Ireland's Music: Aoife Scott: Carry the Day

“It’s my love letter to the West,” says Aoife Scott of her song All Along with Wild Atlantic Way. That it is, with visits to places from Croagh Patrick to Dingle, framed in the happy memories of a woman long gone from the area. There’s a bit more to that imaginative story -- it’s a love story between husband and wife across time and place really -- but the lively melody and Scott’s fine voice will draw you in however much of the story you catch on to or not.

It makes an excellent choice with which to open Scott’s debut album Carry the Day, showcasing her songwriting ability along with the colors of her voice -- and the fact that she knows well how to use her gorgeous voice in service of a song and its story.

That’s equally true when she moves to the rather more serious tone of We Know Where We Stand, as with All along the Wild Atlantic Way a song she wrote with musical collaborator Enda Reilly. It’s a song appropriate for and as Scott writes in the liner notes, somewhat inspired by the marking of the the centenary of the Easter Rising. In just a shade more than three minutes Scott and Reilly call forth many aspects of that hundred years and beyond, with images both familiar and new. “We stand on the hill of Tara with our hurleys in our hands” -- there’s resonance in that image for anyone with a connection to Ireland.

Down by the Shelleybanks is a quiet gem, a reflective piece in celebration of an area near Dublin which Scott knows and loves well. It’s framed in specifics, yes, but will reach all who have found a place to go for quiet reflection and the healing aspects of the natural world.

These are the first three tracks of a dozen Scott offers on the recording. About half the songs are originals. One takes a song her brother Eoghan wrote as a rock song into a folk/country direction. There’s Slan Leat, an original in Irish which is sort of a goodbye but our paths will cross again idea, and a bit of Irish too in Fásaim, a song inspired by her brother’s wedding. Songs by Si Kahn, Adrian Lawlor, and Sharyn Dimmick continue Scott’s interest in story told through character. A standout among these is Briege Murphy’s The Hills of South Armagh with its thoughtful take on the emigrant experience.

Aoife Scott has a fine voice and a clear understanding of ways to use it to tell stories she creates and admires. Though this is her first recording as a solo artist, she is not new to the music business. She has toured with the band The Outside Track and has appeared with Cherish the Ladies, Altan, and the RTE Concert Orchestra among others.

Though Scott originally thought she’d have a career behind the scenes -- and did, working successfully in television production for several years -- eventually music won out.

One reason for that might be family background. Aoife is the daughter of renown singer Frances Black. Her aunt is international star Mary Black, and her uncles Shay, Michael, and Martin have all worked professionally in music. Her brother Eoghan is a guitarist and producer. Her cousins Danny O’Reilly of The Coronas and singer songwriter Roisin O are making own marks in the music business as well.

With Carry the Day Aoife Scott continues to stake out her own place as a creative singer and songwriter in the next generation of ever evolving Irish tradition, and in the next generation of her family legacy as well.

Photo of tree in Dingle by Trevor Rickard
Photo near Poolbeg Lighthouse, Dublin, by Doug Lee

You may also wish to see
Aoife Scott's website
Ireland's music: two voices: Mary Dillon and Frances Black
Music, time, memory: Mary Black
Michael Black: music, family, friends
Cathie Ryan: Through Wind and Rain

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Ireland elsewhere

Along the music road, Ireland is a frequent stop.
As everyone is tuning up for Saint Patrick’s day, here’s a chance to explore ideas about Ireland through stories I've told at other places.


Literary Landmarks in Dublin at Wandering Educators

The city of Derry: healing through the arts at Perceptive Travel


Eileen Ivers explores Irish and American history through music at Irish Fireside

An Evening in Belfast with musician Cathie Ryan at Perceptive Travel

Ireland: the best free thing

What is the best thing to do in Ireland that is free? This was asked of me recently.

Ireland can be quite a pricey country, that’s true. But The National Museum of Ireland, in Dublin -- which is four museums, actually -- is free. I like the archeology part best myself, with learning how the bog people and the Vikings lived, seeing the Ardagh Chalice, which I’d often met in schoolbooks, in the real, and meditating on a pair of shoes said to have belonged to Saint Bridgid.

It also doesn't cost anything to cross the border into the north of Ireland and walk the walls of Derry, or to look at the murals there-- quite a span of history in those two things. You can stop in at the bookstore and tourist point at An Chulturlann in Belfast, too, to brush up on your Irish language and Irish history, and get advice on seeing the city. Back over in the republic, you can walk the longest main street in Ireland, in Letterkenny in Donegal, and see the ancient tombs at Carrowkeel. Just about anywhere in Ireland you’ll find water, in lakes, rivers, and seacoast. A walk along the edge of the waters and a listen to their music reminds that Ireland is an island, and water forms part of its identity.

The best thing to do in Ireland that is free, though, is just that, to listen

*To people talking with each other -- Ireland has many regional accents and turns of phrase, and should you be in a Gaeltacht area you may hear conversations in Irish as well. These days, conversations in other languages, neither Irish or English, are equally common. Listen to the rhythm of speech, and perhaps, strike up a conversation if you will. Many Irish people are good and generous listeners as well as talkers.

