Great that Jenks was so supportive…and,I’m gutted (all these years later)to have missed Planxty at the MSG!
After reading your comments,I had a Planxty youtube session…always enjoyable,but made me wonder what’s in cyberspace,that I hadn’t yet seen.This might not be new to you,but I’ve just come across a really good piece,that has a Dylan quote about Planxty! So,head to http://www.toppermost.co uk put ‘Planxty’ in the search box…click on ‘Planxty’,when the heading appears and there’s a really good article with some video.
Hey Christy, Rebecca is right, and that was cemented by a trip up at first light to Glasgow today to take my 22m grandaughter to the park. Travelling back down the M74 late morning i selected Magic Nights.
Well what a wonderful time i had listening ,for example, to Cathal’s fiddle on A Pair of Brown Eyes accompanying the rest of you, and then honestly tears in the eyes listening to Irish Pagan Ritual, singing with you at the top of my voice, whilst remebering the fabulous night myself , Jayo and Antoinette had as part of the recorded chorus in the tent by the Lee.
Bring back the gigs wherever you can, setup the lads to stir the nest of whichever you all feel right about in the long list of tunes, record whatever you fancy , we will all lap it up.
regards and thanks for the sing a long today in my car,
Rory
Christy's reply
Thanks Rory…as always,your response to the songs is deeply personal, always appreciated…..you bring me back to that night in The Marquee by the River Lee and 4,500 listeners singing gloriously on Albert Niland’s “Irish Pagan Ritual”….
then you write about the M74 and remind me of my first drive to Glasgow up the old A74 in 1967…. in my Blue 1955 VW Beetle ( divided back windows, a/c thru hole in the floor) (have Yamaha FG180 & sleeping bag will travel)…..it was some haul from Manchester to Glasgow in ’67…Hamish Imlach had organised a few gigs for me and I was welcomed into his Home by Wilma and their young family..I played the Glasgow Folk Centre for Drew Moyes, the Paisley club for Danny Kyle then on up to The Elbow Room in Kircaldy wwhere I befriended Josh McCrae (Messin about in the River) and the Torbane hipsters…it was the start of a great love affair with Scotland which lingers in my heart to this very day
“as I went out by Huntley Town one evenin for to fee
I met wi’ Bogey o’ Cairnee and wi’ him I did agree”……(in Kildare dialect)
Hello Christy,
Please have confidence in your instincts. They are beautifully honed. Your phrasing of ride on amid the barrowland madness was gorgeous to my ear. Exquisite.
If there’s any small help I can offer, please ask.
I hope this is not presumptuous, it certainly is not meant to be.
Rebecca
a sign in a club that read ‘no turn unstoned’ …and,playing the second set of a gig after ‘the meat raffle’…Jenks,probably topped the pile-MSG on stage sign -warning off ‘p*ss artists’…never an understated venue!
Sad to read of the passing of Wayne Fontana…never met him,but it always seems like the many stories about him weren’t exaggerated.Such a talent (and understated US fame in the 60s)often badly advised,and very much ‘of the times’.I’m sure his name will ring some memory bells for you. D
Christy's reply
Jenks…I see him like it was last week…he ruled the MSG like he was Col.Parker…he was very much a Jazz man, frustrated that Folk music was the more popular genre in his venue…
for a year I turned up at the Mon night Singers club hoping that MC Droney would let me sing…gradually things improved for me..I got my first Sunday night support slot ( 10 minutes) with The Yetties… a while later I got a Sat night support slot to Johnny Silvo….3 years later I returned with Planxty and we had the main slot on the Saturday night…fair play to Jenks…he was happy to see us doing well..he even bought me a drink
Hello Christy,
You said you are gathering a new collection together.
How’s the basket of songs looking? I hope you don’t mind Mr asking.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
Thursday night it looked very good,
Friday some doubts crept in,
this morning I’m not so sure,
I need to reassess, resound,
its the most difficult time
its a totally alone time
what sounds good and fresh at 9am can sometimes sour by dusk
time alone can tell, and we got plenty of that
It would be a treat to roll up to Mrs Wilson’s for a breakfast chat! Some day-back in the ‘real world’…
Looking forward to round 2 with Des,whenever possible…also,looking at the TG4 schedule (with envy and an eye on cyberspace).The Fleadh broadcasts look enticing…such an impressive channel.
