I was reminded by the reappearance of the thread on Bold Doherty that I would like to hear more of Mary Ann Carolan's songs. Does anyone out there have a copy of her old Topic album that they would be willing to tape and send to me? Were any other recordings made of her singing? I know that some of her songs are scattered throughout the "Voice of the People" collection, but we don't own all of the volumes of that...

I find that as a non-Irish singer of Irish songs, I like the more straightforward style of the Northern Irish singers like Mary Ann Carolan, Paddy Tunney and Sarah Makem. I don't feel comfortable trying to sing in the more highly ornamented sean nos style, as I think it takes a long familiarity with the rhythms of speech and the ornamentation patterns of native Irish speakers in order to successfully deliver songs in that style. However, the strong story and melody lines of the Northern songs can better withstand being translated and sung by an American without sounding like the fake Irish accents of the old "Irish Spring" soap commercials!