'Prayers and Idle Chatter' from the Mickey Finns

Mickey Finns

The Mickey Finns have been a staple at Paddy Reilly’s in New York City for the last few years and have expanded into the summer Irish festival circuit as a headliner. The band is set for another massive leap with the release of Prayers and Idle Chatter.

The album begins, “I left my kin all disappointed and my parents racked with grief/but they never cut the ties that truly bind.” Ray Kelly snarls in a hayseed stomper that would make the Charlie Daniels Band look over their shoulder.

Co. Clare singer/guitarist Kelly’s whiskey-soaked voice should be familiar to fans of Irish music. He was one of the original members of the jig punk band the Prodigals.

His ragged voice, so perfect for the punk idiom, adds a spicy outlaw vibe to the southern-fried Celtic country rock that is the Mickey Finn sound. He is joined by fellow Prodigal Brian Tracey in the band.
Tracey provided the thunder behind the drum kit for the Prodigals and he has since expanded into the role of chief songwriter, co-producer and guitarist for the Mickey Finns.

Fitting that the first song from the new album is “Return of the Prodigal Son,” because Prayers and Idle Chatter marks the first time in over a decade that the full original lineup of the Prodigals can be found on one disc.

“I’m still great friends with those guys,” explains Tracey of Prodigals leader (and killer squeezebox player) Greg Grene and bassist Andrew Harkin, who join the Mickey Finns for a few sessions.

“I didn’t think to ask Greg to play with us because he is so busy, but he heard ‘McGuinness’ Mass’ and he just loved it. I used him sparingly in small flourishes because it would be hard to duplicate it live since we don’t have the accordion.”

Kelly shows a softer side on “The Jetser,” a great pub singalong with a catchy “ba bada ba ba ba” chorus that’s hard to shake from your gray matter. You forget how much you miss hearing a great vocalist nail a song in these airbrushed and processed times in the music business!

Fiddle player extraordinaire Matt Mancuso hails from New York, and he adds a sweet country breeze through the song. As good as Kelly is, perhaps Mancuso is the band’s ace in the hole, bending the bow to change the tone of the music from bluegrass on tracks like “Return of the Prodigal Son” to Irish reeling on the Afro-centric “Two Jigs for Aoife” and back again. The former lead fiddler for Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, Mancuso has performed with many other acts, including the Cathie Ryan Band and the Prodigals.

Multi-instrumentalist Eric Kaye plays just about everything else left to play -- bass, mandolin, and guitar A sought-after session musician and producer in his own right, he has worked with the likes of Clint Black, Marc Cohn, and Luther Vandross. His top shelf playing is all over this disc, adding crisp bass lines and strings to this high octane hootenanny!

While Tracey says he wrote most of the songs and sketched them out for the band in his home studio, he credits the band for bringing the rough ideas to new heights.

“It was great to see the band dig into these songs,” he says. “There were so many happy surprises that they added to the mix that I never would have considered.

“On ‘Absinthe (Makes the Heart Grow Fonder),” I was convinced that there should be this guitar riff in the mix when I heard the song in my head. Matt did such a great job on the fiddle that we left it in. Ray suggested changes in words that really made a difference.

“Though many of the songs started out as my idea, it’s definitely a band thing.”

“Absinthe” is an album standout, a barn burning track about living the rowdy life. The screeching classic rock guitar solos and a sassy fiddle calls to mind “Hot Dog,” Led Zeppelin’s foray into country music.

“We’re still a democratic band but there was a few times that you’d have to coax the band to try something they may not have wanted to,” Tracey says. “Sometimes, you find yourself negotiating things but overall, there was agreement.”

He describes a frustrating recording session that created the sweet “Ballad of Duffy’s Cut.”

“That was the last song I wrote. I was never pleased at the way Ray sang the track because he wasn’t getting the pathos of it. I went in and recorded it because I wrote it,” says Tracey.

“We gave him one last chance to sing it and in one take, he nailed it. He got everything in that song I wanted to say and as good as I thought I was, it didn’t come close to the job he did. He just has this great barroom vocal that you just can’t beat.”

Apart from their regular Saturday night gigs at Paddy Reilly’s, the band has an exciting few months planned that kicks off with a holiday gig on July 6 at Belmont Park racetrack followed by a proper release party of the CD that will be supported by a whiskey company that shares the band’s name.

If you’ve been looking for a country classic with a decidedly Irish vibe, your prayers have been answered with Mickey Finn’s Prayers and Idle Chatter. Check out www.themickeyfinns.com.

A greener New Jersey - the Irish invade for annual New Jersey Irish Festival

Willie Lynch

The annual New Jersey Irish Festival takes place this Sunday and it can’t come soon enough!

MTV’s Jersey Shore show and programs like Jerseylicious and Real Housewives have categorized us as tan-obsessed drooling morons with big hair and an obsession with animal print.

The pale nation of Irish people will descend on Monmouth Park Racetrack on June 10 from noon until 7 p.m. and will demonstrate our strong and proud Irishness.

This year the festival committee has amassed the best of the best from our local bar scene. I live in a section of the shore called the Irish Riviera -- okay, I live in the white trash section of the Irish Riviera, but still -- and our bar scene is dotted with authentic Irish pubs and old Victorian mansions hollowed out to make room for the kegs!

Pat Roddy is the lord of these mansions, bringing his crowd pleasing brand of Irish-tinged rock and roll to places like the Columns, the Norwood and The Parker House.

His shows there have been stuff of legend, and it might look a wee bit funny to see the man rock in the daylight for a change! He released a great album, Shed My Skin, a while back, so count on Pat doing his share of original songs and cover tunes as well.

Willie Lynch -- what can you say about this Dubliner that hasn’t been said already? He has been playing around the Garden State for decades.

