In The Lamplight

Cathy Jordan, long-time Dervish frontwoman, singer, bodhrán player and all-around musician extraordinaire, joins Kieran, Luke and Rory for craic and tunes. Cathy chats about fronting Dervish, their prolific recording output, collecting relatively unknown Irish songs and her new project with her collaborator, Peter Crann, "Crankie Island Songs".

In The Lamplight brings you its first original song, titled "Moments". Join Kieran, Luke and Rory as they discuss the creation and development of the song. Hear about where the initial idea and melody came from, how the lyrics were written, the attempts that were made to steer the song in a different direction over fears that it was "too musical theatre" and more. The lads talk about the way that different instruments and performance styles were used to give the song its final form. Rory discusses the shooting of the music video, giving us an insight into his approach to the shoot, the intent behind the video, and some of the creative decisions he made during the editing process to make sure the video reinforced the songs' lyrics and meaning.

Leon Mooney, ex-Rackhouse Pilfer and a renowned musician in his own right, joins Kieran, Luke and Rory for a chat. Hear Leon talk about how music has always been in his life, from jamming in sheds after school to touring Ireland and Europe with a hot, in-demand band. Leon discusses his taste in music, the positives on the pandemic and his personal and musical plans for the future.

Kieran, Luke and Rory are joined by Marie O'Byrne, the director of Sligo's Hawk's Well Theatre. Hear about Marie's musical origins, how she came late to traditional Irish music after a classical upbringing, and how she came to Sligo (and ended up staying longer than she had planned). Marie discusses her work developing the theatre as a community resource and as a place that nurtures Sligo's amazing artistic scene in parallel with its role as a performance venue for national and international touring acts and productions.

Legendary Irish Band Those Nervous Animals join Kieran, Luke and Rory on the season two premiere of In The Lamplight to discuss the past, present and future of their musical career. The band discuss the music scene in Sligo in the 1980s, breaking onto the national stage with hit singles such as "The Business Enterprise (My Friend John)", their fabled residency in The Baggot Inn in Dublin and their disappointment at missing out on the chance to put out an album at the height of their success. Over thirty years later, the Animals' story comes full circle as they release their debut album "The Mission Sessions". Barry, Eddie, Pádraig, Susan and Tom chat about the album and perform some of its featured songs live on the show.

Kieran sets the scene for the episode, alluding to the rancour that has been created between the three lads regarding the theme tune vote. The tension rises as the vote results get ever closer.

The lads then chat about their highlights of the season. From indelible images of Rory and Luke’s childhood to some masterful guitar playing, some amateur violin playing, and finally a pleasant surprise for Rory, the season has been full of learnings and fun. 

Finally, it’s time for the big reveal as Luke takes us through the results of the vote, starting at no. 6 and counting down to no. 1. There is no doubt about the big question - where will Kieran’s piano theme tune rank and how many of Luke’s tunes will it beat?

We finally get the answer, and there is some controversy as there are mixed feelings about the legitimacy of the vote.

The lads wrap-up by saying how much they are looking forward to Season 2, and giving out the much-anticipated start date for the Season.

This week's show opens with a version of our theme song that we made up especially for our guest, "Famous" Dave Flynn. This leads to a bit of chat between Kieran, Luke and Rory before they welcome Dave to the show.

After reaffirming his hatred of first-beat-third-beat clappers everywhere, Dave takes us through his musical twenties, a time when he played bass guitar with some of Irish music's most famous names, most notably Paddy Casey and Dave Couse. He recalls the many big shows and venues they played, opening for legendary acts such as Bob Dylan and often appearing higher on the bill than some other legendary acts including Gary Moore. Although he found considerable success as a bass player, Dave tells us that he couldn't shake his desire to be a guitarist which led to him going back to music college to hone his skills.

Dave talks about forming a Stevie Ray Vaughan cover band during his time in college, a band that Kieran was also in. Kieran and Dave remember the confusion caused by Dave forgetting to tell the rest of the band members that his guitar was down-tuned one half step. The musical and personal relationships formed during his time in college with Kieran would ultimately lead to Dave leaving his native Wexford behind and moving to Sligo to be closer to a music scene that he enjoyed.

We listen to Dave, Luke and Kieran perform a version of Paul Simon's "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War", recently arranged by Luke and Dave and performed as part of Kieran's show "Not A Theme Night".

On the subject of Paul Simon, Dave tells the story of the time he and his friend engineered an encounter will Paul Simon, accosting him while he was doing his grocery shopping. Kieran then hits Dave with a philosophical question, presenting him with the theory that all musicians dream of making it big and then asking him if he has had a reckoning with himself over whether or not this might still happen for him. Dave assures Kieran that he's still fully intent on being a rock star and that he'll never give up hope.

Dave discusses his work as a choirmaster, how Sligo's Hawk's Well Theatre initially gave him an opportunity to do something he hadn't done before and how it eventually led to him appearing on TV in the show "David Brophy's Choir Of Ages". We take a listen to a choral arrangement of one of Kieran's songs that he co-wrote with Kate Winter. The song, called "Meadhbh's Call", is heard here performed by the Heart's Desire Choir with an arrangement by Dave.

