www.christymoore.com

OUT FRIDAY, 28th October 2011

CHRISTY MOORE’S NEW ALBUM ‘FOLK TALE’ WILL BE RELEASED ON FRIDAY, 28TH OCTOBER 2011 ON THE COLUMBIA LABEL AT SONY MUSIC.

‘FOLK TALE’ is a mixture of tragedy, poetry and humour. “My Little Honda 50” is an ode to the impact of the Honda 50 on rural Ireland in the 80s. “Easter Snow” is a tribute to Seamus Ennis. “Farmer Michael Hayes” is the tale of an evicted farmer, a story which resonates with Irish history. “On Morecambe Bay” is the tragic story of the Chinese cockle pickers drowned for profit. “Weekend in Amsterdam” conjures up images of a wild weekend in Amsterdam – WILD!

One of the most compelling and inspirational musicians Ireland has ever seen Christy Moore has a universal fan base and still continues to entertain, cementing him as an Irish icon. It is his deep urge to connect with the listener and to transmit the meaning of the songs he sings that has endeared Christy to his audiences and helped to create and develop a faithful following that quite frankly alludes most other artists.

Produced by Declan Sinnott, “FOLK TALE” is the latest result of Christy and Declan’s unique musical alliance. Their long collaboration has gained a loyal and ever increasing following. Their association began when they were founding members of the pioneering band Moving Hearts.

“FOLK TALE” is on the Columbia Label at Sony Music and features 11 tracks. Along with Declan and Christy other musicians include Gerry O’Connor, Tim Edey and Neil Martin with The West Ocean String Quartet. This album finds Christy doing what he does best – letting the tunes and accompanying lyrics carry their message to the listener.

“FOLK TALE” is the follow-up to 2009’s Platinum selling album “LISTEN”. “LISTEN” debuted at No. 1 in April 2009 where it remained for 4 weeks.

Christy Moore’s standing in Irish Folk Music is of legendary stature and he is credited with laying the roots of modern Irish Music, influencing pop and rock and winning critical flavour and respect from contemporary performers including: Duetting with Coldplay at Oxegen: Christy got the call from Coldplay a fortnight before the event. Chris Martin of Coldplay heard that the Kildare singer had never played at Oxegen, a festival run annually in Punchestown only 3 miles from Christy’s birth place. Christy enjoyed the gig enormously – the sound of 80,000 young ones singing along to Jimmy McCarthy’s classic “Ride On” was a memorable experience. Christy reckons that this collaboration began when then 12 year old Will Chamberlain attended a Christy gig in Southampton in 1992.

Rough Guide to Bob Dylan: Rough Guide recently published a “Rough Guide to Bob Dylan”. It contained a list of their favourite Bob Dylan covers and featured two recordings from Irish Artists. Sinead Lohan’s recording of “Ramona” and Christy’s recording of “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” were both included in the publication. What was overlooked was the fact that both recordings were produced by Declan Sinnott – a fantastic tribute to the work of the Wexford producer and musician.

The London Feis at Finsbury Park: Christy was delighted to get the call from Vince Power to headline this two day event formally known as “The London Fleadh”. The singer and the promoter go back a long way. Christy played at the opening of Power’s London Mean Fiddler back in the 80s and subsequently played at the London Fleadh on 6 occasions. A favourite gig was the New York Fleadh which Vince ran on Randalls Island back in the mid 90s.

The Penguin Book of Irish Verse: The recent edition of the Penguin Book of Irish Verse includes Christy’s 1983 song “Lisdoonvarna”. Its inclusion in this prestigious anthology came as a total surprise. Christy first performed the song at the 1983 Lisdoonvarna Festival. He subsequently recorded it on his 1984 album “Ride On” and the song has gone around the world and home again.

One Night Only with Gay Byrne on RTE 1: This was a successful reunion and collaboration with Gay Byrne. Christy’s first appearance on The Late Late Show was in 1972. 39 years on, he discusses and sings 11 songs on “One Night Only”. Many of the songs had not been performed on TV before.

Come All You Dreamers: This gig from Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow was recorded in 2008. Christy has developed an affinity with this old venue since he first appeared there 30 years ago. Along with Declan and Paddy Doherty he produced this film that captures the work as he loves to do it, in a raw, atmospheric and very real setting. It has received repeated prime-time transmissions from both TG4 and BBC4 and is also available on DVD.

CHRISTY MOORE’S NEW ALBUM ‘FOLK TALE’ WILL BE RELEASED ON FRIDAY, 28TH OCTOBER 2011 ON THE COLUMBIA LABEL AT SONY MUSIC.

For further information contact:
Carmody Smith PR
01 2602664 / 086 1741882
aine@carmodysmithpr.com
niamh@carmodysmithpr.com
www.christymoore.com

The tracks are:

Tyrone Boys Crossing the Pennines one evening in 1987 I hit a Radio Éireann hotspot. The Long Note was coming in loud and clear. High above Halifax I parked the van, got into the sleeping bag, and listened to some music from home. That’s when this song started. I finished it recently in Innishannon House on the banks of the Bandon River. Some older verses have been replaced. The Silk Clad Pompadour
has been laid to rest. The Death Train finally came off the rails. Most songs remain in their initial form. Others are constantly being re-shaped by on-going exposure to the elements of live performance.

Folk Tale These lines are from Paula Meehan. I love her poems, the way her lines flow in our direction. Requests for Folk Tale have increased in recent years. Sometimes, so softly, that they are barely audible. Paula gives readings of her poems and collections of her poetry are available, catch her if you can. Val was originally drawn to this piece and brought home a handwritten copy by Paula from an Aids Alliance Auction. It hung on the wall for years. I began trying to sing it each time I passed.

