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Sleeve Notes
Emigration, one Irish historian has noted, is a mirror in which Ireland sees itself reflected. Emigration and the story of Irish music are inextricably bound together. Both tell stories of exile, displacement, resilience, and a fierce identification with Ireland.
This second volume in the Bringing It All Back Home trilogy continues tracing the journeys of Irish traditional music in America. The music in the three-disc series was recorded for a five-part documentary about Irish music, originally broadcast by the BBC and Irish Television, RTE. Through performances and interviews, the film followed the paths Irish music has taken from its earliest recorded history to the present day, and explored the ways in which it adapted to changing circumstances brought about by Ireland’s unique history of colonial occupation and emigration.
The remarkable music recordings made for the program appeared in 1991 on a legendary double CD, now long out of print. In the late 1990s, producer Donal Lunny remastered the tapes for release in the current series. In addition to all 37 tracks from the original CDs, he included several previously unissued recordings from the documentary, as well as a handful of newer performances. The resulting three discs invite the listener to journey into the enduring soul of Irish music.
The unprecedented amount of music recorded for the Bringing It All Back Home series, extending from solo and ensemble traditional music and singing in Irish and English, through orchestral works, to rock and contemporary idioms, reflected the emphasis placed by the series makers Philip King and Nuala O’Connor on music performance. It allowed for the remarkable diversity that defines Irish music to express itself across its diaspora, and it enabled viewers and listeners to grasp the enormous cultural achievement that this signified. It comes as no surprise that Bringing It All Back Home is now viewed as a landmark television series, further acknowledged by an Emmy win in 1994. Taken as a whole, these recordings have become an enduring classic which celebrates Irish music culture in its widest sense.
Nuala O’Connor
My Love Is in America — Inspired by the experiences of high emigration to the US from Ireland in the 1980s, My Love Is in America describes the breakup of a family when the husband seeks work in America while the wife stays home in Ireland. Composer Mick Hanly's tender duet with Dolores Keane brims with the pain of separation and loss; its contemporary style owes as much to American music as its theme does to Irish emigration.
St. Ann's Reel & The Blackberry Blossom — The Irish have been coming to America since the 1600s. By the end of the eighteenth century, fully half the settlers in Appalachia were of Irish or Scottish descent. Kentucky-born country music star Ricky Skaggs attributes the Appalachian "high lonesome sound", in which even dance music is shot through with a certain sadness, to the fact that several generations later the music is still remembering where it came from. When Irish fiddler Paddy Glackin joined Skaggs and Mark O'Connor, another American star with a bluegrass background, in Nashville to record for the film, the three fiddlers immediately found common ground with tunes that are familiar in both countries. Their medley of St. Ann's Reel and The Blackberry Blossom is eloquent with a sense of connection and recognition. Accompanying the trio are guitarist Russ Barenberg, Roy Huskey, Jr. on bass and Donal Lunny on bouzouki.
Johnny Don't Go to Ballincollig — One of the finest contemporary singer-songwriters Ireland has produced, singer/guitarist/bassist John Spillane, like many of the musicians on these sessions, hails from County Cork. Johnny Don't Go to Ballincollig was produced by Declan Sinnott and can be heard on Spillane's solo album The Wells of the World.
Oilena & Island — The wellspring of Irish music is renewed by each new wave of musicians and singers who bring their own creativity to bear on the tradition. Mícheál O'Súlleabháin's composition is a moody contemporary piece for chamber orchestra and traditional flute, which seamlessly incorporates elements of both traditional and classical genres. The composer directs the Irish Chamber Orchestra in this performance, with soloist John McCarthy on flute.
The Bucks of Oranmore — This is regarded as one of the great tunes of Irish dance music. This version was recorded in the town of Spiddal in County Galway, when a diverse group of musicians, including Adam Clayton (bass) from U2 and Steve Wickham (fiddle) from The Waterboys, came together for an informal session. Gerry O'Connor also plays fiddle with Martin O'Connor on accordion, Alec Finn on bouzouki, Sean Ryan on whistle and Donal Lunny on bodhran.
