Maurice Hope – August 9, 2016 at 12:32PM
Tags:_AMERICANA
Irish singer-songwriter Christy Moore has long held a special place in my heart, and though for the most part he has gone for material penned by others Moore’s magical edge remains. Lily was produced by sideman, Declan Sinnott (guitar) and recorded in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare and Drogheda, Co Louth with Jimmy Higgins (percussion), Mairtin O’Connor (accordion), Cathal Hayden (fiddle, banjo) and Seamie O’Dowd (mandolin, guitar, harmonica) with harmony vocals from Vickie Keating and Andy Moore to go with the veteran’s guitar and Bodhran.
Strong as it ever has been his great story-telling opens with crucial covers of “Mandolin Mountain”, ‘The Tuam Beat” (Padraig Stevens) and the sensitive “The Gardener” and, he never looks back. Only in subjects used as he speaks of times of another era.
The title-track “Lily” is a co-write with Wally Page, and it touches a number of interesting bases as he speaks of his beloved Kildare, the Curragh, Black & Tans and the gallops of Kildare. Home of the Curragh, a name synonymous with flat horse racing and top end of the bloodstock market, and also where a fine musician or two has come. He also has a fair stab at Declan O’Rourke’s “Lightning, Bird, Wind, River Man” and with new words by Moore, traditional ballad “Green Grows The Laurel” gains a welcome run out.
Moore’s incredible way with a lyric, and ability to draw the listener ever closer to him on singing a ballad is striking. So close you can almost feel his breath the aspect sets him on a level to place him apart. He does great justice to the likes of the aforementioned “Mandolin Mountain”, and with gorgeous lilt running through it “The Tuam Beat” the tempo and mould is set. There is also one from an unlikely source (although the subject and song suit Moore’s story-telling vocals perfectly), Peter Gabriel and his song “Wallflower”. Moore’s love of songs that speak for the working people, social injustice and those of a political nature figure in “Oblivious” (Mick Blake) and finer still, John Spillane “Ballad Patrick Murphy” plus a delightful poem by Cork poet Dave Lordan put to music by Moore, “Lost Tribe Of The Wicklow Mountains”. There is more than enough to whet one’s appetite to go see him the next time he’s in town. If in Ireland it could one of those occasions Moore gives his time in support of some charitable cause, or an intimate show in Co. Clare.
Maurice Hope
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