When he’s not playing for the hipsters up in Hoboken, he’s playing faithfully in the bars around Sea Girt in the middle of the week to give you that blast of green merriment to get over “hump day.”

He cracks jokes with an audience that knows him like the back of their hands and strums his Irish blarney over synthesized beats.

Round the House Band is comprised of industry veterans led by Kevin Guerin from Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.  Guerin is an All-Ireland tin whistle champion and his flute does battle with Jim Calvert’s mighty guitar. Calvert has done session work with the likes of John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

Round the House is topped off by the accordion riffing of the Bronx’s own Luke O’Malley, a name known to many who have haunted the Catskills over the years.

The lineup is rounded out by Jackson, New Jersey folkster Thomas Wesley Stern and Paddy and the Pale Boys. Monmouth Park is a picturesque setting to see the ponies run, and there will be tons of food and craft vendors and a pipe band competition to ensure that there’s something for everyone on that day.

For more details, log onto www.nj-irishfestival.com.

In full bloom once again - Luka Bloom’s 'The New Morning' - VIDEO

Luka Bloom

After spending a couple of years looking back on his long career with a reworking of his classics with the Dreams in America album and tour, Luka Bloom begins book two of his musical history with the aptly titled This New Morning. 

The Kildare native takes the traditions of Irish musical storytelling to heart on This New Morning, using the folk medium to comment on the issues of our time and in the process, leave an archive for the next generation. 

“A Seed Was Sown” was inspired by Queen Elizabeth’s historic visit to Ireland last year in which she bowed before a monument honoring fallen Irish heroes. “She lowered her head down/and held the pose/my tears flowed freely/God only knows/she remembered our losses/she remembered her own/and in that moment/a seed was sown,” he sings atop sparse acoustic accompaniment. 

“Across the Breeze” decries the law passed this year that bans the cutting of turf in Ireland. “I see the turf smoke rising/carrying our stories and songs,” he sings. 

“I've come to the conclusion that there are people in the 'environmental movement' who love nature but don't like people,” Bloom says during our weekend chat. 

“There is a case for controlling turf cutting in Ireland, but the manner of it is classic bureaucratic bullying with no regard for people's lives.”

As always, Bloom’s intricate guitar playing is the perfect duet partner that tailors its phrasing as the tune requires it. 

“You Survive” is constructed on casual, meandering finger picks while a lonesome pedal steel guitar moans in the background. 

Hand claps encourage the flamenco stylings of “The Race Runs Me,” a song inspired by Sonia O’Sullivan, one of Ireland’s greatest athletes. Kudos to Rita Connolly, who adds a husky female foil as Bloom sings, “Breathing, running, and breathing/deep inside the race/there is no me.”

Co-produced by Bloom and his long time friend, studio maestro Brian Masterson, this album is full of beautiful melodies, thought provoking lyrics and stunning performances 

“Last year was such an amazing year of touring, the highlight of which was my second of two visits to Australia,” Bloom recalls. 

“This was to sing with HH the Dalai Lama for three weeks in June. This was a truly inspiring experience. Making a record is a great undertaking. More than ever these days, it is beginning to feel like an art form from the last century. But I am a believer.”

We should be all glad that he is a believer! Though Luka has drawn some inspiration from the headlines of these turbulent times, he throws plenty of fun in the mix. 

With the help of Mairtin O'Connor’s playful accordion and Dirk Powell’s mandolin, “The Ride” is a playful romp through the Irish countryside.

“Summer evenings on the road/the cool breeze in my hair/poetry in motion/on two wheels around Kildare,” he sings. 

It is a countrified cousin to “The Acoustic Motorbike,” a more rap-tinged tune from his second album. 

When asked what advice your man on the bike today would have for the Acoustic Motorbike fellow, Bloom’s deadpan reply is, “I’d tell that fella to stay on the bike so he could keep the pounds off throughout the years.”

Bloom has always been a solitary performer in Ireland. He rarely travels with a band on tour and, curiously, his folk classics are rarely covered by other artists and buskers. 

On This New Morning, Bloom lets his friends into the creative process with marvelous results. 

“It was a cold February, but we were fired up,” he says. “Over the next few weeks, in came musicians, all amazing -- Steve Cooney, Robbie Harris, Mairtin O'Connor, Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, Donal Lunny and Conor Byrne to name but a few. 

“Then we spent a day in the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri headquarters in Monkstown where we recorded with an orchestra, scored by Joe Csibi. I decided to invite some of my favorite singers to sing with me on these songs. 

“And so the incredible Rita Connolly, Eimear Quinn, Glen Hansard and Iarla O'Lionard all came by to have a cup of tea, a wee chat and then to bowl us over with the atmosphere created by songs shared.”   

Many of the songs have a band feel, and I asked Bloom what a band dynamic does to the songwriting process and playing.

“The writing really flowed last year, and when I got to November I knew the songs were strong, and I knew they were bigger than me,” he said.

“So I decided to ask some people I love to join me on the record, and yes it was all very magical.”

Interestingly, many of the same side musicians used for this disc are favored by Bloom’s older brother, Christy Moore. I ask Bloom, who changed his name to escape that shadow, if there is anything behind this common use of musicians after years of forging one’s own identity. 

He dismisses the observation outright.  

“It is not an observation that ever crossed my mind. Except that we love some of the same people,” he said.

Bloom is promoting his record independently, as he has done for years, choosing partners in each territory to distribute music as needed. 

“I am really in love with this record, and am patiently waiting to find the right home for it in the U.S. because that is very important to me,” he says. 

There are no plans currently to tour the U.S., but that shouldn’t stop you from jumping online to www.lukabloom.com so that you have these fantastic songs memorized by the time he does come around.

