Nearly travel time- for you and the lucky few…I’m currently banned from Scotland (not just me, but all Gr Manchester residents)so, the prospect of travelling feels like mission impossible – hopefully, it’s not!
Have a great weekend. I’m finally getting around to ‘doing a Rory’ and re soaking up the box set…starting at the beginning on the yellow disc – so many wonderful sounds and depth of songs – and, an idea for the tour title, as suggested earlier…
I’m in for ‘the avalanche of suits’ tour (one of the best lines ever)…it’ll go with the aftershave and hairspray aromas that will be filling the halls from Galway to Glasgow…I really hope the gigs can happen soon…until they do, all the best for Saturday – what a lineup.
Hi C. Beidh fíor fáilte roimh ar ais go dti an Riocht Dé Sathairn, I was so excited I thought the gig was tomorrow but no two more sleeps !! It will be different, strange and wonderful, there is a good, diverse line up and perhaps the first of many le cunamh Dé. Safe travelling all !! cóimeád slán, beir bua agus beannacht. H
Hi Christy,
By now I’m sure you are in full “prep” mode for your visit to the Kingdom. Wishing you every good vibration for the Gig, and hopefully this Trial will be the beginning of the return to more and more Live Gigs.
Best Wishes.
Patsy
Great to hear the album is almost complete. Always great excitement and anticipation before delving into another set of songs…great beauty in the process..
Waking the sand at Rossnowlagh last weekend, I met Johnny M, kind as ever to stop for a few moments and shoot the breeze.. itching for gigs…like all of us…
No doubt you’re in training for a return to the Kingdom… Peter Keane will be on the look out..
Hi Christy,
great to hear you’r at the ‘icing the cake’ stage of completing the new album. A lot of artists actually name individual tours (next years Elton John tour is the ‘Im Still Standing’ tour). I know you have your work cut out with deciding a name for the new album so I will throw the question out to fellow guestbook contributors for a name for your first few, long awaited, post lockdown gigs, How about the ‘Paddy (back) On The Road’ or the ‘Come All You Dreamers’ tour. Whatever it’s called I’m sure I speak on behalf of many when I say the dates can’t come soon enough…Slainte John
Hello Christy,
I can’t wait to hear your new songs. Getting new stuff from you is always such a joy. I made a patchwork quilt many years ago. It’s full of vibrant blues and reds. It gets more interesting the more you look at it. Just like what you do.
I did a lot of listening yesterday to your and John’s Lord Baker. Your version on Words and Music is the zenith for me.
But I think I started to understand what you said about John Reilly. His freedom is all of his nature. He made me think of a blackbird singing and how stupid it would be to try and capture that in rigid black dots. Like smoke curling in the air or currents of water in a river.
I think I’ve got a long path ahead of me. It takes me ages to get inside tunes at the best of times. Right now it’s feeling really exciting!
Rebecca
Christy's reply
I wish you well upon your journey….for the past 40 years I’ve seldom sung Lord Baker… always accapella …that 1982 Planxty recording was the only time I’ve sung it with accompaniment…..
I love your analogy of “smoke curling in the air” to John’s way of singing…John grew up on the road… sleeping either in a covered wagon or in a bow tent by the side of the road …most of his repertoire was gleaned form the singing of his Father and the “old” folk….
How I’d love to sit with him tonight in Bridie Grehan’s and have a quiet chat about the old ways
I hope life is treating you well. We cannot wait to get back to seeing you live, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere. And soon hopefully.
You and your team treated my family and me magically at Carrick-on-Shannon a couple of years ago. Specifically my mum and dad. Seats down the front just made it even more special.
Unfortunately things aren’t quite going to plan for my mum (Agnes). She’s been in for an operation and it hasn’t turned out as we would all have expected. She is looking at months and months to recover from post op infection. Right at this time she is feeling really poorly as you could imagine.
I wondered if, and i hate asking, you could send her a wee message in a reply that would maybe just cheer her right up. She absolutely adores you and Declan and we have had some of our fondest memories following you round Scotland and Ireland. You sang The Voyage for her and my dad two and a half years ago at the Concert Hall in Glasgow and it has become their absolute very favourite tune. Shes definitely on a voyage now, we just pray that it’s a good one.