*To the music, which you will find in pubs, and clubs, dance halls and concert halls, at festivals, in churches, along the street from buskers, in people’s homes, and on the radio. Not all of it will be traditional Irish music. In fact, quite a bit of it will not be. Trad lives a vibrant life alongside chart hits of all genres, though, and that’s a fine thing.

*To the sound of the waters, and the sound of the landscape. Those are part of the music, the people, and the history.

Ireland will speak to you through all these if you let it, and none of them costs a thing.

you may also wish to see


fine ideas for no cost ways to explore while you travel from Doctor Jessica Voigts at Wandering Educators, along with great pictures from the west of Ireland and other places, as well


for ideas about frugal and sustainable living, check out the patchwork living blogging bee, a project from Kris Bordessa of Attainable Sustainable and Melanie McMinn of Frugal Kiwi.

These ideas work well when traveling on your own and with others. For additional thoughts about traveling with a group, visit More Time to Travel's article and blog carnival on great experiences traveling with friends and family
and for music to go along

Music Road: holiday gift list: Irish music
Music Road: ceol chairlinn: sharing music in winter
Music Road: music and hope: Derry

-->Your support for the work,here at Music Road is welcome and needed.
Here is one way to offer that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

Michael Black: music, family, & friends

"I'm not a romantic about it at all, but I think the music in my blood, and there's nothing I can do about it," Michael Black says, laughing. He holds a doctorate in sociology and has taught at university, but his life and his identity have always been as much or more grounded in music as in academic pursuits.

Though he lives now in San Francisco, Black was born in Dublin, the second oldest of five brothers and sisters. His father Kevin, from Rathlin Island off the Antrim coast, "played lots of instruments. I wouldn't call him a traditional musician, but he was a versatile one," Black says. His Dublin raised mother Patty loved to sing, usually theatrical and popular songs on her day, the forties, and fifties. The house was filled with music from family and friends, although"people often confuse our background with a traditional one," Black's sister Mary says, "but really it wasn't until we were teenagers, and started listening to the folk songs that were popular then, that we had much to do with traditional music."

Mary is international star Mary Black, Michael's younger sister. Sister Frances is also a top solo artist, and brothers Shay and Martin often perform together and in duos or trios with Michael. All five have recorded several albums together as The Black Family. Each maintains a connection to Irish tradition while seeking out songs from other times and places that fit in with that, and with individual musical visions. "When I go out to play gigs, I always include some Irish songs, and songs with Irish connections," Michael says, "but I don't think I have to be limited to that. I choose what suits my voice, and what I like."

With all that musical background, it has taken Michael a while to get around to releasing a solo album of his own. The self titled disc is a set of songs you can picture him sharing at a pub of coffeehouse, funny at one moment, thought provoking at the next. There's the poignant Don't Laugh at Me, perhaps a reflection on walking another's path drawn from Black's experiences as a teacher, and a gorgeous take on Billy Edd Wheeler's ballad on change and conscience in the Appalachians, The Coming of the Roads, which is a fine instance of Black's gifts as a singer and his understanding of storytelling, as well. The disc also includes a music hall song from the 1930s, a traditional song sung in Irish, a ballad about war and the costs of it from New Zealand, a sea shanty, and a song to dance the baby on your knee. What holds it all together is that voice, that understanding of story, and Black's knowledge that, as he says, "I'm rooted in roots music, music of the people."

On the disc, the family comes along to add harmonies on various tracks. "Well, we're all singers, and it'd be disrespectful not to have then along," Michael says, laughing. He chose guitarist and singer John Doyle, who has worked with Liz Carroll, Linda Thompson, Cathie Ryan, and others, to produce the project. "I'm not a man who gives away superlatives," Black says, "but I couldn't have made a better choice."

Black expects to be booking more tour dates on his own now that the record is out, balancing that with his other job which "is a dad. I have three kids, three girls. My wife works a professional career, and when they came along we made the decision that I'd be the child minder. I've been a teacher, been around kids all my life, so it was a natural decision." With his children growing up, Black decided it was time to take another step in his music, to make his own recording. "There wasn't a record company involved at the time, I just was thinking of something to sell at gigs," he says. Compass Records became interested in releasing it, though, and "and in a way, that's just icing on the cake," Michael Black says. "This music has kept my family close, and has brought me to places I'd never have seen. So I thought, this is what I do, why not give the music a chance?"

you may also want to see Reflections with Mary Black creative practice: laughter Liz Carroll & John Doyle: Double Play

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

now playing: Moving Hearts: Live in Dublin

Moving Hearts
Live in Dublin



Moving Hearts was a band way ahead if its time when seven musicians first got together in Dublin in 1981. Guitar, bouzouki, synthesizer, bodhran, uilleann pipes, , whistle, fiddles, saxophones, a few more instruments, a lot of outspoken social conscience in Christy Moore’s vocals and interests in music that melded jazz, funk, folk, pop, and rock. As musicians came and went they eventually evolved into an all instrumental group, and then disbanded.

