Dave Fanning is Ireland’s best known music critic, his breadth and depth of knowledge of pop music is unrivalled, he’s been at the top of his game forever, so it was a huge deal for me to go on his show. He played Blacksheep and we had a fun time chatting about all manner of things. It was really great to meet Cathy Davey too who is a fascinating person and great musician.
Ray D’Arcy had me on his show to give the single ‘Blacksheep’ a twirl and to chat about my life and times, we didn’t get too long to cover it all but the song got a great reaction! Listen in here.
This is a tune by Jawbone who are (mainly) Philip O’Gorman and Philip Christie and Conor Deasy. They are a popular blues and old acoustic/jazz group in Dublin. I was up with them one day and recorded a piece where Brian MacGloin was on sound, the two Phil’s were on guitar and piano, I sat in on Double bass.
As I recall it was a one-take wonder choice and we didn’t get a chance to jam or anything so I was watching out for Phil O’Gorman to give me ‘the nod’ for where to stop and start! Those guys are just so good, I need to get back in with them some time and have a good ol’ jam.
This is another raw track of a zoom recorder placed near the speaker, I hope nobody can make out some of the internal band chat we do (mostly inappropriate and abusive towards fellow band members!).
This tune is ‘Soldiers Joy’ and a long running bluegrass favourite. In the first guitar break I tried to use some Vince Gill type bends which I think are best suited to electric guitars!
This tune is called ‘Rebecca’ and it’s by Herschel Sizemore. It’s an interesting one as it’s keyed in B (you find Bb more in bluegrass) and the structure of the song is a little different than the usual AA/BB too.
This is the unedited version which is just a zoom recorder placed near the speaker.
I tried a more melodic approach on the first guitar solo (c. 30 seconds in) which folds back on itself and moves through the chord before getting a bit more blues oriented. Sadly I never had mastered the ability to do this at the speed of though/live music and correctly.
The second break coming up to 3:00 is more along the lines of what I would call ‘my sound’ which is more chromatic oriented and a bit jumped up (also reliably full of mistakes as always!). It’s fun to play at least 😉
Here’s a song from about 12 years ago called ‘can’t find my way’ I recorded it at Mark Reddy’s studio back in 2007.
Simon Farrell is playing bass, I’m doing singing and guitars, David Lawless is on drums and Anne Marie Redmond on backing vocals.
Lyrics:
City lights, faded dreams, misty, as the morning brings
A place crowded and yet… so lonely
Then I stop to think of you. Sky is turning black to blue
And I do know in you. I will find my peace.
A face beside me I awake, and feel beside an empty space
How is it this world can keep on turning?
Over crowded city streets, an over crowded sky that weeps.
Its rain is like my tears of mourning…
Chorus:
I wanted to escape, so I pushed you away
It was my greatest mistake, now I can’t
Find my way… find my way.
I reached for you and touched your hand,
The promise of a distant land
Though it glitters, there is no gold and so
I become a waking dream, quiet words I tried to sing
No one ever hears me when, it gets lonely.
Your name is whispered in the air, kept a locket of your hair,
Tired but afraid to sleep, because you’re in every dream
Wired awake, watch t.v., the caffeine crutches carry me
In the small hours when, I can find no peace.
Chorus
Bridge
No return post no call back, when I started should have turned back.
Just keep swinging, one day you’ll hit something.
But you can’t break your hand on air, and I won’t stay if you don’t care.
Why such a bad day, When its so sunny?
This is a song that we recorded in Sonic in Dublin in October 2016. It’s a tune about how life sometimes works out differently than you thought it would. Lyrics are below, some are alternative lyrics I toyed with and haven’t taken out, as with all my songs, the actual lyrics in it might not match what’s written down!
Open eyes to another day
turn beside me wanna see your face
to know I’m not dreaming
and it’s you
the angel that I wake up to
Hold this hand, and look my way
please understand that in this place
we are free,
as we can be
the world flows on past you and me
[Then] it all turned out a little different
than I thought it would.
Things turned out a little different
than I thought they would.
Life is good but luck can change
change it does every passing day
a thing once bright now
is only a glow
a once big river
no longer flows
Mountains fall, time passes by
a love runs out
and it doesn’t revive (alt lyr: like a river run dry)
Making sense,
is hard to
And it’s hard to make much of anything when I’m around you
[making a future
is kinda hard around you…]
CHORUS
Bridge: Passing time… goes on by….
Time is cruel, cruel and unfair
dark gives way to more grey hair
it’s a life of work
a life of toil
half the time I wonderin’
what I’m doin’ it for
And I’m still here, like a fool I stay
When the better part of me is saying
’up and away’
[when the better part of sense
is tellin’ me walk away]
but it’s a tricky thing
to try and figure out
when it isn’t just me I gotta worry about