I’ve been re playing Judy Collins recently/ enjoying her approach to the songs.
I’m curious about ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ (‘Wandering Aengus’)…I’m not being critical of Ms Collins, but your version has a depth that adds a greater weight to the song. It might be that the story is better suited to a male voice (as a narrator, almost), but its also about your phrasing. Any thoughts or recollections about the way you approached your version? It’s a real gem…
The tune to Apples/ Aengus is superb as well. I know the ‘Golden Apples’ title was popularised in the early 60s, but I wonder if the tune’s origins are trad…
All the best with gig/ recording
Dave
Christy's reply
I first heard it sung by Richie Havens who’s version brought me in….
some years ago I met Judy Collins briefly at The Sage in Newcastle when we both played that great venue above The Tyne…
I got to hear Richie in Dublin about 20 years ago….Its a long standing regret that I did not join the queue if only to shake his hand…he was a great artist..warm and good humoured …I also covered his version of “On The Run” back in 1983 but did not do it justice..
I love singing “Wandering Aengus”…I’d be more at my ease singing it tonight then I was back in 1983..I just had a listen to it on the back of your mention…I was burning very different fuel back then
Thanks Christy,
I get what you mean about Musgrave. The structure of it helps and it flows easily once you become it. The words and people. When I was a month or two in, I could just about get through it, after a fashion. Now I feel like I’ve started doing it a bit of justice.
I think I’ll listen to Lord Baker a few times today, both you and John. I’ll see if I can understand what you said. That’s a starting point. If I can’t understand what you mean I’ll have to leave it for a bit longer.
It feels like trying to learn an opera. Baby steps.
Thanks again Christy.
Hello Christy,
How’s the album going?
It feels like there’s nothing going on here. Kind of struggling with that. I’m learning new songs.
Parting glass
Athenry
Both beautiful tunes and words and very doable.
A rainy night in soho
Feels like Shane was musing his way through it.
The contender
Ancient rain. The chords are nuts and I don’t think it’s even possible on a lever harp. Maybe for a virtuoso.
I’m wondering about Lord Baker. Musgrave took me months and months. Still learning. Maybe I need something to get my teeth into.
I’ll stop waffling now.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
goin very well..I think..I hope..time alone will tell..
most of the recording done..just a few overdubs to drop in…then some mixing…decide on a title… bring the artwork together…
for the first time in 18 months I’m not working on any new songs…
I spent years at Lord Baker ……Musgrave had a basic structure…John’s Baker was full of detours…I wanted to follow his path …..John sang freely, he did not limit his renditions to any fixed structure…..I once saw him pause in a song, sip a drop of porter,then continue with a variant melody….he sang like a bird
maybe its time for me to learn another John Reilly ballad
I tried Jimmy Mack’s “Ancient Rain” many years ago..could not manage it…Mary Coughlan did a lovely version…
Hi Christy,
Thanks for all the great songs down through the years, especially during lockdown.
I wanted to tell you about an installation that my nephew Rory Leadbetter Jerpoint Glass Studio, has in his garden. It is a stone structure of a boat and inside are five figures, three children and parents. Names in ogham writing. Around the edge the words of ” the Voyage” engraved on Glass jerpoint glass of course. Last line, and now all around me I have my own crew….if you are in kilkenny over the summer we’ d be delighted to see you, best regards
Joan Cleere.
Hello Christy and All,
I’m going to an actual gig this weekend! Steve’s uilleann pipes teacher Becky Taylor is playing in Sowerby Bridge. I’m having my haircut in honour of it.
I love the folk gallery. Thanks for all the notes on it, Christy.
Have you noticed how in old pics, it’s often the weird little things in the background that are the best bits?
I keep seeing pics of the Conor Pass. I was there in January 2020. One day the cloud was sitting on the mountain. A hair raising drive up and down. At the top it was like being enveloped in cotton wool. So quiet. The next day I took some dark green and pale blue pictures. Beautiful colours. The colours in summer are deep and vibrant blues and greens. Need to get back there and feel the air.
Long lost years ago
In a different time and place
Growing up innocent and free
A day on the big was some place I hated to be.