Ah well – the music’s keeping the spirits high…
Dave
Christy's reply
For decades, Saturday Night always shone brightly, every auld concert hall, arts centre,hotel, lounge, tap-room had some sort of turn on a Saturday night…The Bay Horse in Bentley, Anchor House in Middlesboro, The Blythe Tavern, The Barley Mow in Sheffield, Sunday mornings could be a bit shakey but we soon resined the bow and struck off down the road to the next gathering
Christy i bring good news,
There is hope , despite the regular news highlighting the apparent instability of world ‘leaders’ in usa, middle east, uk, brazil…(where do i stop?) , i have decided that our young musicians will lead us beyond the madness. The future is in safe hands.
In Ireland David Keenan, Matt McGinn, CS (15) …in Scotland Declan welsh, Mohsen Amini, Kim Carnie …and so the list goes on.
So when we get fed up with Tramp, Nitanyahu, Or-ban, BoSINaro etc etc, take solace in the bright musical future our weans are promising.
rory
ps have a marvel at Declan Welsh’s ‘white man in Palestine’ for a poetic kick start perhaps
hogging t’guestbook…just read sad news about the passing of CP Lee.Manchester legend/good bloke…Dylan expert (great ‘Judas’ shout book)/author-film buff/lecturer.An academic at Salford Uni and prolific on tv/film.
Affable and good company,its ‘another good one gone’…D
Just been playing ‘Blow the wind Southerly’…I wonder if you’ve ever fancied it?…it works well in G and would be great for your picking style…a Northumbrian song,apparently-probably one of the first trad songs to reel me in,at an impressionable age…
Katleen Ferrier lived in Silloth when she was ‘Mrs Wilson’,hence the cafe tribute…
love the ‘black keys’ line.and always a mystery tour via these pages…D
Christy's reply
Silloth…never heard of the place before…..Kathleen’s voice lingers
…and salutations to Pat for the RTE link.What a gem of a programme…a sunny day and I’m back at Primary school,listening to Kathleen Ferrier…and back in The Cavalcade,M20 ,at a Planxty gig in 1972…the music goes deep,for sure…fantastic to hear such natural chat between you and Des as well.Many thanks.
The Ferrier cafe is in Silloth,West Cumbria…’Mrs Wilson’s’. No website,but facebook/tripadvisor entries,so worth a few minutes online.I’ve never visited,but plan to get there,whenever Mancunians are allowed ‘out to play’again.There’s another crackdown on the bolshies!
Enjoy the day-here’s to part 2 of the RTE Christyfest…
I loved your phrase ‘when a song stills the night’
. Many a time at gigs I didn’t want the applause to start, I wanted the magic/deep sadness of the moment to go on and on…
Christy in many of your songs there is a phrase, a line, a word which stills my heart.
An example or two,
‘I watched my darling wife trying to make the best of life’
‘When I awoke I was frightened’
‘Ann Lovett died upon the holy ground’
I could fill a thesis with these heart-rending moments, for others there are surely other lines.
Looning forward to part two this evening… Fair play dhuit agus do Des!
Christy's reply
thanks for sharing the link…..
“snow falls gently on a mining town”
“they leech the light right out of a room”
“some will rob you with a 6 gun
some with a fountain pen”
Hello Christy,
I listened to your interview with Des, then went looking for the Liam O’Flynn slow air. So lovely and vocal . His music has so much air in it. Translucent, like light shines through. I should shut up really, he always does this to me.
Steve said this morning that his pipes feel alive. He’s playing the right instrument I think 😊
https://youtu.be/tB8ITQGp-is
Here’s a video of a woman playing a piano with only white keys. Apart from it being amazing I think it misses something? When you play one string on a harp all the others vibrate too. It does the same if you put your voice in behind the soundboard.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
sure does…I got a bit fed up with it after 30 seconds…goes to prove…black keys matter…
An ace selection! ‘Blow the wind Southerly’is magical -when travelling is back,I plan a cuppa in a Cumbrian cafe that is dedicated to Ms Ferrier…
RTE should be the envy of the Beeb etc…a brilliant medium ,so well used .Fair play to all who set up the programmes.Really looking forward to finding them.
