A multi-faceted artist, Doyle successfully manages to juggle his work with Solas with his own career, and this album follows hot on the heels of his excellent album with Karan Casey, and this new solo album cover similar ground of a mixture of new songs and traditional material, but the balance here is definitely towards self written songs.
While the songs may be new, they all have the Irish/American tradition firmly in their sights – the lyrics cover real stories and the history of the some of the individual journeys of people and communities. His story telling has much in common with an artist like Jez Lowe, and where his songs capture snapshots and the character of the North of England; John occupies a similar place a few hundred miles West.
The album is built around his own deft guitar work and vocals, but he brings a cast of some of the very finest traditional American musicians to help create the musical soundscape including Tim O’Brien, Alison Brown, Stuart Duncan, Todd Phillips and more.
The songs cover a good range of subjects including an Irish/American regiment during the American Civil War; an attempt an emigration that never quite made it out of Irish waters; and the tale of a lost love that drove a man to the American West – the songs are all thoughtfully constructed and fleshed out by some excellent sleeve notes.
Track listing
1 Clear the Way
2 Little Sparrow
3 Killoran's Church/Swedishish
4 Liberty's Sweet Shore
5 The Arabic
6 Wheel of Fortune
7 Farewell to All That
8 Tribute to Donal Ward/The Currachman
9 Bound for Botany Bay
10 Bitter Brew
11 Selkie
review 18 October 2011
