The band:
Martin O’Malley – vocals & acoustic guitar
Jared Denhard – trombone, Gaita Galega (or Galician pipes), highland pipes, Celtic harp & whistle
Jamie Wilson – drums, all percussion, jar bow, mandolin and back up vocals
Ralph Reinoldi – electric guitar, electric 12 string guitar, acoustic guitar, baritone acoustic guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, electric octave mandolin, cittern and banjo
Jim Eagan – fiddle
Sean McComiskey – button accordion
Pete Miller – electric bass guitar and back up vocals
This CD was produced by Jamie Wilson at Bird House Studios Inc., Baltimore, Maryland
All tracks recorded and mixed at Bird House Studios Inc. between 12/31/06 & 01/11/09 by Jamie Wilson.
Assistance engineer on vocal tracks, Michael Christopher Vecchione.
Additional mixing and mastering was done at Secret Sound Studio, Baltimore, Maryland by John Grant.
Cover design by Jamie Wilson at Bird House Studios Inc
In this collection of music from traditional and contemporary sources, we tried to create original versions and fresh settings that get to the core essence of the material.
The title track, "Galway Races" (1) is, on the surface, a lyrically jam-packed song about a day at the races, but as a juiced up neo-hornpipe, it rivals Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales as a picture of the Grand Parade of Life passing by, in all of it's sweet sadness and hilarity.
Jimmy and Sean's unapologetic tag ( the most familiar jig of all) just seems right and very funny, because they are hard boiled tune-heads, who know thousands of jigs and reels, that they ride off into the distance to the one everybody knows.
We loved Galway when we played there a few years back. Our best show was there, and the town is a magical combination of ancient and modern sensibility.
"Paddy's Lament"(2) turns sharply from the happy chaos of the first track to the horrors of war in this reworking of a vision of he American Civil War, through the eyes of an Irish immigrant. My warpipes and trombone are harsh and prominent, and Ralph's keening guitar solo takes the heartbeaking story into the land beyond words.
Wally Page's gentle hymn to love and nature, "So Do I" (3) was a hit for Christie Moore, and Martin gives it a true balladeer's touch, and Ralph paints beautiful, calligraphic watercolor strokes behind him.
"Power Reels" (4) is a set of reels, featuring Jim and Sean on fiddle and box. These guys are the real thing, champion players of the old music. Included in the set is Jim's original reel WWJD (What Would Jimmy Do?)
"Dirty Old Town" (5) by Ewan MacColl has been recorded by many bands, from the Clancy Brothers to the Pogues. The original DOT was Salford, an industrial city in northern England. Irish bands probably think of Dublin. Could be anywhere. Muscular trombone section, thoughtful guitar solo, and Sean's tinker style accordion behind the bitter final chorus make our cover a little different, and kind of poignant.
Back to our favorite (other) city on the bay, for this cover of Steve Earle's beloved "Galway Girl" 6). Although Earle is American, and the US was not to popular when we were over there in 2004, this song was like the municipal anthem. All the Irish bands were covering it, that's probably why we did. The CD has on of those "fictional" interludes that I can't reproduce live, a trombone/tin whistle duet ( I'm the trombone an whistle player, here). Don't know what I'll do on Saturday, probably just play whatever I'm holding...
"Down By the Glenside"(7) is a swirling, driving version of this "song within a song" that separates the teller of the story from the fictional singer in the story, a daring lyric that gets at both the dark appeal and the brutal futility of violent martyrdom, with the Irish struggle as a backdrop. In my solo chorus I play both the wild, strident Gaita Galega, and the more grounded Scottish pipes, to cover the wide range of the melody. I think (know) it lends a crazed insistence to the piece, like when everything is going wrong, but you keep charging forward. The ending is both a dream an a nightmare at once.
Slip Jigs (8) are jigs with and extra triplet in each measure (DadadaDadadaDadada) instead just 2 Dadadas lik a regular (double) jig. Got that?
Jimmy and Sean go to town again, like nobody can...
Bold Fenian Men (9) another rebel song, given an ironic twist in this deceptively cheerful, infectiously detailed arrangement that has a fantastic groove.
Murshin Durkin (10) is a happier tale of emigration, rolling with the punches, and prevailing against long odds.
Nothing heavy here, the whistle part was tons of fun to play, and the rustic instruments (Fiddle, box, whistle) have a real party on the 3 out choruses!
Red House of Cardiff (11) is a welsh tune, but has a lot of ancient Celtic flavor. It's my harp solo.
Jamie really caught the sound of the harp the way like it. Like you're hearing it and remembering it at the same time.
Wisdom of Youth (12) is a song by our friends, the great Irish band, the Saw Doctors. A great lyric, Martin really nails the feeling on this one, and my bubbling Northumbrian half-longs (Border pipes) are mixed in perfectly. I love the way Ralph picks up on my pipe line at the end the uses it as a springboard into his own face melting final solo.
Time of Your Life (13) is our Celtic take on the famous Green Day song, leading into some final reels, especially sweet bit towards the end, with just Jamie on Bodhran, Jimmy and Sean working the reel pub style, before the power trio crashes back in. Big ending.
That WAS the encore, actually...
I'm biased, I know but I'm really happy with this CD, I'm no critic, but hey, I did go to music school.
Jared Denhard
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