vibrations… a contented trip back down the road towards Dublin. Letterkenny was chocker block with Petrol Heads as boy racers cavorted around like donuts as they celebrated the Northwest Rally. With their arses slung low to the ground these buckos ‘n molls sure do rule the tarmac when given the chance… I got home by 3 am and onto the couch for the Rugby Match from Christchurch. Woke up to Father’s Day and what a beautiful day it was. I heard from all the family, got a beautiful dinner served up to me and then Kildare won their opening game in this year’s Senior Football Championship Campaign…

Tuesday, June 19th, Cusack Suite, Croke Park.

I was invited to be part of a “A Celebration of Recovery”, an event organised as part of Traveller’s Pride Week 2012. It was a day long event featuring workshops, personal journeys to recovery, meetings and it was topped off with some songs and music. Oisín McConville set the ball rolling in the morning. An Armagh, all-Ireland medal winning footballer, he shared his experience, strength and hope and spoke about his book “The Gambler”. Matt Cooper of Today FM talked to two young people about their recovery. By the time the music kicked off the participants had been around for 6 hours but they were still ready to listen and sing. I got to hear Miss Paula Flynn, Eoin Coughlan, Temper-Mental MissElayneous and Túcan. The atmosphere in the room was electric. There was a great sense of hope and a feeling of recovery amongst the audience. It was a privilege to be there and I thank the organizers: Pavee Point (Drugs Programme), Coolmine (Therapeutic Community) and the GAA (Alcohol/substance abuse prevention programme) for inviting me to participate. We sang…

Ride On
Missing You
Butterfly
Hurt
Ordinary Man
Voyage
Joxer
Black colour
Back in Derry
Nancy Spain

Declan Sinnott’s album is completed. “I Love the Noise It Makes” is his first solo album and it is simply superb. It will be released worldwide in September. We have decided to take a break from our band when this year’s dates are fulfilled. We will both perform solo gigs for the early part of 2013. This is a bit of a change for us. We have been gigging together these past 11 years but I love the challenge and the thought of something different. I first met Declan in 1972 when he was doing his stint with Horslips. Later we played in Moving Hearts together. Declan has been one of the main players in Irish Music for decades. He quietly gets on with his practice of making music. As well as early Horslips and Moving Hearts he played with Southpaw, Barry Moore, Jimmy McCarthy and many other outfits. He was Producer, Arranger and Band Leader for the first 13 years of Mary Black’s recording career and subsequently worked with Frances Black. He produced John Spillane’s first album “Wells of The World” (my fave) and also produced Sinéad Lohan’s ground-breaking recordings. He worked with Donal Lunny and I on the “Ride On” album, and played on many of my subsequent recordings. Declan has produced my last 3 albums. I celebrate the arrival of his first solo work and wish him every success with it.

Gig news  ( further details on gig section at home page)

Some of these gigs are already on sale; others will come on stream very shortly

July 2nd, 9th, 16th – Button Factory, Temple Bar, Dublin. Christy solo gigs (with special guests) few seats left.

July 20th – Galway. Stand up gig in Arts Festival Marquee (with special guests 4 Men and A Dog)

August 24th – Hillgrove, Dingle

September 14th & 15th – Solstice, Navan

September 28th – Mountmellick Community Arts Centre

October 12th – Cavan

October 13th – Sligo

October 26th – Forum Waterford

October 27th – Clonmel Park Hotel

November 5th -12th – England and Scotland (see gig guide)

December and January – Vicar St, Dublin.

further gigs are being scheduled. They will be on the gig page ASAP……keep in touch and give us your feedback.

See you along the way,

Christy

 

Folk Tale

2011

1. Tyrone Boys

2. Folk Tale

3. My Little Honda 50

4. Easter Snow

5. Farmer Michael Hayes

6. On Morecambe Bay

7. Tiles and Slabs

8. Haiti

9. Weekend in Amsterdam

10. Ballydine

11. God Woman

Moving Hearts The Album

This was an exciting time. Donal and I agreed to work together and our next port of call was with Declan Sinnott who volunteered immediately. Then we gradually expanded. Richie Buckley played one gig in Kilkenny, Bill “Riverdance” Whelan left after one rehearsal citing political differences.† Tommy Moore came and left to join Paul Brady.