Lonely. isolated, cold, and damp.
Never my favorite place to camp.
The auld lad would always say
I’ll give u a choice, the bog or the hay
The hay says I , leave me at the hay, I still hate the bog to this very day..
Years have rolled on ,the auld lad is gone.
I sailed far away from my home town
But every now and then when I kneel down to pay,
I thank God there’s no bog in the usa.
Hi Christy and all. Many thanks for photo gallery link Rebecca, what a long visit down memory lane that proved to be. I remember going to see Alex Campbell at what is now Bury Met but was the Derby Hall, there were others on too but am not blessed with far memory! The reason I remember AC so well, he was top of the bill and decided to spit at the audience at the end as an encore! We rather regretted our front row seats. Remember Gary and Vera Asbey too they were always in the folk clubs around this area and as far as I knowI are still going strong. Great photos. Pam
Christy's reply
I’m remembering “The Valley Folk” and their Sat night club in Bury….I think it was in The Blue Bell
Great sleuth work by Rebecca… the photo gallery is an ace time capsule. So good to see youthful photos of many who went on to have long, successful careers. Fair play to Brian for documenting multi genres…rock and pop – Beatles, Stones, Hollies + Sonny Boy Williamson and Champion Jack Dupree (was he a Halifax resident?)
My personal notes – brilliant to see you with 2/3 of the future ‘Therapy’. The ‘missing’ 1/3 being Fiona Simpson, who also had a great solo stint.
Tim and Maddy – icons and great people.
Packie Byrne – Tony Capstick, Bernard Wrigley… so good and so many wonderful memories.
Brilliant that Brian is remembered fondly and that he’s left such a treasure trove as a legacy. Funny about Paul Simon being turned down at the Jenny – ‘Kodachrome’ is quite apt now…
Dave
Christy's reply
when I lived in Halifax the “Singing Jenny” was but a stones throw…..always a great welcome from Brian
For the solstice https://youtu.be/i5kPN_Ti_R0
I have a garden full of blackbirds. Mr and Mrs hopping round with mouths full of worms. Another one singing his heart of from a tree.
Christy's reply
thanks for that post..Declan and I got into some sweet tunes across the years..
Great to get a glimpse of Brian’s Legacy…he was a lovely man
a few comments..
the Piper with peter Bellamy in p98 is the legendary Francie McPeake….his band The McPeakes made a great sound that inflenced many who witnessed it..
in p93 Eamon Clinch is with Finbar and Eddie…Eamon fronted The Beggarmen wit Gerry Brady…they were the most popular Folk band in manchester in the mid 60s
p209 also includes luminaries of the Leeds Folk scene Alma Ford, Hazel Spray, Bob and Carol Pegg who formed a Band called Mr Fox
Hello Christy,
I was thinking about what you said about the singing jenny in Huddersfield.
There’s, a fantastic website about Brian Lawton, don’t know if you’ve seen it? http://brianlawtonproject.org.uk/folk-memories/
Rebwcca
Christy's reply
The Singing Jenny was based in The Polish Club in Wood St…The Manager had a great collection of exotic Polish Vodkas in which I showed an interest….I had a few lock-ins there… recollection is sparse but there were a few awful hang-overs
Last night’s thoughts of Richard Farina, reminded me to check in on the Berkeley falcons in California. Clicked on the webcam link and there’s an empty nesting box…all juveniles have fledged! Brilliant news and footage hopefully, available somewhere in the archive tapes.
Not too late to remember Farina’s music though – it links to Mimi and Joan Baez,plus many more – never a bad thing…
I can almost put myself there, Dave (I have Lost On The River saved to stream and been listening that way so long I don’t notice gaps in sound anymore). Over past fifteen years or so I’ve seen this musician or that film actor say they were at Joni’s when ‘Blue’ was being recorded. If I still ran into some that crowd I’d tell them I was too, if record got mentioned.
Hi Christy
Nearly travel time- for you and the lucky few…I’m currently banned from Scotland (not just me, but all Gr Manchester residents)so, the prospect of travelling feels like mission impossible – hopefully, it’s not!
