Album Notes

This CD features the musical group, Guaranteed Irish: Bruce Foley, Paddy Folan and Jimmy Lamb playing in a small session and features some of their favorite music.

This is a great album, recorded live in a studio with 40+ of our friends. We had a lot of fun recording in a session-like situation at Audiomation Studios. The recording quality is superb and we were very happy with how the music came out. This album has a very personal feel to it with a good variety of songs and tunes. A small bit of post-session work was done to add some whistle tracks (Bruce is too clumsy to play the whistle and guitar at the same time).

1. RAMBLIN' BOY (Tom Paxton) ~ a song about life on the road and the camaraderie between two friends. Tom Paxton has written so many ballads that will last for hundreds of years. This is the first one of his that I learned as a teenager. [Bruce]

2. NANCY WHISKEY (Traditional) ~ this Scottish ballad gives a moral story on the life of a hard drinker who loved the drink so much that he gave it a woman's name. The chorus is a favorite of many fans; young and old. [Bruce]

3. LONG, LONG BEFORE YOUR TIME (Johnny McEvoy) ~ Johnny McEvoy had a huge hit with this ballad depicting a conversation between a father and daughter. It would be difficult to find a song with more touching lyrics. [Paddy]

4. KEVIN BARRY (Traditional) ~ a rebel ballad that tells the true story of how a young rebel was threatened with hanging but refused to give in. [Bruce]

5. THE GREEN AND RED MAYO ~ a song from the Galway group, The Saw Doctors. You can't help but get the thought of staying in Ireland when you are looking out on a beautiful Mayo sunset. This song captures that feeling. [Jimmy]

6. JIGS: THE RAMBLING PITCHFORK / SADDLE THE PONY (Traditional) ~ a couple of favorites played on the button accordion and uilleann pipes.

7. YOHO VALLEY (Wilf Carter) ~ I learned this from Hugh Montgomery, a singer in northern Ontario. Wilf Carter (also known as Montana Slim) was a prolific writer of songs that always told a story. The YoHo Valley is in the Canadian Rocky mountains, near Banff National Park. Wilf wrote this song on the spot for a girl he was trying to impress. It involves a bit of yodeling and was a favorite of the well known Connemara musician (and good friend), Frank King. [Bruce]

8. WAXIE'S DARGLE (Traditional) ~ an old street ballad about a few mischievous women planning a couple of drinking sprees. The Waxie's Dargle was a candlemaker's convention with a reputation for drinking and revelry. The tune was well known in the mid 1600's as "The Girl I Left Behind Me" or "The Spailpin Fanach". [Bruce]

9. ORDINARY MAN (Christy Moore) ~ a workingman's song from Christy Moore. [Jimmy]

10. EMIGRANT EYES (Clarke/Stannah) ~ this is a song that celebrates the lives and legacy of all those who came through Ellis Island. [Bruce]

11. RARE AULD TIMES (Pete St. John) ~ written over twenty years ago about how Dublin was rapidly changing and one fellow couldn't keep up with the progress. The song is all the more relevant today. [Bruce]

12. LEAVE HER JOHNNY (Traditional) ~ this popular Sea Chanty always gets the folks clapping and singing. [Jimmy]

13. POLKAS: THE STRAND BAR / MAGGIE IN THE WOODS (Traditional) ~ two lively tunes we often play for ceili dancing.

14. THE LAKES OF PONTCHARTRAIN (Traditional) ~ A great ballad dating from the American Civil War. An Irishman, now a Confederate veteran, meets up with a Creole beauty and falls hopelessly in love. Paddy does a great job on the harmonica. Listen to our 3rd CD (We Won't Come Home 'Til Morning) to hear a more modern version written by Hank Williams and Ramona Vincent. [Bruce]

15. YOU COULDN'T HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME / THE KESH JIG (Luka Bloom / Traditional) ~ this song is one of our favorites. We follow it with the tune that Luka cleverly based the song upon. [Jimmy]


PERSONNEL:
Bruce Foley - vocals, guitar, whistle, uilleann pipes
Paddy Folan - vocals, button accordion, harmonica
Jimmy Lamb - vocals, bass guitar

CREDITS:
Executive Producer - Paul Loftus
Recorded at - Audiomation 1993
Engineer / Producer - Randy Rhodes & Joe West
Mixed by - Bruce Foley and Joe West
Digital Mastering - Tom Walsh at Electric Tommyland Studios