One by one we slowly assembled. Brian Calnan came from Cork to sit in the traps, Eoghan O’Neill ran out of Tipperary to drive hot bass up our spines, Keith Donald came down from the mountain blowing cool air through his reed, Davy left the camps and got up on the amps – the collective was completed by Matt Kelleghan, George and Cyril and we were ready to roll.

Faithful Departed 127074600893_faithfuldeparted

Irish Ways and Irish Laws 127074603269_irishwaysandirishlaws

Before the Deluge 127074610750_beforethedeluge

Planxty Live, DVD

Sleeve Note from Leagues O’Toole:

Amongst other things, the year 2004 will be remembered for the public re-assembling of Planxty for twelve concerts – two in Glór, Ennis, in the music heartland of County Clare, and ten in the plush confines of Vicar St, Dublin – their first live performances in twenty-something years. †This is an event of some considerable historical and cultural magnitude, rendered all the more pertinent given the seamless realignment of Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Liam O’Flynn and Christy Moore.

Surreptitious rehearsals in Paddy Doherty’s Spa Hotel in Lisdoonvarna the previous October had revealed to the Planxty players that the chemistry was alive and well and ready to blow. And so it did, as each night the music tumbled magically from their fingers, smiles stretched across our faces, heads bobbed, feet tapped, Christy ‘hupped,’ and we all set adrift on a musical journey that would sail us through the full gamut of emotions.

A cast of odd characters starred each night; lusty blacksmiths, murderous Lords and adulterous Ladies, mighty mariners, raggle taggle gypsies, and shillelagh-wielding latchecos. There was drama, laughs, slagging, jubilation, reflection, and love coming from every corner of the room. The songs and tunes came to us from decades and centuries gone, from 17th century harp music, to the singing of John Reilly, to the priceless pages of the PW Joyce Collection.

‘The Starting Gate’ eases us into the music with delicacy and intricacy, quickly introducing that building block technique that marks so much of Planxty’s music; the blissful bouzouki-mandolin marriage, the otherworldly whistle, the drone, the raspy guitar, the thump of the bodhrán. And in the middle of this melee is Liam O’Flynn whose knife-edge precision piping raises a roar from the audience and elevates the music to the high heavens.

On his solo piece, ‘The Dark Slender Boy’ a mood of pin-drop rapture cloaks the room as Liam bends yearning notes and stretches whirring drones into this profoundly mournful music. In contrast, on ‘The Clare Jig’ his pastoral whistle dances gleefully between the double-bodhrán attack of Donal and Christy.

There are some fantastic stories told within the songs performed here. ‘Arthur McBride’ is an anti-conscription / anti-war song, and one which resonates as much with Planxty’s virgin audience as it does with veterans of the 70s. Here, Andy Irvine calls upon his colleagues to back him up on a suitably rousing rowdy-dow-dow chorus. The nine-minute plus ‘Little Musgrave’ is a poetically written fable of love, lust, infidelity, jealousy, murder, and remorse – the words to which Christy Moore found on pages scattered on the floor of an auctioneers in the early 70s. This particular rendition captures the singer in majestic free-flow.

We rarely discuss Planxty without referencing the unusual new flavours, arrangements, and instruments they brought to traditional Irish music. In a demonstration of their peerlessly inventive verve, they stitch ‘Blacksmithereens’ (a tune based on Andy’s first impressions of Balkans music) onto an old English folk song, ‘The Blacksmith’. This fiery performance is driven by Donal Lunny’s robust, rhythmic, bouzouki and underpinned by Liam’s dramatic phrasing, which prompts another round of hollering from the congregation.

The loudest roar though is reserved for one of the most celebrated segues in traditional music – that invisible bridge from ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’ to ‘Tabhair Dom Do Lámh’. And who could deny Andy’s ‘West Coast of Clare,’ a lament of unrivalled pathos that has heads bowed in contemplation right across the venue. It’s rare to see an audience so possessed. It’s little wonder they received standing ovations every night upon entering and exiting the stage.

Nights like those in January and February of 2004 have been wished for, dreamt of, and fantasized about by thousands of Irish music fans for over two decades. We arrived excited, anxious, and downright nervous – there was a lot at stake; memories, expectations, and reputations. We left smiling, speechless, and wondering would we ever see their likes again.

It was a good start to the year.

