This is my first album. Most of these tunes were originally recorded by the great
blues men and women who were making records from the 1920s and 1930s right up in
some cases to the early 1970s. I have also found inspiration for the renditions
recorded here in the playing of some of the musicians who began recording this music
in the 1960s and later, and who in some cases learned at the feet of the greats.
Many of these guitarists played pivotal roles in the 1960s blues revival and
subsequent “rediscovery” of many of the greats of country blues.
I grew up steeped in these old blues in the hills overlooking the valley of the River
Finn just outside the town of Ballybofey in County Donegal. My father would play
this music constantly at home and wherever we went in the car and talk about it
endlessly whether anyone was listening or not, telling stories about the lives of
these musicians as if they were legend, mythology or the evening news.
Each individual track on this album was recorded live in the studio and represents
one entire take with me singing and backing myself up on guitar simultaneously. Most
are either first or second takes. Nothing has been added or taken away, no overdubs
or modern recording tricks of any kind have been used at all so at least in some
respects this album has been recorded in the same way as those classics of the 1920s
and 1930s. I hope you enjoy the record.