All the best,as ever
Dave
Christy's reply
they dont give the music on the RTE player…what a pity…D.I.D.on the beeb give 8 seconds on playback
where is the Cumbrian Cafe ?
‘The Guardian’ online often has ‘comments’ boxes after articles.Regular escape routes for ranting about the ‘politicians’ here.Along with your sessions,they helped me through lockdown.
Yesterday,there was a good piece on music in lockdown.I posted about ‘folk’,mentioning your sessions and Gerry Diver’s piece .Happy to report that a reader replied that they’d greatly enjoyed your session 8 and let me have details of a German festival,based on diverse Balkans music (Andy Irvine’s area,for sure).So,here’s the link and I hope you/others get chance to enjoy the variety… http://www.morgenland-festival.com
I’ll also be tracking down the RTE programmes asap.Sounds intriguing.Was it another Nokia production or is it ok for the studios now?
All the best from the Suffragette city lockdown lite.
Dave
Christy's reply
Dessie Cahill organised a quiet room 100 yards from our hall door…I rambled down and it was all set up and ready to roll…had a most enjoyable chat for a few hours…they edited 2 half hour programmes..the first one went out last night…I chose “Blow the wind Southerly” by Kathleen Ferrier, “Fall to Pieces”by Patsy Cline and “Táimse im Codhladh”by Liam Óg O’Flynn and Donal Lunny…
The second episode runs this evening….I picked “Long Balconies” by A Lazarus Soul, “The Man is Alive”by Luka Bloom and “Brennan on The Moor” by The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem….I did my first RTE radio interview back in 1968…it was in the GPO in O’Connell Street….since then I’ve had the priviledge and good fortune of a thousand interviews….my chat with Dessie Cahill was up there with the best of them….Gaybo,Parky,Wogan,Gerry Ryan, Gloria Hunniford,Ned Sherrin,Jools, Johnny Walker, Whispering Bob (OGWT),Pat Kenny, Kirsty Laing,Ray Darcy, Liam Nolan, Peter Browne, John Bowman, Gerry Anderson, Gerry Kelly,I’m getting into this litany here Dave !!! Mike Harding,Archie Fisher,Robert Morley (I kid you not !)Marian Finucane (ace lady) Janice Long, Cerys Matthews,John Peel,Carl Corcoran, John Creedon, Ruth Smith,Dave Heffernan,Sean O’Rourke,….my typing finger is giving out here and the porridge is bubbling !!!! ( thank fuck for that says dagrab !!)
Just listening to a recording of Bright Blue Rose. 3 artist on top of their game. Jimmy for writing the song and singing. Christy for living it and adding the emotion and Declan Sinnott for making it complete with the sliding guitar. You make people so happy.
Christy, absolutely loved your chat and reflections with Des about your mammy and daddy. Blow the wind southerly, Patsy Cline…bang on Metallica…flares and clogs, crooning whilst cocooning. And then ‘Boom-Bang-a-Bang-Bang -Bang’ on the bodhrán of course Planxty performing TimeDance on Eurovision song contest…definitely the inspiration for Riverdance – loved the music…heroes all! look forward to part 2. Go well, Mary
What a wonderful chat with Des on DID this evening. At a time where Parents are called various forms of names; it was so refreshing to hear you use the word ” Daddy” on a number of occasions. There is nothing to replace “Daddy” and “Mammy” no matter how the world tries.
“Timedance” was forgotten by many………if only Michael Flattery had got a grab of it !!!!!!
Link to Time dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnPI0qEDO5A
Best Regards.
Christy's reply
Twould be great to see Flatley in the midst of all those ballerinas….he’d be the right man to get them moving
Mornin’ Christy
Great that Jenks was so supportive…and,I’m gutted (all these years later)to have missed Planxty at the MSG!
After reading your comments,I had a Planxty youtube session…always enjoyable,but made me wonder what’s in cyberspace,that I hadn’t yet seen.This might not be new to you,but I’ve just come across a really good piece,that has a Dylan quote about Planxty! So,head to http://www.toppermost.co uk put ‘Planxty’ in the search box…click on ‘Planxty’,when the heading appears and there’s a really good article with some video.