Here, watch Luka Bloom performing 'A Seed was Sown' on RTE:

The return of Clannad - VIDEO

Clannad

Another compilation from Clannad has been released this week. Essential Clannad is a double disc set that features liner notes written by Black 47’s Larry Kirwan. He rightly points out that the Clannad sound that feels so ancient is really only three decades old.

The masterful weaving of ABBA-esque pop harmonies, Gaelic language and atmospherics as thick as the fog that envelopes the n56 leading up to their native Gweedore made a revolutionary sound that is commonplace today in the sounds of Celtic Woman, Ashley Davis and other Celtic chanteuses. 

The collection includes 30 songs and all the hits, but unlike other compilations this one comes with the promise of new material from the band this September! 

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The band recorded a performance at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin on January 29 that will air on stations like WLIW/21 on St. Patrick’s Day (check local stations for public television. The show will be aired on public television stations across the country throughout March.)

The show will include an exclusive advance offer for the DVD and CD of the Christ Church concert and will also offer the chance to purchase an exclusive three-CD collection of songs featured in the show including “Harry's Game,” “Newgrange,” “In a Lifetime,” “I Will Find You” and “Dulaman.”

Special featured guests are Brian Kennedy and Anuna. Check out www.clannad.ie for more information. 

Here's a video from Clannad:

Celtic Thunder storms on - VIDEOS

Celtic Thunder

No matter how many storm clouds swirl around the production of Celtic Thunder, they keep rolling on.

Founding father and legendary composer Phil Coulter has flown the coop, Damian McGinty went to Hollywood to get mileage out of his stint on Glee, and Paul Byrom has amassed his own following with last year’s excellent solo album This Is the Moment. 

Yet the wildly popular group has managed to hatch another chapter in Voyage, their eighth album. Old stagehands Keith Harkin, Ryan Kelly and George Donaldson are now joined by Neil Byrne, Emmet Cahill and Daniel Furlong. 

Cahill, 21, was awarded the 2010 John McCormack Bursary for the most promising young tenor, was named the most promising young singer at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and was a multiple prizewinner at the National Feis Ceoil singing competition in Ireland. He hails from Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

Furlong is the youngest member of Celtic Thunder.  He is only 13 years old and hails from Taghmon in Co. Wexford.  He is a boy soprano and was discovered when he entered a singing competition at the age of seven and won! 

He has been part of Wexford’s renowned Opera Festival every October and played the role of Edgar in the Wexford Light Opera Society production of Ragtime in 2008.

He gets his solo turn on “Over the Rainbow,” and his high child register takes the song to dizzying heights.  If you close your eyes and didn’t know any better, you’d swear you were listening to a track from Celtic Woman instead of Celtic Thunder. 

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Since this is also a show, founding producer Sharon Browne ably guided McGinty’s character through the brambles of puberty. Let’s hope she does it again with Furlong because his voice is pristine! 

I must confess that there are certain people in the Irish Voice and Irish Central.com offices that roll their eyes and tease me mercilessly each time I turn in a column about one of these big shows, but hear me out on why these are guilty pleasures!  

I have always applauded this show in particular for taking their high wattage spotlight on PBS appearances and shining it on obscure Irish songwriters. 

I’ve also been a sucker for the Celtic infusion these artists bring to rock standards -- Donaldson’s rich Scottish baritone adds warmth to the homespun Cat Stevens track “Cats in the Cradle.” And also included is a heartwarming read by McGinty of Glen Hansard’s “Falling Slowly.”

Included on the disc is a spirited live version of “Seven Drunken Nights” by the ensemble. Presumably, Furlong sipped soda through the whole performance! 

In other Celtic Thunder news, the organization behind the show peeled off some of McGinty’s best bits and put them into an exclusive EP on iTunes. If you can’t get enough of his rendition of “Puppy Love,” fire up your laptop and download away! 

For more information on the show, log onto www.celticthunder.ie.

Here, watch Celtic Thunder perform "Atmos, Druids, Deus Meus & Dulaman":



And here they are performing Sizzling Reels:

A cell for Irish theater - “Blood” and “Dancing at Lunacy”

Some interesting theater rolls into Manhattan this week, courtesy of one of our favorite rockers!

The Cell Theatre (338 West 23rd Street; 646-861-2253) combines the one-act plays of Black 47’s Larry Kirwan and Seamus Scanlon, writer of Irish short stories, into an evening of provocative, inimitably Irish theater.

Kirwan’s Blood is based on the actual disappearance of James Connolly, trade union organizer and leader of the Irish Citizen Army on January 19, 1916. He returned four days later, his only comment, “I have been through hell.”

Connolly had been captured by the rival Irish Republican Brotherhood, led by Padraig Pearse and Sean McDermott. What happened in that small room changed the course of Irish history.

Sixty-eight years later in another room – a drinking club in Belfast – in the aftermath of the hunger strikes and the bombing of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, a no-less tense situation plays out. Scanlon’s Dancing at Lunacy, set in 1984, centers on an IRA internal security investigation. The alleged informer and an aging commanding officer are confronted by a young sociopath with a penchant for pistols, the Sex Pistols, pogoing, Barry’s Tea and ruthless efficiency.

Dancing at Lunacy and Blood explore the highly charged issue of Irish Republicanism and how it still affects the Irish psyche.

The engagement begins on March 1. Visit www.thecelltheatre.org for information.

In other Black 47 news, the band takes to the road for their 22nd St. Patrick’s Day season on March 1. 
The tour will be anchored around their annual St. Patrick’s Day gig at BB Kings in New York City.

The band recently released A Funky Ceili, a must-have collection of 18 of their best-known up-tempo and humorous tracks, along with Bankers and Gangsters, 12 new topical and political songs.

