Review:Irish folk, trad and blues:a secret history

Subject: Review: Irish folk, trad and blues: a secret hi
From: belfast
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 08:01 AM

"Irish folk, trad and blues: a secret history"

I've recently come across a book that might be of interest to one or two of you.
"Irish folk, trad and blues: a secret history" by Colin Harper and Trevor Hodgett.
The Collins Press.

The title is somewhat m;isleading. It's not an academic book by any means and there is little analysis. In fact it's really a collection of journalistic pieces with prologues and … postlogues, I suppose. I mean epilogues. Gossip with pretensions, you might say.

What is does have is a long piece (originally published in Mojo) on Anne Briggs which has been mentioned in other threads. And some good stuff on the tangled origins and history of Sweeney's Men.

This book largely ignores the highways and looks at some really obscure byways. There is a lot of stuff in here that you will never ever want to know. But there is also some good stuff like, say, a piece about Davy Graham. And you'll wonder what the hell it's doing in this particular book.

Subject: RE: Review: Irish folk, trad and blues: a secret h
From: GUEST,Grant
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 06:05 AM

I think Belfast could have been a bit more enthusiatic about this book. It's packed with wonderful stuff. The history of Them as well as Sweeney's Men. There's the story of Henry McCullough who started off in showbands, joined Sweeney's Men, played with Joe Cocker at Woodstock, turned on to heroin by Janis Joplin, played with Wings, told McCartney to '**** off', and is still playing away brilliantly. As Christy Moore said, this book is 'compulsive reading' and its packed with great stuff.

Subject: RE: Review: Irish folk, trad and blues: a secret hi
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 05:27 PM

If it is about Irish music, what are Anne Briggs and Davy Graham doing in it? They are both English.

Subject: RE: Review:Irish folk, trad and blues:a secret his
From: Nerd
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 09:48 AM

Anne Briggs was influential on the generation of Irish musicians who spent time in England in the 70s, especially Sweeney's Men.

Davy Graham brought the DADGAD tuning onto the folk scene, whence it became the standard guitar tuning for most Irish touring and session players.

Both were important to the development of post-1968 Irish music, even though they weren't Irish.

Subject: RE: Review:Irish folk, trad and blues:a secret history
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 11:22 AM

Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History at www.amazon.co.uk (click here)

Subject: RE: Review:Irish folk, trad and blues:a secret history
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 12:32 PM

Anyone interested in this book might also enjoy the video "Out of Ireland: From a Whisper to a Scream", which explores Irish popular music from the mid-60s to today, with an emphasis on new-traditional stuff as well as pop/rock/blues.

This material may very well be "old-hat" and overly familiar to those who have been living in Ireland (or even in the UK) for all these years, but it was a revelation to this Irish-American. A glimpse of the "Swingin' Dublin" of the 60s/70s was like a visit to another planet for someone who grew up knowing about happenings in London, New York, San Francisco, etc., and even in Paris and Prague, but no access at all to the "alternative universe" of Ireland's unique and isolated music scene.