òran mór

Kevin Dolan as he looked when I first met him in the early '90s

I was psyched the other day when I got an email from an old friend of mine, Kevin Dolan. For anyone who’s read my bio on this site, you’ll know that Kevin was a big influence when I was first considered moving from the punter’s seat to the stage. He and Marty Quirk were extremely supportive when I would show up at The Wild Rover in Manchester, bodhran in hand. Not only did they let me join in on the occasional song, but we had many long conversations about music, songs, and life in general.

Anyway, when I got Kevin’s email, it had been a while since we had last spoken. But he was excited to send me a link to a YouTube video that his bandmate Simon Crawford had put together for one of Kevin’s songs. Called ‘Freedom Road,’ it’s a tribute to the men and women in uniform that serve our country. I thought it was definitely worth sharing…

I’ve always been a fan of Kevin’s songwriting and I even do one that he wrote called ‘Kings Highway‘ — I got that one from a bootleg called “Kevin is Dead.” Long story behind that name…and I dare not get into it here.

As you may know, I don’t usually suggest CDs here, but you might want to check out one of the albums Kevin did with his band, Acoustic Nuisance. Our friends at Ossian USA can hook you up with their first one, and the live album they did a few years ago is on CD Baby.

Of course, nothing beats seeing Kevin perform live. I’m trying to get him to have him come down to Portsmouth to sit-in with Dave and I on a Monday night at Ri Ra, but that hasn’t worked out yet. In the meantime, if you’re up north for a ski weekend, he plays every Sunday at The Shannon Door Pub in Jackson, NH. You should definitely pop-in for a pint, a bite and a song from himself.

Great hearing from you, Kev. Freedom Road is a fine song. Good on ya, me ol’ china!

Seamus Creagh, the great fiddler who we lost too soon, about a month ago, will be remembered later today in an RTE steamed  broadcast called The Rolling Wave.

I’ve loved and learned from his playing – from the day I bought my first of his albums ‘The Dawn’ at a little music shop in Killarney – to the time a couple years ago that I was lucky enough (thanks to Mary Lou Philbin) to play with Seamus in his little session at the Pier Head Pub in Blackrock, just outside of Cork.   He was most friendly and gracious to Jim Burke and I, a couple of yanks who were keen to play a little fiddle next to the master.

I believe these shows are archived  – will investigate and update this post as appropriate.