Time for a cuppa now-and I love the Dylan quote!
Have a good day
Dave
Hey Christy, Rebecca is right, and that was cemented by a trip up at first light to Glasgow today to take my 22m grandaughter to the park. Travelling back down the M74 late morning i selected Magic Nights.
Well what a wonderful time i had listening ,for example, to Cathal’s fiddle on A Pair of Brown Eyes accompanying the rest of you, and then honestly tears in the eyes listening to Irish Pagan Ritual, singing with you at the top of my voice, whilst remebering the fabulous night myself , Jayo and Antoinette had as part of the recorded chorus in the tent by the Lee.
Bring back the gigs wherever you can, setup the lads to stir the nest of whichever you all feel right about in the long list of tunes, record whatever you fancy , we will all lap it up.
regards and thanks for the sing a long today in my car,
Rory
Thanks Rory…as always,your response to the songs is deeply personal, always appreciated…..you bring me back to that night in The Marquee by the River Lee and 4,500 listeners singing gloriously on Albert Niland’s “Irish Pagan Ritual”….
then you write about the M74 and remind me of my first drive to Glasgow up the old A74 in 1967…. in my Blue 1955 VW Beetle ( divided back windows, a/c thru hole in the floor) (have Yamaha FG180 & sleeping bag will travel)…..it was some haul from Manchester to Glasgow in ’67…Hamish Imlach had organised a few gigs for me and I was welcomed into his Home by Wilma and their young family..I played the Glasgow Folk Centre for Drew Moyes, the Paisley club for Danny Kyle then on up to The Elbow Room in Kircaldy wwhere I befriended Josh McCrae (Messin about in the River) and the Torbane hipsters…it was the start of a great love affair with Scotland which lingers in my heart to this very day
“as I went out by Huntley Town one evenin for to fee
I met wi’ Bogey o’ Cairnee and wi’ him I did agree”……(in Kildare dialect)
Hello Christy,
Please have confidence in your instincts. They are beautifully honed. Your phrasing of ride on amid the barrowland madness was gorgeous to my ear. Exquisite.
If there’s any small help I can offer, please ask.
I hope this is not presumptuous, it certainly is not meant to be.
Rebecca
You are helping ….thank you
Great memories,Christy
a sign in a club that read ‘no turn unstoned’ …and,playing the second set of a gig after ‘the meat raffle’…Jenks,probably topped the pile-MSG on stage sign -warning off ‘p*ss artists’…never an understated venue!
Sad to read of the passing of Wayne Fontana…never met him,but it always seems like the many stories about him weren’t exaggerated.Such a talent (and understated US fame in the 60s)often badly advised,and very much ‘of the times’.I’m sure his name will ring some memory bells for you. D
Jenks…I see him like it was last week…he ruled the MSG like he was Col.Parker…he was very much a Jazz man, frustrated that Folk music was the more popular genre in his venue…
for a year I turned up at the Mon night Singers club hoping that MC Droney would let me sing…gradually things improved for me..I got my first Sunday night support slot ( 10 minutes) with The Yetties… a while later I got a Sat night support slot to Johnny Silvo….3 years later I returned with Planxty and we had the main slot on the Saturday night…fair play to Jenks…he was happy to see us doing well..he even bought me a drink
Hello Christy,
You said you are gathering a new collection together.
How’s the basket of songs looking? I hope you don’t mind Mr asking.
Rebecca
Thursday night it looked very good,
Friday some doubts crept in,
this morning I’m not so sure,
I need to reassess, resound,
its the most difficult time
its a totally alone time
what sounds good and fresh at 9am can sometimes sour by dusk
time alone can tell, and we got plenty of that
Mornin’ Christy
It would be a treat to roll up to Mrs Wilson’s for a breakfast chat! Some day-back in the ‘real world’…
Looking forward to round 2 with Des,whenever possible…also,looking at the TG4 schedule (with envy and an eye on cyberspace).The Fleadh broadcasts look enticing…such an impressive channel.
