Everybody Has A Song In Them!!--Damien Dempsey--The Rocky Road--A Classic For St Patrick's

The Rocky Road is the most recent album by Irish Folk Singer Damien Dempsey. It is a collection of mostly traditional Irish music, and it makes a perfect accompaniment for St Patrick's Day festivities. Dempsey's booming powerful voice is impressive and the songs he chose to perform range from historically themed to love songs. Though he is a huge star in Ireland, winning scads of Meteor awards over the past decade he is not so well known on our shores. I saw a review of this album in Uncut Magazine and decided to give it a try, and believe me, I was well rewarded. He is an artist with a lot of passion, socially conscious, with great empathy for the less fortunate. Just recently he made his acting debut in the film Between The Canals, playing a fictitious Dublin crime boss. The film is being released in Ireland this month.

On The Rocky Road, Dempsey is ably backed by veteran musicians, including John Sheahan and Barney McKenna from The Dubliners playing fiddle, and Banjo & Mandolin respectively. Eamonn DeBarra plays whistle/Flute/Bodhran/Harmonium/Piano. John McLoughlin is on bouzouki/mandolin/guitar and John Reynolds plays drums. Dempsey leads with The Rocky Road To Dublin, and he does justice to a great old classic. He reminisces about the song in his liner notes...

"At these house parties I've heard my mother and father, both brothers, uncles, aunties and grandparents sing their favourite songs unaccompanied. Sometimes we didn't always hold the tune or our voices cracked but you weren't left alone till you sang at least a verse of something and once you sang with passion it didn't matter how good or bad your voice was, the room would love you. Everybody has a song in them and the singsong is a vital and wonderful link to our past that I hope will carry on through the ages."



It really is a great quote and it just says so much about tradition in this country. When I listen to Irish music I can't help but feel the great level of profound sadness in the songs. But then I think of people, family, friends, being together, singing together, commiserating. People doing this today, as they did a century ago, maybe back before recorded history. And then I think of a culture where it is expected that people participate and perform and how finely honed these lyrical gifts have developed in a culture. And this is from a group who've had an extremely raw deal handed to them over the years as we all know. Music can form an indelible bond and can even help create a national identity.

I also appreciate that on this album he performs the Shane McGowan classic A Rainy Night in Soho. Because Shane is a great songwriter and he is part and continuation of the great Irish musical tradition. McGowans lyrics can contain such profound imagery and expressiveness that hold up with just about anyone out there. But I will say one thing. I saw him perform on Randall's Island one summer about ten years ago and he was so stinking bagged that he could barely stand much less perform and was rude to an adoring audience. It was pretty embarrassing and sad. There is nothing charming about somebody who is a complete wreck and no longer a young man. I hope that he has managed to straighten out a bit--it's a waste of profound talent, like lightning captured in a whiskey bottle.



Some of the other highlights include the ironic Schoolday's Older, where school end's and time to begin hard labor, toiling as a colliers in the mine pits. Very nice fiddle riffing on this number. Dempsey goes a capella on The Twang Man, a traditional number loaded with slang from 200 years ago. Quite moving is the song The Foggy Dew recounting the 1916 Irish uprising. But one of my favorite moments is the proud defiant tone of The Hot Asphalt. Also great is The Hackler From Grouse Hall/The Monaghan Jig and the lovely ballad Night Visiting Song.

So if you like traditional music or are simply looking for something new to listen to on St Pat's this could be just the thing for you. And if you like this album, Dempsey has plenty more nontraditional albums that are equally great like Shots and Seize the Day, or Live at the Olympia. Seriously, this guy has a fantastic voice, is supremely talented, tough yet tender hearted; one of the good guys. Check him out or lose out.