You wouldn’t think so, though, to hear this recording, made during a show at Vicar Street in Dublin last winter. They got together, because, as percussionist Noel Eccles says, they felt there was more to explore and some unfinished business in searching out their instrumental sound. Donal Lunny on bouzouki and synth, Eoghan O’Neill on bass, Eccles himself on percussion, Davey Spillane on pipes and low whistle, and Keith Donald on saxophones were part of the group twenty years ago, along with Brian Calnan on percusion and drums and Declan Sinnot on guitar. For this recording, they’ve added Kevin Glackin on fiddle, Anto Drennan on electric guitar, Graham Henderson on keyboards, and Matt Kelleghan on drums to create what turns out to be a mostly blistering, high energy set with a breath or two of reflection now and again. Standout cuts include The Lark Set, Downtown, Lake of Shadows, and May Morning Dew.

Many of these men, before and after their time with Moving Hearts, have been major creative actors in the world of not just Irish music, but music of the world. If you like a little jazz, a lot of energy, and some amazing musicianship with your Irish music, try this out. There’s a direct line of that energy and creativity to present day groups such as Salsa Celtica, Celtic Cross, Session A9, and Fiddler’s Bid.


you may also want to see

Music Road: now playing: Celtic Cross: Shores of America

Series of Tubes: The Unusual Suspects

John Doyle: Wayward Son

Wayward Son


John Doyle is a man of many talents: gifted producer, very fine guitarist, good singer, and above all that, or maybe bringing it all together, a man of vision whose vision is framed and formed in Irish tradition. Framed so well, in fact, that he’s makes songs from the seventeenth or eighteenth century sound as real as though they were written today. The emotions are as real, and as true always, certainly, but such songs are sometimes performed with a bit of distance or looking over one’s shoulder on the part of the artist -- no worries on that here. Whether he’s singing Jack Dolan’s tale, sharing a lament for lost love in a duet with Kate Rusby on Bitter the Parting, or playing the reels Old Bush and Expect The Unexpected, he’s a man who knows and loves and feels his music, and is well able to share that. If you've ever thought songs of the Irish tradition were getting a bit too well worn, then this is a disc for you.

and if you're looking at the photo above and wondering, yes, he really does play the guitar left handed.

you may also wish to see

Music Road: exiles return: karan casey & john doyle

now playing: Mary Black

Best of Mary Black vol 2

Mary Black is Irish, no doubt about that, and she brings both her mother's Dublin heritage and her dad's background on Rathlin Island off the coast of County Antrim to all that she does. What she does, though, is entirely her own, songs from the best of contemporary songwriters, well known and unknown.

This is a two disc set, the first a best of selection ranaging across several albums, inlcuidng songs such as Bless the Road, Still Believing, The Dimming of the Day, and Song for Ireland. The second disc is called Hidden Harvest and comprises fourteen tracks (there are sixteen on the first one) of outakes, one offs, and collaborations, among them Ring Them Bells with Joan Baez, Across the Universe with Noel Bridgeman, and Bruach na Carriage Baine with Seamus Begley, and Black on her own with Who Knows Where the Time Goes, Good Morning Heartache, and others. Compiled during a time when Black was deciding if it was time "hang up her boots" as a singer, this is an excellent retrospective, and one that will make listeners glad that the Irish musician decided to continue exploring where her musical path will lead.

I had the chance to speak with Mary Black recently, and an article from that conversation appears in the February 2007 issue of the folk and world music magazine Dirty Linen.

you may also wish to
Reflections with Mary Black
Music, Time, Memory: Mary Black
Robert Burns, Altan, and Mary Black

now playing: Grada

cloudy day navigation

From Dublin, from the Galway coast, from New Zealand and points in between, the members of the band Grada create their take on Irish music, their own and what they bring for the tradition and other sources. This most recent album is an especailly good set of music from all across the map brought together by fine musicianship and equally fine group dynamics, a lively meditation on travel, if you will. Notable cuts include the band's own Cooler at the Edge and a lovely version of Susan McKeown's River. There's the bonus of a six song dvd of the band in live performance included as well.

creative practice: emigration

As attention turns to things Irish and Saint Patrick’s Day approaches, I find myself thinking about what it means to be both Irish and American. It’s a good road but not always an easy one, and every time I see the emigration statues in Derry or those murals and photos at the Dublin airport I am reminded of the courage it took, and takes, to launch one’s life out into the deep like that. Creative process is often similar -- launching out into the deep, taking the first step when you cannot see the rest of the journey, and yet, trusting enough to take that step, and survive. And flourish. Thanks to Cathie Ryan, who reminds me of the flourish part, when she sings John Spillane's The Wildflowers.

For the people in my family, and others, who’ve made that journey, physical and creative. And keep making it.

in their honor, and so you'll really be ready for Saint Patrick's Day, here’s a short Irish lesson:

Nochtar é atá dlúithe chroí which means
What’s closest to the heart comes out

and some music, in both English and Irish: Daybreak: Fáinne an Lae from Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who when she is not making solo records is the lead singer with Danu, and comes from the Kerry Gaeltacht.