Tracklist:

1. The Starting Gate 4.38
2. The Good Ship Kangaroo 4.31
3. The Clare Jig 3.14
4. Arthur McBride 3.59
5. Little Musgrave 9.20
6. Vicar Street Reels (2004) 4.21
7. The Blacksmith / Black Smithereens 5.03
8. The Dark Slender Boy 4.37
9. As Christy Roved Out 4.01
10. As Andy Roved Out 5.17
11. The Kildareman’s Fancy 4.15
12. Raggle Taggle Gypsy 5.46
13. The West Coast Of Clare 6.05

Words And Music

I can’t remember much about this or why we recorded it. Donal and I spent a lot of time in Windmill Lane and Liam and Andy came in when their schedules permitted. I heard the album a couple of year ago and thought I sounded whacked. I like Andy’s stuff and Liam’s stuff on this – but not my own singing.†

Lord Baker 127074642099_lordbaker

The Irish Marche 127074645067_theirishmarche

Thousands Are Sailing 127074647827_thousandsaresailing

Listen

2009

Track List

1. Listen
2. Does This Train Stop On Merseyside?
3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
4. The Ballad Of Ruby Walsh
5. China Waltz
6. Barrowland
7. Duffy’s Cut
8. The Disappeared (Los Desaparecidos)
9. Riding The High Stool
10. Gortatagort
11. I Will
12. John O Dreams
13. Rory Is Gone

The Woman I Loved So Well

The original band augmented by Matt Molloy, Noel Hill, Tony Linnane and Bill Whelan. For me this was a different sounding Planxty again. There are tracks that I like but it lacks the fire that I loved in the early band. The set of reels nods in the direction but even on this track for me there is too much going on.†

I do like the band on “ Little Musgrave” but my own singing on this album sounds drawn and distant almost as if I was drugged. The band sounds more like a becalmed yacht than a whitewater raft.

We were coasting, over-fed and in need of the whip.
Still a good band but, they do though don’t they in anyways but!

The Tailors Twist 127064052532_thetailorstwist

Kellswater 127064055655_kellswater

True Love Knows No Reason 127063971922_trueloveknowsnoreason

Live At The Point 2006

Some Sleeve notes from ‘Live at the Point 2006’:

These recordings were made at The Point Depot in Dublin on December 29th and 30th and January 5th and 6th, 2006.

Since first stepping before the lamps I have played in all sorts of places, upstairs rooms and downstairs basements, outside halls and inside tents from Carnegie in Manhattan to the 12 Pole in Carndonagh. I have been singing in different lineups and some strange combinations.

This particular leg of the journey began in 2001 when I hooked up once again with Declan Sinnott. We
kicked off in Cleeres Theatre, Kilkenny back in 2001 and over the past 5 years it has developed into, what has become for me, the most satisfying period of my working life. Last year I decided I would like to mark the work by trying to get it
filmed & recorded. John Sheehan at Sony gave me the nod and the project began. I opted for a huge kip of a shed down-by where the Liffey flows into the sea. They call it The Point Theatre but it is in fact a railway depot, a shed that
can be dressed up into a fantastic venue. I have had many wonderful nights there both as an audient and as a singer. This gig began when Paddy Doherty got together with Peter Aiken and The Point crew to figure out how best to doll up the old building.

Davy Meade serviced the amps and laundered the pop shields while Dickon Whitehad tweaked the feedback in the foldback. (I like everything to be louder than everything else). Johnny Meade massaged the bowrawn, tuned the boxes and kept an eye on the clock. Geoff Ryan showed Tom Kenny where our good sides lay and how they might be lit. Philip King rounded up all the usual suspects including Maurice Linnane, Cian De Buitleir and Tina Moran et al, Best Boys one and all. When the Clapper Board came down Tim Martin had all the knobs well polished and turned up to 11. Michael Devine was all over the shop, himself and Crossroads keeping an eye on everything that moved and quite a few that didn’t. We were ready. We were well
catered and coiffed as, with trousers pressed, we made the long walk out to face the music.

The repertoire here spans the decades, old and new, all mixed together. As the songs tumbled out some were well rehearsed while others were more of the moment. I thank you for your support and encouragement. The way you have listened has always raised me up. The songs will live on as long as we sing and hear them.

Ride On!

After The Break

A guy called Kevin Flynn from Sligo was running gigs in London. He also ran the Ballisodare Festival in Sligo. This was an important festival at the time for it focused on a broad spectrum of pure music. Sadly it went the same way as the Lisdoonvarna Festival. Both were seduced into booking rock acts and they both lost the direction that had made them special in the first place.†

Kevin Flynn also ran the National in Kilburn and he began to book different members of Planxty. He then booked us all to play individually with Doc Watson at the Gaumont State Theatre in Kilburn in 1978. Kevin put it all together and the inevitable happened – we decided to re-form.