Ah well – the music’s keeping the spirits high…
Dave
For decades, Saturday Night always shone brightly, every auld concert hall, arts centre,hotel, lounge, tap-room had some sort of turn on a Saturday night…The Bay Horse in Bentley, Anchor House in Middlesboro, The Blythe Tavern, The Barley Mow in Sheffield, Sunday mornings could be a bit shakey but we soon resined the bow and struck off down the road to the next gathering
Christy i bring good news,
There is hope , despite the regular news highlighting the apparent instability of world ‘leaders’ in usa, middle east, uk, brazil…(where do i stop?) , i have decided that our young musicians will lead us beyond the madness. The future is in safe hands.
In Ireland David Keenan, Matt McGinn, CS (15) …in Scotland Declan welsh, Mohsen Amini, Kim Carnie …and so the list goes on.
So when we get fed up with Tramp, Nitanyahu, Or-ban, BoSINaro etc etc, take solace in the bright musical future our weans are promising.
rory
ps have a marvel at Declan Welsh’s ‘white man in Palestine’ for a poetic kick start perhaps
Thanks for Declan Welsh…..
Many thanks for the RTE link on your ‘news’ section…a great second half anticipated! D
Sorry,Christy
hogging t’guestbook…just read sad news about the passing of CP Lee.Manchester legend/good bloke…Dylan expert (great ‘Judas’ shout book)/author-film buff/lecturer.An academic at Salford Uni and prolific on tv/film.
Affable and good company,its ‘another good one gone’…D
Hi Christy
Just been playing ‘Blow the wind Southerly’…I wonder if you’ve ever fancied it?…it works well in G and would be great for your picking style…a Northumbrian song,apparently-probably one of the first trad songs to reel me in,at an impressionable age…
Katleen Ferrier lived in Silloth when she was ‘Mrs Wilson’,hence the cafe tribute…
love the ‘black keys’ line.and always a mystery tour via these pages…D
Silloth…never heard of the place before…..Kathleen’s voice lingers
Half time in the big match with Des…. and it’s looking like a classic……
Looking forward to the 2nd half this evening…..
Rain Stopped Play…
Dessie tells me that the replay will be at 6.30 on Monday…
Hi Christy
…and salutations to Pat for the RTE link.What a gem of a programme…a sunny day and I’m back at Primary school,listening to Kathleen Ferrier…and back in The Cavalcade,M20 ,at a Planxty gig in 1972…the music goes deep,for sure…fantastic to hear such natural chat between you and Des as well.Many thanks.
The Ferrier cafe is in Silloth,West Cumbria…’Mrs Wilson’s’. No website,but facebook/tripadvisor entries,so worth a few minutes online.I’ve never visited,but plan to get there,whenever Mancunians are allowed ‘out to play’again.There’s another crackdown on the bolshies!
Enjoy the day-here’s to part 2 of the RTE Christyfest…
Dave
See you in Mrs Wilson’s
Black keys matter.
I love it. 😀😄😀
Grand show Christy, here is a link to ‘listen again’ if some guest book guests couldn’t get there first time
https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/share/radio1/11221884
I loved your phrase ‘when a song stills the night’
. Many a time at gigs I didn’t want the applause to start, I wanted the magic/deep sadness of the moment to go on and on…
Christy in many of your songs there is a phrase, a line, a word which stills my heart.
An example or two,
‘I watched my darling wife trying to make the best of life’
‘When I awoke I was frightened’
‘Ann Lovett died upon the holy ground’
I could fill a thesis with these heart-rending moments, for others there are surely other lines.
Looning forward to part two this evening… Fair play dhuit agus do Des!
thanks for sharing the link…..
“snow falls gently on a mining town”
“they leech the light right out of a room”
“some will rob you with a 6 gun
some with a fountain pen”
“anyone for the last few choc ices”
Hello Christy,
I listened to your interview with Des, then went looking for the Liam O’Flynn slow air. So lovely and vocal . His music has so much air in it. Translucent, like light shines through. I should shut up really, he always does this to me.
Steve said this morning that his pipes feel alive. He’s playing the right instrument I think 😊
https://youtu.be/tB8ITQGp-is
Here’s a video of a woman playing a piano with only white keys. Apart from it being amazing I think it misses something? When you play one string on a harp all the others vibrate too. It does the same if you put your voice in behind the soundboard.
