A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR OF IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE

Liam was just the business, nobody ever like him, now then or in future,
he just had it.

There is great sadness in the Laffey house today, but joy too that we got
to know him personally and we had some time over our Saturday breakfast
recalling the great times we had back in ‘99 when we worked on his Wild and
Wasteful Ocean album with him.

We had such fun in Helvic, singing into the rainy morning under an umbrella
in front of Mooney’s pub, the table littered with pint bottles of stout and
Liam egging me on to sing another verse and another verse of Essequibo
River, which he really loved. Such generosity of spirit, the mark of a true
gentleman.

Then there was a night in Dublin, at the Tall ships, when he and Robbie
O’Connell brought a dockside pub to life, the afternoon gig we had all done
was by any standards mediocre, but that night’s music was beyond doubt
special, and no one got it on tape or poked a camera phone in his face, it
was singing for pleasure and right now it’s the best way I can think of
remembering him.

There will be much more written about Liam in the coming weeks, but for now
we send our deepest condolences to his wife Kim and all his children. And
thank God for the blessing that was Liam Clancy.

Sean Laffey
December 5th 2009

BIO NOTES

Sean Laffey is the Editor of Irish Music Magazine.

He appeared with Liam Clancy live and on record in 1996 during a musical
project for the visit of the Tall Ships race to Dublin.

Sean was one of the backing singers in the a-capella group Warp Four
(see http://www.iol .ie/~didly-didly/warp1.html). They appeared with Liam at
the Cork Week Regatta, Dublin’s Tall Ships, The Point Theatre and RTEs
“Late Late Show.”

Sean is on Liam’s Wild and Wasteful Ocean CD and Liam guested on Warp
Four’s “A Hundred Years Ago Album” both on the Helvic label.

Sean has had interviews with Liam published in Irish Music Magazine, as
recently as 2009 when Liam talked extensively about his final album “The
Wheels of Life”. See www.irishmusicmagazine.com for details.