On this tour they will play songs from across their career and, at some gigs, perform their best selling CD Fire of Freedom in its entirety. For more information, visit www.black47.com

McLean Avenue in Yonkers will always rock- VIDEO

The McLean Avenue Band

The strip of asphalt known as McLean Avenue in Yonkers has always been a safe haven for Irish immigrants looking to find their way in a new land.

The McLean Avenue Band provides the soundtrack to that unique Irish experience, and are touring to support their newest album, Easy and Free.

It’s a rollicking set of tunes, including a take on a Charlie Daniels classic known as “The Devil Went Down to Yonkers.” The track “From Galway to Graceland” is a pub-pleasing, toe-tapping ditty punctuated by spirited fiddles and banjoes.

Easy and Free is a great companion to that St. Patrick’s Day party you know you’re going to throw in a few weeks!

The band is led by Padraig Allen, a name known to fans of the legendary band the Whole Shabang. I caught up with him over the weekend as he was gearing up for some green shenanigans. Here’s how it went.

How would you describe McLean Avenue Band to someone who has never heard your music?
An array of difference. Energetic, modern Irish style songs and tunes with a hint of bluegrass and American favorites.

How do you think that sound differs from The Whole Shabang and what was the Shabang fans' reaction to this new band?
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The Whole Shabang was somewhat of an introduction to Celtic rock for me. Our music was original and in the same vein the Horslips music which was born in 1970.

McLean Avenue Band has an even newer take on the songs and tunes, leaning towards the new age folk and traditional sound, expanding our music to a different era.

The reaction from the listeners and fans from our first album Easy and Free is fantastic, with our friends from Fordham Radio (WFUV) often reporting us as being one of their favorite bands on the scene.
I see you play a number of different venues. Is there a difference between playing a cruise, a bar and a wedding?

Not really, except for when we play theaters we like to showcase our individual talents and create a more intimate atmosphere for the audience. We also have Emerald Fire with us, an Irish dance company, that are ready to leap into motion and give us another dimension to add to the show's overall excitement!
Entertaining is what we focus on. Our show has a unique charisma that makes us very relatable to more widespread audience.

Love your take on "Devil Went Down to Yonkers." How did that come about?
Thanks Mike, you’re not alone. Again it was reaching back to The Whole Shabang days. We had a take on the “Devil” and I felt that I needed to rock it up!

I share the vocals with fiddler Jessica and I added the lyrics “Yonkers” instead of “Georgia” and Irish tunes into it make it fun for our New York friends.

It felt right after the first rehearsal, so we ran with it for a show and tore the house down. It made the record and has definitely put its stamp on the band's sound.

McLean Avenue has always been a great Irish scene which I know ebbs and flows based on immigration from the motherland. What do you think of the Irish scene/culture/music vibe there now?

I think the answer is really in the question here, “ebbs and flows based on immigration from the motherland.” 

That does have a certain impact on the show's turnout on McLean Avenue and the vibe in the Irish culture in the New York area.

We can’t forget that there are 44.5 million people living in America claiming Irish ancestry today. Irish people don't forget their heritage, music and dance.

With this in mind, it can overcome all doubt or sense of unwanted change, even on McLean Avenue and the Irish folk on the avenue would never let it happen. This year they will have their first St. Patrick’s parade and their second annual Irish festival. This says a lot about McLean, and that it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

What does 2012 hold for the band?

Lots of singing and playing our favorites in venues from Tacoma, Washington to Mineola, Long Island and a stop in Europe too. Complete our next album and meet and greet people like yourself that keep the Irish tradition alive.

The McLean Avenue Band will play as a duo at Pig and Whistle (47th Street off Seventh Ave, New York) on February 29 at 9:15 p.m., March 2, 8, and 14. On March 17 they will play at the Ciccone Theatre, Bergen Community College, Paramus with Emerald Fire from 2-4 p.m. For more information, log onto www.McleanAvenueBand.com.

The McLean Avenue Band - Wagon Wheel:

Still sweet on The Cranberries - first album release in nine year - VIDEOS

The Cranberries

Good news for Cranberries fans! Their new album comes out next week.

Roses will be the sixth studio album by the Cranberries, and is scheduled for release on February 27. Produced by Stephen Street and recorded in May 2011 in Toronto and London, this will be the band's first studio release in 10 years.

“Tomorrow” is the leadoff single of the album, and if it’s any indication, the break from one another did the band the world of good. It is a classic slice of Cranberries.

“I think that you’re mad/you spend a lot of time in your head/if you could come away with me/you should have some faith in me/tomorrow could be today/if only you had some faith/too young, too proud/too foolish,” lead singer Dolores O’Riordan coos over a classic college rock chord structure that calls to mind the tight pop explosives of the Smiths.

“Fire and Soul” is previewed on the band’s website, and it’s a sultry acoustic ballad that show’s the lead singer’s softer side.

“I was very much into trying to capture the intimacy and the innocence of that first album,” says producer Stephen Street, who has worked with Morrissey, the Smiths and Blur over the years. “Listening back on the first album, there was something about these four kids coming together from Limerick -- they were this tight, intimate little unit. Of course, it proceeded to go global.
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“Since then, Dolores has had to project to the world. In doing this album, I mentioned this to Dolores that I wanted to convey her lines in a more warm, inward way than projecting out to the world. I think it happened here and it made for a better sounding album.”

“We had loads of songs,” explains band member Noel Hogan. “We’ve been sending stuff to one another back and forth for the last four years. These things were starting to build up, and I just knew this was going to become a tour and an album.

“I think the fans of the Cranberries are going to absolutely love the album, yet we’ve been playing and growing all these years and we sound a bit different.”