A Song for The Life — Celtic folk-rock group The Waterboys, led by Scotsman Mike Scott, recorded several albums in Ireland. Their version of Song for The Life, by American roots musician Rodney Crowell, was taped for Bringing It All Back Home during the recording of their Room to Roam album in County Galway. Irish accordion sensation Sharon Shannon is in this edition of the band, along with singer/guitarist Scott, organist Colin Blakey, fiddler Steve Wickham, tenor saxophonist Anto Thistlethwaite, and the rhythm section of bassist Trevor Hutchinson and drummer Nollaig Bridgeman.
Mischievous Ghost — Rock superstar Elvis Costello — born Declan Patrick McManus — wrote Mischievous Ghost especially for Bringing It All Back Home. He describes the piece as a musical "collision between a discipline like chamber music and a melody derived somewhat from traditional music." With a string sextet arranged by Fiachra Trench, Davy Spillane on uillian pipes, and Donal Lunny on bodhran,
The Japanese Hornpipe — Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Cooney, originally from Melbourne, Australia, lives in the Irish-speaking area of West Kerry. Seamas Begley is a well-known accordionist and singer from West Kerry. The duo's version of The Japanese Hornpipes, an unrestrained celebration of the dance repertoire, was recorded live during the 1992 Bringing It All Back Home Tour and appears here for the first time on record.
Im Long Mé Measaim — A moving evocation of the sacred in Irish singing tradition, Im Long Mé Measaim (A Ship I Am) is a 1978 poem by Dónal Óliatháin set to music by Peadar Óriada and performed by the composer with the choir Cór Cúil Aodh in the church at Cúil Aodh for Bringing It All Back Home.
It reads,
A ship I am under cargo, under sail
With no haven before me
A book I am, written in a language from the sky
There is no-one out there who understands me.
Waltzing's For Dreamers — Briton Richard Thompson appeared in the documentary as an exemplar of the ballad tradition. He performed his heartbreaking original Waltzing's For Dreamers live at Jack Clement Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, with vocal harmonies by two of Ireland's greatest female singers, Mary Black and Dolores Keane. Pat Crowley is the accordionist, Roy Huskey Jr. the bassist, and Declan Sinnott plays rhythm guitar. This recording is previously unreleased; the same group performs Thompson's The Dimming of the Day on Volume 1.
Port Na BPúcai — Port na bPúcai is a magical slow air, reputed to have its origins in the waters of the Blasket Sound, West Kerry. Tony MacMahon, a master of the the slow air form on the button accordion, performed this faithful and subtly expressive interpretation for Bringing It All Back Home. It appears here for the first time on record.
Carolina Star — "Everything that goes around comes around" is especially true of traditional music. In this century, the pre-bluegrass American music known as "old timey" found a home in Ireland and led to the formation of the Lee Valley String Band in Cork city. The band put an Irish spin on the American country song Carolina Star in this recording made at the Spailpin Finach pub in their home town. Their version of When First into This Country is heard on Volume 1.
Grey Funnel Line — The vocal trio of Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane and Mary Black is truly a "dream team" for lovers of traditional singing. They met for the first time in Nashville to record for the program, and the result was two unforgettable performances; Sonny (see Volume 1) and this sea shanty, The Grey Funnel Line. Declan Sinnott is their accompanist.
Gone Girl — America's Westward expansion in the mid-nineteenth century saw thousands of newly arrived Irishmen heading into the territories to work on the railroad or as cowboys. The resulting Irish presence in the West was represented in the series by the legendary "Cowboy" Jack Clement singing Gone Girl, live in his Nashville studio. This recording appears here for the first time.
A Stór Mo Chroi — A Stór Mo Chroi (O Love of my Heart) is a venerable emigration song whose lyrics begin, "A Stór Mo Chroi, When you are far away, From the home you'll soon he leaving..." Here, it is performed with great emotion by uillean piper Liam O'Flynn; the pipes suit the desolate mood of this plaintive air. A vocal version of the song, sung by Dolores Keane's aunts Sara and Rita, appears on Bringing It All Back Home, Volume 3.