In the final segment of the interview, Dave talks about what he would do if money was no object before Luke and Dave reveal their mutual desire to obtain a private pilot's license which leads to a small bit of aviation chat on our otherwise music-centred show! We close out the interview with a blues piece called "Tore Down House" recorded and performed by Dave, friend-of-the-show and previous guest Sinéad Conway and drummer Steve Kohlmann.

In the post-interview, Kieran, Luke and Rory discuss their plans for season two of the podcast and ask the listeners for their opinions on a few things, namely the numerous variations on our theme song that we've featured over the last nine episodes. The show closes with a short snippet from each of those theme songs.

In part one, we heard about Sandy's upbringing, her musical roots, her early family life and her work and friendship with Johnny cash, a friendship borne out of him hearing her on the radio one night when he was in Ireland on tour.

In part two, we hear about Sandy's reluctance to record some of her biggest hits such as her highly successful version of "Crazy". The song was originally written by Willie Nelson and she would have the chance to record it with him as a duet. The guys, along with Sandy, discuss the importance of being ready to take opportunities to present themselves.

Sandy and Kieran discuss a song that they collaborated on which was featured on Kieran's "Our Place" EP. The song, titled "Ordinary Boy", was written by Kieran and was inspired by his own son who was two years old at the time. Kieran asked Sandy if she would like to sing the song as he thought she might relate to it as she has a grandson of the same age. Sandy was delighted to lend her voice to the song and we get a listen to the result on the show.

Sandy chats about life in the present, the positives that the pandemic has brought to her life, if she has any regrets about a life lived on the road and about her contentment with where she is at now. She also reveals that she is writing a book about her life which will explore her origins as a travelling performer with her family and detail many of the ups, downs, struggles and triumphs that she has encountered throughout her stellar career. The chat with Sandy finishes with a listen to her performing a beautiful version of the old standard "What A Wonderful World".

In the post-interview chat, the lads reveal their guest for next week as Kieran and Rory confront Luke with a question about the theme music for Órla Sweeney's episode.

Kieran and Luke use the lads' intro to have some fun at Rory's expense by poking fun at some innocent ignorance that was exposed in the St Patrick's Day Special when revealed that he had never heard of embroidery before. Rory tells us about a recent near-death experience he had while out surfing.

Sandy sits into the guest seat as Kieran asks her about her origins as a performer. Hear Sandy talk about her childhood, her family, her musical and cultural heritage and how her upbringing shaped her life as a performer.

Asked to tell the story of how she came to work with the late Johnny Cash, Sandy takes on an amazing storytelling journey. Hear about the moment that Johnny happened to hear her singing on the radio one night as he was in the car preparing for a concert in Omagh and how it led to him inviting her to the concert, asking her to sing with him that night and ultimately record their famous duet "Woodcarver" after a trip to Nashville and a visit to Johnny's home.

We take a listen to "Woodcarver" to close out part one of our chat with Sandy.

Luke talks to Catherine Rhatigan about her ongoing musical projects and work. Having been involved in various projects of Catherine's together over the last few years, Luke and Catherine aren't strangers to each other. Catherine's roots are in Sligo but she is now based near Zürich in Switzerland. Luke and Catherine discuss her upcoming musical endeavours, how the pandemic has affected her both personally and professionally, how this St. Patrick's Day might be different from others, her work on the collaborative piece featured at the end of the podcast and her own work as a composer. We hear The Atlantic Orchestra Project perform one of Catherine's compositions from the show "Cannon in Sea", a piece titled "The Inishmurray March".

Kieran chats to New Jersey native Dan Mulqueen. Dan has a deep interest in traditional Irish folk music, an interest borne out of the deep Irish roots on both sides of his family. A percussionist and rhythm maker by trade, Dan is no stranger to a melody; he has mastered the handpan drum, a new instrument that has only existed in its current form since the early noughties that combines rhythmic and melodic sound output to create an extremely unique instrument. Dan and Kieran discuss how they first encountered each other, the technicals of the handpan drum and how it's played, Dan's setup where he uses more than one handpan drum, Dan's gigging life and his work with Irish music, his local St. Patrick's Day traditions as well as his work as an original artist, work which has been impacted by the ongoing pandemic. We hear the title track from Dan's latest album, an electronica track called "Real Life" with acoustic handpan as the lead instrument.

Rory sits down for a virtual chat with Stephen O'Dowd. Although he is our youngest guest on the show so far, he already possesses musical wisdom and technical ability far beyond his years. After a brief chat about surfing, Rory asks Stephen about the multitude of instruments he plays, the emotion and musicality he brings to his interpretations of various songs and how he approached the collaborative piece that we're featuring at the end of this episode. Being the last to put his stamp on the piece, Stephen had the benefit of context that Catherine and Dan did not in that he could hear the rest of the piece and try to figure out how to best fit himself into it. Stephen has put together a version of Thom Moore's "Turn The Corner" for the show today and we get a listen to that at the end of this segment.

Finishing off the show, we take a listen to the collaborative piece, a version of "Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór" featuring Catherine Rhatigan on the harp, Dan Mulqueen on the handpan drum and Stephen O'Dowd on fiddle, mandolin and guitar.