Have a great weekend. I’m finally getting around to ‘doing a Rory’ and re soaking up the box set…starting at the beginning on the yellow disc – so many wonderful sounds and depth of songs – and, an idea for the tour title, as suggested earlier…
I’m in for ‘the avalanche of suits’ tour (one of the best lines ever)…it’ll go with the aftershave and hairspray aromas that will be filling the halls from Galway to Glasgow…I really hope the gigs can happen soon…until they do, all the best for Saturday – what a lineup.
Dave
just gotta pack the panniers and saddle the pony
Hi C. Beidh fíor fáilte roimh ar ais go dti an Riocht Dé Sathairn, I was so excited I thought the gig was tomorrow but no two more sleeps !! It will be different, strange and wonderful, there is a good, diverse line up and perhaps the first of many le cunamh Dé. Safe travelling all !! cóimeád slán, beir bua agus beannacht. H
A boat sailed out of Brandon in the year of 501
Hi Christy,
By now I’m sure you are in full “prep” mode for your visit to the Kingdom. Wishing you every good vibration for the Gig, and hopefully this Trial will be the beginning of the return to more and more Live Gigs.
Best Wishes.
Patsy
its a waiting game Patsy….Easy Does It
Hi Christy
Great to hear the album is almost complete. Always great excitement and anticipation before delving into another set of songs…great beauty in the process..
Waking the sand at Rossnowlagh last weekend, I met Johnny M, kind as ever to stop for a few moments and shoot the breeze.. itching for gigs…like all of us…
No doubt you’re in training for a return to the Kingdom… Peter Keane will be on the look out..
Keep er lit
Kev
All set
Hi Christy,
great to hear you’r at the ‘icing the cake’ stage of completing the new album. A lot of artists actually name individual tours (next years Elton John tour is the ‘Im Still Standing’ tour). I know you have your work cut out with deciding a name for the new album so I will throw the question out to fellow guestbook contributors for a name for your first few, long awaited, post lockdown gigs, How about the ‘Paddy (back) On The Road’ or the ‘Come All You Dreamers’ tour. Whatever it’s called I’m sure I speak on behalf of many when I say the dates can’t come soon enough…Slainte John
Thanks John….
Hello Christy,
I can’t wait to hear your new songs. Getting new stuff from you is always such a joy. I made a patchwork quilt many years ago. It’s full of vibrant blues and reds. It gets more interesting the more you look at it. Just like what you do.
I did a lot of listening yesterday to your and John’s Lord Baker. Your version on Words and Music is the zenith for me.
But I think I started to understand what you said about John Reilly. His freedom is all of his nature. He made me think of a blackbird singing and how stupid it would be to try and capture that in rigid black dots. Like smoke curling in the air or currents of water in a river.
I think I’ve got a long path ahead of me. It takes me ages to get inside tunes at the best of times. Right now it’s feeling really exciting!
Rebecca
I wish you well upon your journey….for the past 40 years I’ve seldom sung Lord Baker… always accapella …that 1982 Planxty recording was the only time I’ve sung it with accompaniment…..
I love your analogy of “smoke curling in the air” to John’s way of singing…John grew up on the road… sleeping either in a covered wagon or in a bow tent by the side of the road …most of his repertoire was gleaned form the singing of his Father and the “old” folk….
How I’d love to sit with him tonight in Bridie Grehan’s and have a quiet chat about the old ways
Hey, Christy
I hope life is treating you well. We cannot wait to get back to seeing you live, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere. And soon hopefully.
You and your team treated my family and me magically at Carrick-on-Shannon a couple of years ago. Specifically my mum and dad. Seats down the front just made it even more special.
Unfortunately things aren’t quite going to plan for my mum (Agnes). She’s been in for an operation and it hasn’t turned out as we would all have expected. She is looking at months and months to recover from post op infection. Right at this time she is feeling really poorly as you could imagine.
I wondered if, and i hate asking, you could send her a wee message in a reply that would maybe just cheer her right up. She absolutely adores you and Declan and we have had some of our fondest memories following you round Scotland and Ireland. You sang The Voyage for her and my dad two and a half years ago at the Concert Hall in Glasgow and it has become their absolute very favourite tune. Shes definitely on a voyage now, we just pray that it’s a good one.