We welcomed Matt Molloy on board and also had Noel Hill and Tony Linnane as guests. We assembled in St. Mullins Co. Carlow for lengthy rehearsals along with nights on the river. We did a ball breaking European tour and then recorded this album in Windmill Lane.

The Good Ship Kangaroo 127064149339_thegoodshipkangaroo

Burning Times

Some Sleeve notes from ‘Burning Times’:

RACHEL CORRIE

“This album is dedicated to the memory of Rachel Corrie who lost her life in Gaza. She stood before an American built, Israeli driven earthmover as she tried to defend a Palestinian home that was about to be demolished. She was armed with a megaphone. The Caterpillar machine drove straight over Rachel killing her in the earth.”
Frank Harte

Frank Harte moved on as I started to sing these songs.

For many of us singers he was The National Archive. He also was a dear Friend. The phone would ring…”Moore ye bollix, give us that one about the Beeswing” or maybe “how does that one about The Witches go, sing it for me”. No one in this wide world has anything like the store of songs that Frank possessed and with this treasure he was most generous. The phone would ring “Get up off your arse and we’ll go up to Mullaghbawn and sing a few songs”… He helped me so often, we had such fun and laughter and the tears flowed from all directions.

He was tickled and proud when 4,000 people listened in silence to Planxty playing “The Well Below The Valley” for it reaffirmed all he held dear about our song heritage, that these timeless treasures would outlive all memory of their authors, that the songs of the people still belonged to the people … that the oppressor writes the history while the people write the songs … Frank’s departure leaves a gap that only time will fill. He also leaves a legacy of 20,000 songs lovingly gathered, referenced and indexed during a lifetime of song. Many of them have been recorded in a series of 6 CDs with his long time collaborator and friend Donal Lunny …

How I wish I’d gone with Frank to Mullaghbawn …

Produced by Declan Sinnott
Engineered by Tim Martin
At The Well Road, Cork

Christy Moore: Vocals, Guitar and Bowrawn.

Declan Sinnott: Acoustic Guitars: Taylor812-ce, Guild F212 12 string, Martin 000-28, Martin HD 28, Gibson 1949 acoustic, Tanglewood TW45, Carmelo Del Valle (Spanish), Electric Guitars: Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson ES330 (1967), Tanglewood TW acoustic bass, Fender precision bass, Gibson (A series)
mandolin, Gibson Mandola, Keyboards.

Backing Vocals: Declan Sinnott, Mandy Murphy & Mary Greene.

 

Tracklist:

1. 16 FISHERMEN RAVING
2. MOTHERLAND
3. BUTTERFLY
4. MAGIC NIGHTS IN THE LOBBY BAR
5. AMERICA, I LOVE YOU
6. MERCY
7. BEESWING
8. THE LONESOME DEATH OF HATTIE CARROLL
9. MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES
10. BURNING TIMES
11. PEACE IN THE VALLEY ONCE AGAIN
12. CHANGES

Cold Blow and the Rainy Night

Donal rang me early one morning and said he would like a chat. This unnerved me somewhat not only for the rarity of such an event but also from the serious tone of his banter. He was leaving the band. 30 years on I can still remember feeling gutted. I had become dependant upon him in music, for me he was the heartbeat of the band.†

Johnny Moynihan joined as Donal left to blow his own bugle. Donal is irreplaceable and Johnny did not try. He came with his own repertoire, style and artistry and he simply changed the band.

Rehearsals became more challenging as we set out for London to record this album in Sarm studios London. The owner was a Coulter chum and I still remember feeling outside this loop.

We were only the band – the Producer and engineer were driving the session – at least that’s how I remember it. I did what I did more often in those days. I went on the piss. I awoke to the sound of a fracas outside the Irish club in Eaton Square. There was shouting and banging and I recognised voices. I got to the window just in time to see Andy kick into the wing of a seven series B.M.W, which then departed with haste. The band was sick and sore and a sorry sight. (These are purely my memories and may differ greatly from others). I was unable to play my keyboard parts and Phil Coulter sat in and deputised. When we returned to the island I was beginning to eye the exit.