Rebecca
sure does…I got a bit fed up with it after 30 seconds…goes to prove…black keys matter…
Brilliant,Christy
An ace selection! ‘Blow the wind Southerly’is magical -when travelling is back,I plan a cuppa in a Cumbrian cafe that is dedicated to Ms Ferrier…
RTE should be the envy of the Beeb etc…a brilliant medium ,so well used .Fair play to all who set up the programmes.Really looking forward to finding them.
All the best,as ever
Dave
they dont give the music on the RTE player…what a pity…D.I.D.on the beeb give 8 seconds on playback
where is the Cumbrian Cafe ?
Hi Christy
‘The Guardian’ online often has ‘comments’ boxes after articles.Regular escape routes for ranting about the ‘politicians’ here.Along with your sessions,they helped me through lockdown.
Yesterday,there was a good piece on music in lockdown.I posted about ‘folk’,mentioning your sessions and Gerry Diver’s piece .Happy to report that a reader replied that they’d greatly enjoyed your session 8 and let me have details of a German festival,based on diverse Balkans music (Andy Irvine’s area,for sure).So,here’s the link and I hope you/others get chance to enjoy the variety…
http://www.morgenland-festival.com
I’ll also be tracking down the RTE programmes asap.Sounds intriguing.Was it another Nokia production or is it ok for the studios now?
All the best from the Suffragette city lockdown lite.
Dave
Dessie Cahill organised a quiet room 100 yards from our hall door…I rambled down and it was all set up and ready to roll…had a most enjoyable chat for a few hours…they edited 2 half hour programmes..the first one went out last night…I chose “Blow the wind Southerly” by Kathleen Ferrier, “Fall to Pieces”by Patsy Cline and “Táimse im Codhladh”by Liam Óg O’Flynn and Donal Lunny…
The second episode runs this evening….I picked “Long Balconies” by A Lazarus Soul, “The Man is Alive”by Luka Bloom and “Brennan on The Moor” by The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem….I did my first RTE radio interview back in 1968…it was in the GPO in O’Connell Street….since then I’ve had the priviledge and good fortune of a thousand interviews….my chat with Dessie Cahill was up there with the best of them….Gaybo,Parky,Wogan,Gerry Ryan, Gloria Hunniford,Ned Sherrin,Jools, Johnny Walker, Whispering Bob (OGWT),Pat Kenny, Kirsty Laing,Ray Darcy, Liam Nolan, Peter Browne, John Bowman, Gerry Anderson, Gerry Kelly,I’m getting into this litany here Dave !!! Mike Harding,Archie Fisher,Robert Morley (I kid you not !)Marian Finucane (ace lady) Janice Long, Cerys Matthews,John Peel,Carl Corcoran, John Creedon, Ruth Smith,Dave Heffernan,Sean O’Rourke,….my typing finger is giving out here and the porridge is bubbling !!!! ( thank fuck for that says dagrab !!)
Just listening to a recording of Bright Blue Rose. 3 artist on top of their game. Jimmy for writing the song and singing. Christy for living it and adding the emotion and Declan Sinnott for making it complete with the sliding guitar. You make people so happy.
always good to hear from a Bray Wanderer
Christy, absolutely loved your chat and reflections with Des about your mammy and daddy. Blow the wind southerly, Patsy Cline…bang on Metallica…flares and clogs, crooning whilst cocooning. And then ‘Boom-Bang-a-Bang-Bang -Bang’ on the bodhrán of course Planxty performing TimeDance on Eurovision song contest…definitely the inspiration for Riverdance – loved the music…heroes all! look forward to part 2. Go well, Mary
táimse im codhladh
Hi Christy,
What a wonderful chat with Des on DID this evening. At a time where Parents are called various forms of names; it was so refreshing to hear you use the word ” Daddy” on a number of occasions. There is nothing to replace “Daddy” and “Mammy” no matter how the world tries.
“Timedance” was forgotten by many………if only Michael Flattery had got a grab of it !!!!!!
Link to Time dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnPI0qEDO5A
Best Regards.
Twould be great to see Flatley in the midst of all those ballerinas….he’d be the right man to get them moving