“I’ve been playing with tons of musicians since doing this little hiatus,” O’Riordan adds. “The minute we started playing it was like we never stopped. From the moment I started playing with these lads, it’s like a comfortable pair of shoes. I suppose this is the chemistry between us. ”

The band will embark on a tour of Australia and New Zealand next month, and will arrive on our shores with stops at New York’s Terminal 5 on May 4, the Electric Factory in Philadelphia on May 5, and Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut on May 12.

If you can’t wait to hear them live, check out a few of their nifty acoustic performances on Rolling Stone’s website. For more information, log onto www.cranberries.com.

The Cranberries - Tomorrow (New Song from Roses):



'Fire and Soul' (Preview) by The Cranberries:

Another great side of Seamus Kelleher

Seamus Kelleher

If you Google the word “risk,” don’t be surprised if Seamus Kelleher’s image stares you on the face on the computer screen. The guitarist left his comfort zone of Blackthorn, a legendary Irish American outfit that consistently sold out venues throughout the Philadelphia area, in order to pursue a solo career. His first album, Four Cups of Coffee, landed on Off the Record’s best of list a few years ago. His new disc, Another Side of Town, may well top this year’s list.

This Salthill native’s performances with Blackthorn have been steeped in the blues, a side effect of a lifelong obsession with the legendary blues great Rory Gallagher. The folksy acoustic picking that anchors the title track on Another Side of Town sets an agenda that something different is in the air.

“There’s a bell ringing out on the other side of town/it’s calling my way but I’m not going down/I recognize the tune but I won’t sing that song,” he sings, a possible sly reference to his commitment never to play it safe. He weaves an intricate acoustic tapestry on the instrumental “The Hugglinger Rag” that is the perfect accompaniment on a lazy Sunday when you have to get your butt in gear to make an editor’s deadline!

“I'm coming to the end of my first year as strictly a solo artist. I still do the crazy blues inspired by Rory Gallagher but I find myself on stage doing drawn to what you might call country blues where I still get to do my guitar work but where I can tell stories with the songs and where I can be a little more melodic with my guitar playing,” Kelleher explains. “Some of this is due to my evolution as a guitar player. I always played acoustic but up until recently, I think most everyone associated me strictly with the electric guitar.

I think The big change in the past few years is that my acoustic chops have improved. I've worked very hard to make that happen by attending multiple workshops and studying with some amazing people like Pete Huttlinger and Tommy Emmanuel. For the first time, I feel equally comfortable with both my electric and acoustic playing.”
For anyone worried that Seamus has dropped the electric guitar altogether, fear not! On the fiery instrumental “Guitar Dreams,” he weaves a moody guitar melody that soars in a way not seen since Mark Knopfler played with Dire Straits.

“You are right on the money,” he says when I mention this reference. “There’s definitely a Dire Straits influence on that track. Mark Knopfler is someone who I look up to a lot in terms of his songwriting and of course his beautiful guitar playing.”

After decades running around a stage with an axe strapped to your midsection, you would expect Seamus Kelleher to make a stellar guitar album and he does deliver. Another risk he’s taken is handling most of the vocals all by himself. There is a marked improvement in his voice from the first solo album, his confidence in that instrument producing a rich, warm tone on tracks like the pensive “Reno Winter’s Sky,” a mournful track about meeting a soldier at the baggage claim in Reno. “Did he leave behind a sweetheart?

Did he leave behind a friend? Did his mother stay awake at night? Did his daddy ever cry?” he wonders.
“I think this is the first time I really explored my vocal range to its fullest,” he says. “I go to extremes on each side of my range and I think it works with my guitar playing. People seem to like it but I was surprised how many people actually picked up on it.”

Seamus uses Another Side of Town to settle some scores, but not toward his old band. He tells of regret over not getting the title track of his last album right, so he took the opportunity to re-record the song “Four Cups of Coffee” with a wickedly playful gospel vocalist.

“I wanted to put a harmony on the chorus but I ran out of time and money,” he explains. “So there’s one reason for the redo. As I said earlier, I also felt my voice had evolved since the recording in Nashville five years ago. The studio owner Jim Salamone told me about Charlene Holloway. Google her and you will see that she has sung with some of the best R&B people in the business. She lives near me and I loved her voice so much that I delayed the release of the CD so I could get her on it. She nailed the harmonies first time around but there was something missing. I went in to the vocal booth and said, ‘Charlene, now I want you to give me one take where you are just having fun with the song.’ That's the take we used on the record.”
Seamus follows his own advice to have some fun on "House of the Rising Sun,” a wildly inventive cover of the Animals’ signature tune that gets an injection of reggae rhythms riddims in the hands of Seamus. “That was the first song I ever played and I have played many different versions of it over the years,” he explains. “Several months ago, I went to see my good friend Scott Wham perform at a club in Philly. He asked me up for a few songs. I did ‘Rising Sun’ and without even thinking about it, I did one verse in my baritone and he did the next verse with his crazy high powerful voice. I knew right then I had another song for the album.”

Seamus presides over a lovely brood of kids with his wife Mary Pat in a leafy Philadelphia suburb, and anyone with mouths to feed and kids to educate knows that there’s not a lot of money left over to pursue the dreams that feed the soul. Therein lies the biggest risk of all. To watch an artist stretch, refuse to walk down the predictable paths of life, and emerge with such a great album is sweet revenge on the naysayers.

“I went out of my comfort zone with this record with my vocals and my guitar playing,” he says. “There's a guitar solo called ‘The Huttlinger Rag which I almost dumped because I could never perform it to the level I wanted to in the studio. I was cursing myself for writing it. I went home and practiced it for hours on end and finally delivered a decent performance. The lesson there is that you need to be prepared when you go into the studio but also don’t give up.”