Johnny Cope 127074437666_johnnycope

Cold Blow And The Rainy Night 127074445562_coldblowandtherainynight

The Little Drummer 127074449682_thelittledrummer

The Well Below The Valley

We were in full flight now. The gigs were pouring in and we were pouring gin. The ford transit (double wheel base) was burning oil and so was the band. No time for rehearsal, trying to get new music together would have been anti-social. We arrived at some kip in Kent and the strain was starting to show.†

The studio was a plaything of some English guitar hero and he dropped in once or twice like a squire and condescended. A fuckin’ right good guitar hero he was too. At the time we were having a bit of difficulty in communicating with each other but the work was done and we made a good album but without the fun of our two previous albums.

Hewlett 127074274188_hewlett

Solo Jig 127074288185_solojig

Cúnla 127074256466_cunla

The Box Set 1964-2004

Download Booklet >>

YELLOW	PINK
Yellow Triangle (3.32) Dunnes Stores (3.48) They Never Came Home (4.06) Nuke Power (3.21) Who Cares? (0.36) Mullaghmore (4.39) Hey! Ronnie Reagan (3.10) St. Patrick’s Night in San Fernando (2.16) Tim Evans (3.19) Goose Green (Taking tea with Pinochet) (2.29) In Zurich (2.24) The Powdered Milk Brigade (1.06) Folk Tale (2.53) The Two Conneeleys (3.26) Don’t Forget Your Shovel (4.12) Quiet Desperation (3.01)	January Man (4.25) Poor Old Earth (4.04) Tippin’ it Up (2.46) Poitín (2.07) 1945 (3.24) Little Musgrave (6.36) Johnny jump Up (2.53) Radcliffe Highway (2.35) John O’Dreams (4.09) Cold Blow (3.33) The Raggle Taggle Gypsy (4.45) El Salvador (3.55) Jack Doyle (3.09) Joxer (original) (4.39) Intro (1.32) Lawless (4.03)
BLUE	RED
Different Love Song (4.05) Changes (4.43) Ballindine (3.25) Anne Lovett (3.08) The Dalesman’s Litany (4.01) Intro (1.04) Farewell to Pripchat (3.43) The Lakes of Pontchartrain (6.08) Cricklewood (2.36) Strangeways (2.58) Wise and Holy Woman (4.01) Veronica (3.33) Cry like a man (4.34) Vive la Quinte Brigada (5.08) The auld Triangle (2.39) Intro (1.06) Brown Eyes (for Joe Sheeran) (4.03) Johnny Connors (4.34)	Lay with Me (3.28) This is the Day (4.45) Among the Wicklow Hills (2.33) Aisling (3.20) Grey lake of Loughrea (5.15) All I Remember (2.56) Someone to Love (2.56) Trip to Carnsore (3.35) Danny Boy (Derrylondon air) (2.46) Ships in the Forest (3.11) 100 miles from Home (3.35) Intro (0.56) Smoke and strong Whiskey (4.16) The way Pierce Turner sings (3.30) Hamburg Encore Medley (9.20) Tyrone Boys (4.45)
LILAC	GREEN
Hey Paddy (4.30) On the Blanket (7.13) Southern Winds (3.23) Don’t Hand Me Over (3.29) Shoot out the Streetlights (1.49) The Bridge at Killaloe (Scariff Martyrs) (5.46) North and South (4.03) At the G.P.O. 1980 (1.30) 90 miles to Dublin (5.39) Wicklow Boy (3.42) Ballinamore (2.23) Rialto Derry January 1993 (2.01) The Armagh Women (3.41) On the Bridge (2.59) Scapegoats (2.50) “They Fouled the Ball Daddy” (4.13) No Time for Love (9.01) On a Single Day (2.58)	Roots (1.30) The Old Man’s Song (2.40) 1913 Lockout (2.17) Seth Davy (3.22) The Bould Rake (3.13) Bridget’s Pill (3.12) The Lark in the Morning (2.22) Come by the Hill (2.39) The Enniskillen Dragoon (2.20) Weela Waile (4.39) Whiskey in the Jar (3.08) Intro (0.33) Tribute to Ewan McColl (4.31) Finnegan’s Wake (3.01) Down in the Valley (3.07) Paddy on the Road (3.20) Three Drunken Maidens (2.33)

Live at Vicar Street

2002

We were giggin’ again and I felt the performances were worth capturing. The response to this collection would indicate that many of you agree with me.†

Track List – Live At Vicar Street, 2002

1. Continental Céili.
2. First Time Ever.
3. A Pair of Brown Eyes.
4. Biko Drum.
5. Quiet Desperation.
6. McIlhatton.
7. January Man.
8. Allende.
9. Johnny Don’t Go.
10. Wandering Aongus.
11. Lisdoonvarna.
12. Ride On.
13. Tribute To Noel Brazil.
14. Metropolitan Avenue.

