òran mór

As I mentioned in previous posts, Dave and I are part of a quartet called MUDHOOK, which performs maritime music. Every fall, we get together with our friends Mike Jeanneau (of Boghat) and Alan Eaton to sing shanties, fo’c'sle ballads and contemporary songs of the sea at the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival.

Mudhooking in Market Square

The festival was this past weekend and, as always, we had an absolute blast playing our sets and catching some of the great music from some of the best performers currently on the maritime scene: Ken Sweeney, Bobb Webb, David Coffin, Ken Schatz, Liam Robinson, and others.

This year, we were able to release a special festival edition of our upcoming CD entitled “First Home.” In talking about the CD, however, a couple of people have asked what the album name means.  Actually, the name works on several levels, which is why we liked it so much.

The first connection is to a specific song on the album. ”The honor of ‘first home’” is the folly of the hero in Honor & Praise, a song Mike learned from the singing of Fairport Convention. The hero pushes his ship and his crew in order to be the first merchant vessel back to the home port, which — in part — is how he loses his vessel.

But “First Home” is also how we think of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival particularly. We all met singing and playing at the traditional music sessions in Portsmouth and Mudhook was originally formed four years ago specifically to perform at the PMFF…so the festival is our first home. Since we’re releasing this special edition of our CD at the festival, the name just made sense.

If you were able to make the festival and were kind enough to pick up a copy of this limited release — great. But if you weren’t able to make it and would still like a copy of this special edition, we have a few left and we’d be happy to get one to you. And we’ll have copies at our gigs as long as they last.

Mudhook's first CD - a special edition for the 2010 PMFF

You’ve probably noticed that we haven’t be typing too much this summer…and we apologize to those loyal readers of our humble blog…but it’s been a busy summer with both music and non-music commitments alike:

• I bought a house that needed some work,
• Dave’s been taking a guitar building course (where he’s building a bouzouki — clearly off the curriculum),
• we both are maintaining excellence in our respective day jobs (hi boss),
• and we’ve had a few gigs that we’ve tried to keep you informed about, (and where we’ve been happy to see many of you.)

Great session at Rory O'Connor's, with the Coyne Bros and Tony Giblin, proprietor.

The summer music definitely has been fun. I’ve been enjoying the Sunday session’s at Rory O’Connors, the new pub in Georgetown, MA that’s owned by our friend and fellow troubador Tony Giblin. He and Eamon Coyne host a nice session there on Sunday’s from 6-9 p.m., which was just featured in the local paper. Good food, a nice pint, and music with friends…is there any better way to get mentally prepared for the torture of the week ahead? (hi boss.)

Other highlights from the summer included:

• playing some tunes with Terry Coyne (Eamon’s brother) who was visiting from Liverpool…a fantastic flute and whistle player who has a fair number of songs up his sleeve,
• my getting a chance to meet and sing with THE Johnny McEvoy (I’ll write more on that later),
• Dave headed out to see on the Lannon Irish Music Cruise around Gloucester,
• making some serious headway on our first CD, as well as a CD for Mudhook (the maritime group we’re part of),
• and gearing up with some new songs for the 11th Annual Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival (more on that to come as well).

Dave at the mike, laying down tracks

All in all, it’s been a great summer. We’re wrapping up the summer with a gig up in Wells, ME this Wednesday, Sept. 1…the last show before Labor Day!

Mike Jeanneau -- our Mudhook cohort -- and Jim Prendergast, friend and sound engineer extraordinaire

July has come and gone, and summer is flying by…but we’re looking forward to the Monday’s in August.

The Mad Fisherman's gonna be a daddy!

We were fortunate to kick off this month on Monday with our friend Mike Jeanneau joining us. His wife is expecting their first child (come on, Jacque!), so Mikey figured he’d better sit in while he had the time…’cuz lord knows he ain’t gonna have time soon. It was a great night and we were able to play a few of the maritime songs we’ll be performing together (as Mudhook) at the 11th Annual Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, on September 25 & 26. More on that to come.

Of course, we’ll have other guests dropping by during the month. Personally, I won’t be able to make the 16th, since I have a conflict with the day job…so Dave will likely be joined by our friend Terry Weir.

Regardless, we’re at RiRa every Monday, so feel free to stop in for a half-priced burger, great brews and a song or two.

The pub we love so well

Just a quick blast to remind everyone we’ll be at Kate O’Shea’s in Seabrook tomorrow night, July 23, starting at 7pm. Always a good time, and always a great pint!

There's your man, Ian, behind the bar

 Check ‘em out on Facebook, and then come on down for the craic!

Normally, I like to warm-up the reader with a joke or a tale, but today I’m getting right to the point…NO TIME TO WASTE! Dave and I are going to be blessed with two guests tonight (6/28) when we play RiRa’s in Portsmouth.

The Lovely and Talented...

First up, our long-time friend and talented musical companion Sue Young will be joining us at the table tonight. She’s one of our favorite bodhran players to play with, and she’s got a lovely selection of songs with the voice to match! Tonight, it’s not òran mór…it’s su and mor!

Also, there’s a lad from Clare named Mark who is working this summer at RiRa, and by all accounts he’s quite the fiddle player (apparently he tore up the Sunday session a couple of weeks ago). He promised to bring his fiddle tonight to sit in for a bit…and we can’t wait for some savage tunes!

So come on by, get out of the humidity and have a jar…should be a rare auld night.