My Little Honda 50 The brother was driving down the old bog road that runs between Edenderry and Prosperous. He was running low on diesel so he pulled into Allenwood Services. When this song came over the forecourt tannoy he thought of me…. Soon as I heard it I went searching for the author who turned out to be the one and only Tom Tuohy. I love this song for its simplicity and its fun, for the pictures it paints of my native place. The arrival of the Honda 50 into the Heartland of Kildare changed our world forever. Overnight it became possible to ride to Dreamland without bicycle clips, to get home from Croke Park in time for Seán Óg O Ceallacháín. Overnight the world became our cloister.

Easter Snow Easter Snow is the name of a slow air that Seamus Ennis (1919 – 1982) used to play. It was also the name that adorned his garden gate…. Hearing him play was one of my life’s great pleasures. Seamus Ennis was a Master in our world of music. In earlier times his arrival was always anticipated, his playing was legendary, his visits long remembered and cherished. He sang, played whistle and fiddle but, most of all, he was a magnificent player of the Uileann Pipes. I spent a week with him in Yorkshire in the late 1960s. In early Planxty days himself and Liam O’Flynn shared a house, Seamus encouraged us as we began to get our music together. Towards the end of his life, I spent days with him out in The Naul where he shared the mystery of his muse, talked of music and trawled up lost verses once again.

Farmer Michael Hayes I came across this lyric in 1975 and recorded a version with Planxty back in 1978. Donal Lunny wrote a second part to the melody which enabled the pipes to soar. This song has been frequently requested so I am delighted to be singing it again 35 years on. Some new verses have brought Farmer Hayes on a slightly different journey. However he still sets out from Tipperary and, evading capture, makes his way to The United States of America.

On Morecambe Bay This song was written by Kevin Littlewood of Lancashire. I heard it on an album that was recorded at The Bothy Folk Club in Southport where Kevin is a resident singer. I have not met him yet but he did come to our gig at The Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool last year where his song was very well received. Channel Four Television have transmitted a Documentary by Nick Broomfield
called The Ghosts of Morecambe Bay. Vulnerable migrant workers, the world over, suffer greatly under unscrupulous gang masters who operate in a thousand different guises.

Tiles and Slabs Nigel Rolfe and I have worked together on a number of projects. We visited Scariff, East Clare in April 1994. Shortly afterwards came the awful events which led to the tragic deaths of Imelda Riney, her 4 year old son Liam and Joe Walsh, a local priest who sought to intervene as events unfolded. Nigel wrote this lyric shortly afterwards and, together, we made this song.

Haiti Since the horrific events in Haiti there have been further disasters in different parts of the world. Today, satellite communications bring us immediately to epicentres of destruction. Unimaginable images are beamed into our living rooms, spliced between X Factor and Sky Sports…. Val and I went to hear John Spillane sing in The Button Factory, Dublin, shortly after the Haitian earthquake. One of John’s songs that night sowed the seed for this piece. John and I went at it immediately and two weeks later performed this song at a Gig for Haiti in Vicar Street, Dublin. The proceeds went towards the efforts of GOAL in Port au Prince. Such songs and gigs are sometimes viewed cynically. There are people who maintain that such
events, in the face of enormous tragedy, are pointless. Nevertheless many musicians continue to write and sing songs, to offer the support of benefit gigs, to reach out … it is all that some of us can do.

Weekend in Amsterdam Val and I went to the Goilin Singers Club one Friday night in 2008. It was very late when this song was sung by Gerry O’Reilly (No.2). It caught my ear straight away for the tune and structure were that of ‘The Crack was 90 in The Isle of Man’ which I had learned from Barney Rush back in 1969. Gerry told me the song had been written by ‘some fellow down in Kildare’. No stone was left unturned until the bard was found. It turned out to be Paul McCormack, a neighbour from Newbridge, whose family I’ve known since I first drew breath. With Paul’s blessing I have added a few lines here and there and reshaped a few of his verses …this could be described as a Moorefield Road version of a Páirc Mhuire song which has been set to a Sallynoggin tune – The Lily Whites and The Boys in Blue.

Ballydine Clonmel was my home for 18 months in 1963/64. It was a very happy time despite my incarceration there as a junior bank clerk. However, come 4 o’clock, I’d scarper out the door into that Vale of Honey (Cluan Meala). There I embraced every aspect of what life offered. I sang for porter, played cards, gaelic football and rugby. I had a half share in a hopeless (but very friendly) greyhound. I went horse racing in Powerstown Park and danced in The Collins Hall to the sounds of Mick Delahunty’s Orchestra. I began writing this song all those years ago. My landlady was the late Annie Kehoe. No one ever had better lodgings. Occasionally Annie would call on me to sing and twas then the ‘Dannos’ would fly. We demolished them, we lowered them up.

God Woman This is how it all happened. If you go to Pollardstown you can see it for yourself. Only recently the Dalai Lama arrived to visit the sacred place. He came quietly and with great dignity. God bless that Holy Man. Soon after came Queen Elizibeth. She made straight for The National Stud to gaze fondly upon the very best of our stallions. Renowned Kildare woman, Lady O’Reilly, welcomed Her Majesty. A week later President Obama arrived into the Sacred Bogland. He lowered a quick pint of black porter and never even had to put his hand in his pocket. Diageo gained free worldwide publicity and celebrated by issuing redundancy notices. (They suggest that we drink sensibly). The rest of us danced around the beehive.