Continental Céili 127080865935_continentalceili

Biko Drum 127080872948_bikodrum

January Man 127080875891_januaryman

Planxty the Album

Recording this album was a different Ballgame. Phil Coulter was riding over in London. He had landed us. In fairness no Irish label would sign us – so we were over in London hungry for action, and Coulter was the only one who showed any interest in us.

With no competition he gave us a shite contract and we signed everything away. All that said, 30 years on this album sounds good. He produced it well and although we would like to remix the early work, he did have the foresight and wherewithal to record the band at a time when no one else was listening.

We recorded in the Olympic studios near Picadilly and we stayed at the Irish Club in Eaton Square. There were nights of merriment and days that started late. The sleeve shot was done by Tom McIlroy and has received a recognition of it’s own. The picture is of our first appearance at the national Stadium in 1973.

This is the Day

2001

The three of us reconvened 16 years after “Ride On”, 20 years after “Moving Hearts”. Straight off it was a jell.†

My sister Terry sent me a version of Jackson Browne’s “How Long”. Wally Page sent me “So do I” maybe twenty years ago and it just reappeared from nowhere during the making of the album. “Johnny Don’t go” I got from the writer John Spillane maybe 7-8 years ago and it resting in a drawer.

“Veronica” I wrote upon hearing of the terrible fate of the late Veronica Guerin. McCarthy sent me “The Contender” a number of years ago. I’d wanted to record it for years but every chanter in Ireland was recording it – but I still felt there was another version to be done. I heard McColl sing “Companeros” in an English Fold club in Lincolnshire circa 1967.

“Cry like a man” I lifted straight from an album of the author Dan Penn. “Stitch” came from my good friend Mike Waterson in north Yorkshire via his brother in law Martin Carty. “Victor” came from Arlo Guthrie after a great night in Shinrone (or was it from Luke in Bray?). “Scallcrows” I wrote for Eamon Dunphy and Terry Keane. “The Pipers Path” from the singing of Lal Waterson who co-wrote the song. Hers was one of the unique voices I’ve encountered.

Track List – This Is The Day, 2001.

1. How Long.
2. So Do I.
3. Johnny Don’t Go.
4. Veronica.
5. Jack Doyle (AKA The Contenders)
6. Companeros
7. Cry Like A Man.
8. A Stitch In Time.
9. Victor Jara.
10. The Pipers Path.

Veronica 127080801193_veronica

Companeros 127080811950_campaneros

Scallcrows 127080825811_scallcrows

Traveller

1999

Three years after Graffitti Tongue and I’m down the garden with Leo Pearson and his boxes of magic and tricks.†

Burning Times 127080756180_burningtimes

Last Cold Kiss 127080752699_lastcoldkiss

Christy Moore Collection Part 2

1997

Fuckin’ suits are out to get me again!†

Matty 127080723799_matty

Folk Tale 127080726617_folktale

Sonny’s Dream 127080730771_sonny

Graffiti Tongue

1996

Fuckin’ rough slog. Fell out with one of me best mates and we’ve not spoken since. Hate that. Inis Maan, Passage East, Scariff, Kilmainham, Ballyvourney again, on the mattress, no sounding board, I can’t judge this work, good songs, harsh sounds.†

All my own making, my decisions, my responsibility, no blame at all on anyone else, good title, good sleeve idea but badly executed. I am not enjoying my work anymore at this time.

Yellow Triangle 127080628313_yellowtriangle

Minds Locked Shut 127080631374_mindslocked

North And South 127080634583_northandsouth

Live At The Point

1994

I played to 50,000 over 12 nights. Me and my guitar. Weird. I’d be totally fucked after it.† The cigar smoke was getting to me a bit. Some of the backroom boys were startin’ to lose the plot and believe their own publicity. I was believin’ in False Gods and that is bothersome and dangerous.

A fellow told me once that I was the greatest Irish writer since Sean O’Casey. I didn’t believe him. Then I discovered he’d never read either me or O’Casey!

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Well Below The Valley 127080504826_wellbelowvalley

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