“I think I was trying a bit too hard with the vocals during the first week of recording. Maybe I was trying to sound like some other singers. After several weeks, I went back and did all the vocals over but this time in my own voice. It’s great to be influenced by people but there is only one “You” and that’s what needs to be heard.”

Seamus Kelleher’s talent demands to be heard. Take a risk yourself and drive to Another Side of Town-- you’ll be glad you made the trip!

Seamus Kelleher’s albums can be found on ITunes and CDBaby.com. For more information on gigs and video, check out www.seamusrocks.com

Susan Boyle’s third disc dropped this week. If I followed my mother’s advice to avoid saying anything if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I would stop my review right here.
But what fun is that?

On Someone to Watch Over Me, fans might question who is watching over their heroine nowadays. The disc is awash in syrup and her vocals sound phoned in on most songs. She takes on Depeche Mode’s electro-disco classic “Enjoy the Silence” by slowing down the heartbeat and over-emoting the words to create perhaps the worst cover version of a song ever committed to tape.

There are a couple of bright spots. When Boyle takes on Join Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” she is clearly in her element. There’s a soft, introspective story that builds into a crescendo that puts this lioness’s roar to the test. You would hope she would rise to the occasion on The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” but like most of Someone to Watch Over Me, her interpretation sounds dreary and uninspired.

Writing something bad about Susan Boyle makes you feel inhumane, like killing off animals that have been housed at a shelter for too long. The exuberance the audience feels when they first discovered her voice on Britain’s Got Talent, the rags to riches story, the effervescent personality that bubbles during interviews, and that megawatt smile all factor into a feeling of wanting to have this chanteuse win at this late stage career rise. She’s spunky and fun in the public eye, and I am hoping someone watches over her and encourages her to inject some of that next time she enters into a studio.

'Waterboy's' Mike Scott’s new ablum - WB Yeats poetry set to music - VIDEO

Mike Scott

Mike Scott continues a decades-long love affair with the words of Irish poet WB Yeats on An Appointment with Mr. Yeats, an album of brilliant, mystical music worthy of Yeats’s immortal words. I bought the disc while in Ireland a few weeks ago and have been unable to listen to anything else since!

“The Hosting of the Shee” starts off the collection with a watery piano that fades in and slams into a wave of guitars that is the musical equivalent of a churning Irish Sea.

A soulful electric piano rolls under “The Song of Wandering Aengus,” a poem that Christy Moore and others have also put to song.

“Though I am old with wandering/through hollow lands and hilly lands/I will find out where she has gone/And kiss her lips and take her hands/And walk among long dappled grass/And pluck till time and times are done/the silver apples of the moon/the golden apples of the sun,” Scott sings as a gorgeous flute melody wafts into the mix and brings the song to a close.

As in many spots on Mr. Yeats, he is accompanied by Dublin singer Katie Kim who adds an ethereal, Wiccan vibe that blends perfectly with Scott’s mystical phrasings.

“I walked into a gig in Dublin three years ago and there was a support act with an exquisite-sounding girl singer, though the lights were so low I couldn't see her properly,” he explains on his chance meeting with the singer.

“I stood spellbound, listening to her totally nail every song in this beautiful, witchy, cartoonesque voice. I knew she was the female voice I'd imagined for Mr. Yeats; no doubt whatsoever. Next day I found her band on Myspace and sent her a message asking if she'd get involved in Mr. Yeats.”

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A shuffling bodhran and a muffled blues chord base accompanies “The Lake of Innisfree,” and in a stroke of sheer production genius, a screeching violin bent into notes that sound like they’re blown from a harmonica.

“And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow/there midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow/I will arise and go now, for always night and day/I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore/I hear it in the deep heart's core,” Scott purrs.

Fans of the band will remember a majestic read of the poem “Stolen Child” which appeared on the immortal Fisherman’s Blues. Poems like “Love & Death” and “Song of the Rosy Cross” appeared on other discs.

“The ‘Stolen Child’ track proved to me that I could set Yeats to music successfully,” Scott says in an interview with journalist John Healy that is published on the band’s website.

“I had the fuller concert idea -- that came before the album concept -- in 1991 when I was one of several artists on the bill of a Yeats tribute at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, which Yeats had founded in 1904.

“Specially for the show I set four more Yeats poems to music expecting the other artists to do the same. As it turned out I was the only person who did any Yeats material.

“I can still remember standing in the wings of the Abbey stage thinking that Yeats deserved a whole show dedicated to his poems. That was the first glimmer of the idea, though I didn’t realize then I’d end up doing it with my own band.”

Scott attributes his love of Yeats to his mother, who held the poet in the highest regard.

“The Irish kids get Yeats in school, but not the Scottish,” Scott says when asked by John Healy how he came to love Yeats.

“I heard about Yeats from my mother. I grew up with the impression of this master poet whose name was uttered around the house in hushed, awed tones.

“The very sound of that one syllable “Yeats,” rhyming with “great,” had a gravity, a power. And when I was 11, in 1970, my mum attended the Yeats Summer School and took me along.

“I don’t remember being at any of the lectures – though she assures me I was – but I remember my impressions of Sligo, the strange mountain Ben Bulben, and Yeats’s grave beneath it. We also visited the tower where he lived, Thoor Ballylee near Galway, which I loved.”

Scott left Yeats behind to make pop records but came back to read him a few years later, when he came across the poem “News for the Delphic Oracle” in his mother’s bookshelves.

“I didn’t really understand it, but I loved its invocation of the god Pan,” he says.

Unlike some songs, which are crafted in a studio before they get an airing onstage, Scott performed some of these songs in a series of concerts throughout the U.K. during the past year. He reports that the basic live arrangements were used, though the music evolved again during the recording process.