All the best
Frankie
Hi Christy
I’ve been re playing Judy Collins recently/ enjoying her approach to the songs.
I’m curious about ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ (‘Wandering Aengus’)…I’m not being critical of Ms Collins, but your version has a depth that adds a greater weight to the song. It might be that the story is better suited to a male voice (as a narrator, almost), but its also about your phrasing. Any thoughts or recollections about the way you approached your version? It’s a real gem…
The tune to Apples/ Aengus is superb as well. I know the ‘Golden Apples’ title was popularised in the early 60s, but I wonder if the tune’s origins are trad…
All the best with gig/ recording
Dave
I first heard it sung by Richie Havens who’s version brought me in….
some years ago I met Judy Collins briefly at The Sage in Newcastle when we both played that great venue above The Tyne…
I got to hear Richie in Dublin about 20 years ago….Its a long standing regret that I did not join the queue if only to shake his hand…he was a great artist..warm and good humoured …I also covered his version of “On The Run” back in 1983 but did not do it justice..
I love singing “Wandering Aengus”…I’d be more at my ease singing it tonight then I was back in 1983..I just had a listen to it on the back of your mention…I was burning very different fuel back then
Thanks Christy,
I get what you mean about Musgrave. The structure of it helps and it flows easily once you become it. The words and people. When I was a month or two in, I could just about get through it, after a fashion. Now I feel like I’ve started doing it a bit of justice.
I think I’ll listen to Lord Baker a few times today, both you and John. I’ll see if I can understand what you said. That’s a starting point. If I can’t understand what you mean I’ll have to leave it for a bit longer.
It feels like trying to learn an opera. Baby steps.
Thanks again Christy.
Hello Christy,
How’s the album going?
It feels like there’s nothing going on here. Kind of struggling with that. I’m learning new songs.
Parting glass
Athenry
Both beautiful tunes and words and very doable.
A rainy night in soho
Feels like Shane was musing his way through it.
The contender
Ancient rain. The chords are nuts and I don’t think it’s even possible on a lever harp. Maybe for a virtuoso.
I’m wondering about Lord Baker. Musgrave took me months and months. Still learning. Maybe I need something to get my teeth into.
I’ll stop waffling now.
Rebecca
goin very well..I think..I hope..time alone will tell..
most of the recording done..just a few overdubs to drop in…then some mixing…decide on a title… bring the artwork together…
for the first time in 18 months I’m not working on any new songs…
I spent years at Lord Baker ……Musgrave had a basic structure…John’s Baker was full of detours…I wanted to follow his path …..John sang freely, he did not limit his renditions to any fixed structure…..I once saw him pause in a song, sip a drop of porter,then continue with a variant melody….he sang like a bird
maybe its time for me to learn another John Reilly ballad
I tried Jimmy Mack’s “Ancient Rain” many years ago..could not manage it…Mary Coughlan did a lovely version…
Hi Christy,
Thanks for all the great songs down through the years, especially during lockdown.
I wanted to tell you about an installation that my nephew Rory Leadbetter Jerpoint Glass Studio, has in his garden. It is a stone structure of a boat and inside are five figures, three children and parents. Names in ogham writing. Around the edge the words of ” the Voyage” engraved on Glass jerpoint glass of course. Last line, and now all around me I have my own crew….if you are in kilkenny over the summer we’ d be delighted to see you, best regards
Joan Cleere.
we hope to return to Jerpoint some day
Hello Christy and All,
I’m going to an actual gig this weekend! Steve’s uilleann pipes teacher Becky Taylor is playing in Sowerby Bridge. I’m having my haircut in honour of it.
I love the folk gallery. Thanks for all the notes on it, Christy.
Have you noticed how in old pics, it’s often the weird little things in the background that are the best bits?
I keep seeing pics of the Conor Pass. I was there in January 2020. One day the cloud was sitting on the mountain. A hair raising drive up and down. At the top it was like being enveloped in cotton wool. So quiet. The next day I took some dark green and pale blue pictures. Beautiful colours. The colours in summer are deep and vibrant blues and greens. Need to get back there and feel the air.
Rebecca
freewheel down to Brandon
A day on the big.
Long lost years ago
In a different time and place
Growing up innocent and free
A day on the big was some place I hated to be.
Lonely. isolated, cold, and damp.
Never my favorite place to camp.
The auld lad would always say
I’ll give u a choice, the bog or the hay
The hay says I , leave me at the hay, I still hate the bog to this very day..
Years have rolled on ,the auld lad is gone.
I sailed far away from my home town
But every now and then when I kneel down to pay,
I thank God there’s no bog in the usa.
bringin home the turf….savin the hay
Hi Christy and all. Many thanks for photo gallery link Rebecca, what a long visit down memory lane that proved to be. I remember going to see Alex Campbell at what is now Bury Met but was the Derby Hall, there were others on too but am not blessed with far memory! The reason I remember AC so well, he was top of the bill and decided to spit at the audience at the end as an encore! We rather regretted our front row seats. Remember Gary and Vera Asbey too they were always in the folk clubs around this area and as far as I knowI are still going strong. Great photos. Pam
I’m remembering “The Valley Folk” and their Sat night club in Bury….I think it was in The Blue Bell
Hi Christy
Great sleuth work by Rebecca… the photo gallery is an ace time capsule. So good to see youthful photos of many who went on to have long, successful careers. Fair play to Brian for documenting multi genres…rock and pop – Beatles, Stones, Hollies + Sonny Boy Williamson and Champion Jack Dupree (was he a Halifax resident?)
My personal notes – brilliant to see you with 2/3 of the future ‘Therapy’. The ‘missing’ 1/3 being Fiona Simpson, who also had a great solo stint.
Tim and Maddy – icons and great people.
Packie Byrne – Tony Capstick, Bernard Wrigley… so good and so many wonderful memories.
Brilliant that Brian is remembered fondly and that he’s left such a treasure trove as a legacy. Funny about Paul Simon being turned down at the Jenny – ‘Kodachrome’ is quite apt now…
Dave
when I lived in Halifax the “Singing Jenny” was but a stones throw…..always a great welcome from Brian
For the solstice
https://youtu.be/i5kPN_Ti_R0
I have a garden full of blackbirds. Mr and Mrs hopping round with mouths full of worms. Another one singing his heart of from a tree.
thanks for that post..Declan and I got into some sweet tunes across the years..
Here’s the folk gallery. Loads of great photos of familiar faces.
A very little scrolling (strolling?) gets us to one of you.
http://brianlawtonproject.org.uk/galleries/wppaspec/oc1/cv0/ab4
Great to get a glimpse of Brian’s Legacy…he was a lovely man
a few comments..
the Piper with peter Bellamy in p98 is the legendary Francie McPeake….his band The McPeakes made a great sound that inflenced many who witnessed it..
in p93 Eamon Clinch is with Finbar and Eddie…Eamon fronted The Beggarmen wit Gerry Brady…they were the most popular Folk band in manchester in the mid 60s
p209 also includes luminaries of the Leeds Folk scene Alma Ford, Hazel Spray, Bob and Carol Pegg who formed a Band called Mr Fox
p203 is The Bothy Band
Hello Christy,
I was thinking about what you said about the singing jenny in Huddersfield.
There’s, a fantastic website about Brian Lawton, don’t know if you’ve seen it?
http://brianlawtonproject.org.uk/folk-memories/
Rebwcca
The Singing Jenny was based in The Polish Club in Wood St…The Manager had a great collection of exotic Polish Vodkas in which I showed an interest….I had a few lock-ins there… recollection is sparse but there were a few awful hang-overs
Hi Christy/ all
Last night’s thoughts of Richard Farina, reminded me to check in on the Berkeley falcons in California. Clicked on the webcam link and there’s an empty nesting box…all juveniles have fledged! Brilliant news and footage hopefully, available somewhere in the archive tapes.
Not too late to remember Farina’s music though – it links to Mimi and Joan Baez,plus many more – never a bad thing…
Have a good day
Dave
I can almost put myself there, Dave (I have Lost On The River saved to stream and been listening that way so long I don’t notice gaps in sound anymore). Over past fifteen years or so I’ve seen this musician or that film actor say they were at Joni’s when ‘Blue’ was being recorded. If I still ran into some that crowd I’d tell them I was too, if record got mentioned.