Mr. Yeats finds Scott collaborating with long-time fiddler Steve Wickham and British songwriter Freddie Stevenson.

“Freddie's a British songwriter of great skill and sensitivity -- and a wonderful singer too -- who lives in New York,” he explains.

“I sent him the lyrics of several poems, edited for maximum musicality, and he set them to tunes and sent them back to me. I made a few changes and wrote the bridges, and we were off.”

Scott has crafted musical soundscapes worthy of this classic prose. His “White Birds” has a majestic chord structure that expands into the open air, the sound of seagulls bobbing atop the guitars.

“A Full Moon in March” has a menacing alt-rock chorus as he describes how “Jill murdered Jack up the hill as the moon shone brightly.”

The track “Mad As the Mist and Snow” has a Celtic mystical blues vibe that is reminiscent of Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing.”

If there is justice on this earth, this quirky, gorgeous disc will find its way into the same hearts that fell in love with Fisherman’s Blues.

“It’s a stunning experience working with lyrics of Yeats’ caliber,” Scott reports. “I’m well aware I’m sculpting with words of the very highest quality, and this spurs me to write music at the peak of my own abilities and expression.”

An Appointment with Mr. Yeats was released in Ireland and the U.K. but has an unnamed U.S. date.

This music is so good that this is worth tracking down and adding to your collection right now.

A good place to start would be the band’s website. Check out www.mikescottwaterboys.com


BBC interview with Mike Scott speaking about the new album:

Westlife splits as Oasis Gallagher brothers talk of reunions

Westlife

After 14 years together, the Irish boyband Westlife have announced that they will be splitting up.

“After 14 years, 26 top 10 hits including 14 number one singles, 11 top five albums, seven of which hit the top spot and have collectively sold over 44 million copies around the world, 10 sell out tours and countless memories that we will forever cherish, we today announce our plan to go our separate ways after a greatest hits collection this Christmas and a farewell tour next year,” the band said in a statement.

Long time readers of the Irish Voice know that this reporter believes Westlife’s reign has gone on about 13 years longer than it should have. Then again, credit must be given to them for sticking it out that long, when bands like Boyzone and Take That have broken up AND staged reunions in that same timeframe.

According to wire reports, all is friendly among the aging heart throbs.

“The decision is entirely amicable, and after spending all of our adult life together so far, we want to have a well-earned break and look at new ventures,” the band said.

“We see the greatest hits collection and the farewell tour as the perfect way to celebrate our incredible career along with our fans. We are really looking forward to getting out on the tour and seeing our fans one last time. Westlife has been a dream come true for all of us.”

Well, you know what they say. One man’s dream is another’s nightmare, and this reviewer is waking up to a brand new morning of sunshine!

On the same week we had news of this break up comes word of a possible make up. Liam Gallagher tells Rolling Stone that he would consider reconciling with his brother Noel to reunite Oasis for the 20th anniversary of the release of (What's the Story) Morning Glory.

"In 2015, if we can put our s*** aside, we can tour and play the album in its entirety for the 20th anniversary," he says. "I'd be up for that, if it's on our terms. There's got to be two-way respect."

Could these boys be on the same hymn book in their church pew at long last?  During a radio interview in August, Noel Gallagher said that breaking up Oasis was a rash decision.

"We could maybe have all gone off and done other things for a few years," he said. "In my own head the 2015, 20-year anniversary of Morning Glory is looming and we could have maybe come back, made a new album and played that album in its entirety and gone and been the greatest thing ever, but there you go."

The two brothers no longer speak, but Liam tells Rolling Stone that Noel's public comments got him thinking about the anniversary tour.

"He's the one that keeps mentioning it," says Liam. "I want to put him out of his misery. But I think he needs to do his solo thing first and realize he's not that good without his brother. He's got to find out for himself.

“I'm up for it – I'm not desperate for it. If it doesn't work out, I don't give a s***, I'm quite happy with (current band) Beady Eye."

He should be happy with Beady Eye because they rock like the world is coming to an end tomorrow on their Different Gear, Still Speeding release.

Rolling Stone interviewed Noel last month about the possibility and he said, "Liam has said that the idea makes him vomit and it would never happen. So I don't need to add anything to that. I don't need the f*** money, but I think it's a shame that songs like 'Champagne Supernova’ and 'Rock and Roll Star' 'will never be played again."
He continued, "There's bands that say, 'We don't want to get back together. We'd have to make a new record.' Why? F*** a new record. No one gives a s*** about your new record. "

Okay then! Noel does have a point. The band’s output has been spotty (you caught me in a generous mood, what can I say?) since What’s the Story, so he all but confirms that Oasis has been an oldies band for more years than we all care to admit.

So, count on the deluxe, remastered version of the Oasis classic, no doubt complete with commemorative booklet and DVD of the brothers slagging one another, available in three years. I might not buy it, but I would stand in line to see it live!

Wild ride for Celtic Thunder’s ‘Storm’ and composer Phil Coulter - VIDEO

Phil Coulter

These last few years have been a wild ride upward for legendary composer Phil Coulter. As musical director and co-creator of the wildly popular Celtic Thunder production, Coulter has had to feed the beast of that show with six new albums in the last four years.

His new album, Heartland: The Composer’s Salute to Celtic Thunder, is a retrospective of his best work with the show.

“The Celtic Thunder Storm album is number one on the Amazon charts and my album is number two and neither one of them come out until next week, so that’s a really good feeling,” says the 69-year-old composer.

The orchestral flourishes of Heartland are a study in pristine production and vibe creation. “Remember Me,” a flamenco guitar-based romantic song from the show, is transformed into a triumphant piano melody couched with regal strings and horns.

James McCarthy’s “Ride On,” a song made famous by Christy Moore, is slowed down to allow for the mournful notes of the woodwinds that add a new dimension to the melody.

The chill-out with warm flourishes is what Coulter does best and his imprint on Irish music (howya, Enya?) is still felt today. To listen to Heartland: The Composer’s Salute to Celtic Thunder is to listen to a true master at work.
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Sunny skies for Celtic Thunder’s storm - VIDEO

Celtic Thunder’s Paul Byrom says ‘Glee’s’ Damian McGinty’s ‘a gent’ – VIDEOS


Sea change for Celtic Thunder after Damian McGinty’s big ‘Glee’ win
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Based on his recent less-than-friendly split with co-creator Sharon Browne, it’s hard to see from our Skype interview what finger he uses to salute Celtic Thunder now.

“We had what I would say a parting of the ways,” Coulter says tentatively and diplomatically. “I don’t want to wade too far into the bad blood here.  Let’s just say I have a new-found sympathy for the co-producers of Celtic Woman, who forced her out.”

When pressed, he offers this.

“We had an arrangement going into this that she would worry about the business side of things, dealing with PBS and all of that, and I would handle the musical direction, choose the characters, write the arrangements and the artistic elements. It started out that way but soon those lines crossed. And here we are now, parting ways.”

Coulter gives an example of Browne’s decision to film That’s Entertainment and Heritage at the same time on a Canadian soundstage, putting the producer in the unenviable position of stretching things too thin for his performers.

“I was talked into the That’s Entertainment thing, to be honest,” he says. “Some people thought that the Broadway aspect of the show is what middle America wanted, but I thought we went too far from our Irish roots with that show. I was glad to come back to those roots on Heritage.”

Though it might have ended on a sour note, Coulter is intensely proud of Celtic Thunder.
“We created five stars who were nobodies before the show stated,” he boasts. “We introduced great Irish songwriters like Paul Brady to the American audience, and I got to reinvent my own back catalogue, which was fun. And now we even conquered Glee!”

Coulter refers to Celtic Thunder’s youngest member, Damian McGinty, who won the televised audition process of The Glee Project that put him into a starring role on the top rated show.

“It’s brilliant for Damian,” Coulter says proudly. “I just Skyped him last night. He calls me Uncle Phil and he was saying, ‘Uncle Phil! I just did my first day of shooting on Glee and I loved it!’ He told me the rigorous pace of our show helped him get even tougher for Glee, which was great to hear.”

Coulter recalls how an old friend from Derry slipped the audition tape of his young neighbor McGinty under his studio door with a note of apology for imposing.

“I thought it would be s**t,” Coulter recalls with a laugh. “If I was in a grumpy mood, it might have been in a bin. But my friend Jim was organized and I knew he would follow-up.

“Within five minutes of hearing it I was talking to Damian’s dad. I said, ‘I am gonna work with this kid and I don’t know how yet. Keep him on ice, no talent shows for him, and I will be in touch.’

It was six months later that Celtic Thunder came together and I knew I had my first guy.”
Coulter reports that McGinty comes from good stock.

“His da used to call from the road, and I would assure him his son was singing well,” he recalls. The da would say, ‘I know he can sing, how’s he behaving himself? He’s not getting a big head about this, is he?’ So typical Irish.”

With all the drama around Celtic Thunder, I chide Coulter to explain the lyrics to “Life in the Old Dog Yet,” a track from the new Storm release.

In it, he writes, “I’m not ready to roll over/I’m still the daddy of them all/I’m older and wiser and they better not forget/I’m not ready to roll over/‘cos there’s life in the old dog yet.”

“Well, I wrote that before things went south,” he says with a laugh. “But there’s truth to what you say. I am not going to be an observer of my own life.

“When the wheels came off the bus I went straight into another project. I went from the orchestral album to a project I’m working on that will be on PBS next year. It’s a different concept from Celtic Thunder but obviously, fans that liked that concept should love this.

“It will film in Ireland by the end of the year, and there’s a lot of stuff to get together. I can’t tell the readers much about it now but I’ll keep you posted.”

Coulter has worked with everyone from Tom Jones to the Bay City Rollers to Sinead O’Connor, but he is super-thrilled to be working with Mary Byrne, the Dublin unknown who wowed Simon Cowell’s X Factor U.K. program with her read of Tom Jones’ “I Who Have Nothing.”

“She’s from Dublin, a checkout lady at a supermarket who used to sing in the pub on the weekend,” Coulter explains. “We’re talking about some songs and concepts of who her album might go. I just love her story, a real belter. Against all odds, she battled to the end. A really tough life, on the bread line and all of that.”

Like Susan Boyle, Byrne has been an inspiration to working class middle-agers with unfulfilled dreams. Unlike Boyle, Byrne has a tinge of the blues and a steel backbone to match. Rock on, girl!

Coulter knows the reality show competition space all to well. He has had his turn in the chair as judge for Ireland’s program You’re a Star.

“I sat on the panel with Louis Walsh and it was a mixed experience,” he explains. “On the good side, someone like Mary Byrne wouldn’t get a shot.

“On the downside, it gives kids entitlement that they should be famous. They want to be famous, there’s no desire to sing for the art of it all in some of these kids. Celebrity is a new religion and that worries me.”

The Renaissance man and father of nine has managed to write, produce or record chart-topping songs in every decade since the 1960s and, as you can see, he has no intention of stopping now.

“I still LOVE creating music,” he says. “I turn up for work every Monday morning. This is my job. Ten years from now I hope to be talking about my latest project and current hit!"
From your lips to God’s ears, Mr. Coulter!

(Shanachie Entertainment released Heartland, on Tuesday, September 20. For more information, log onto www.philcoulter.com.)