JOHN KELLEY: Echoes From Delia's Parlor

John Kelley

Echoes From Delia's Parlor

© 2002 John Kelley (685862020726)

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Distinctive traditional Irish.

tracks

1 Jovial Collier Lad
2 The Old House
3 Arthur McBride
4 Eileen Oge
5 The Star of the County Down
6 My Lagan Love
7 Whiskey in the Jar
8 Dennis Murphy's/Forty-Two Pound Cheque/John Ryan's
9 Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms
10 The Old Turf Fire
11 The Garden Where the Praties Grow
12 The Mountains of Mourne
13 Tunnel Tigers
14 Calliope House/Jig in A/Wee Johnny
15 Gentle Annie
16 Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair
17 The Streams of Doonah
18 Bantry Bay
19 The Parting Glass

notes

This disc is dedicated to Delia McNicholas, my great grandmother, a gentle soul who shared her love of music with her descendants. Delia was born December 1 1878 in county Mayo, Ireland, and before her second birthday sailed the Atlantic with her mother Julia to reunite with her father Patrick in Baltimore, Maryland. She spent the rest of her life within 25 miles of her port of entry, passing on in 1970 at the age of 92.

Before the end of the 19th century she had given birth to two daughters and had been widowed, losing her first husband, John Sweeny in a coal mining accident. She raised her girls by running a boarding house owned by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Sparrows Point MD.

By the time I was born in 1947 she'd been widowed a second time and shared her home with her eldest daughter Marie Sweeney Kelley, my father's mother, also widowed. They had a small farm in Baltimore County where our family would often gather for holidays and other celebrations of note. It was here on those rare and highly anticipated occasions Delia would summon four generations of our clan to the piano in her parlor. Out would come the old photo's and sheet music stored in the piano bench. All would sing along learning Delia's favorites in the process as my grandmother Marie or my sister Joan played. Even after half a century those sessions hold some of my fondest memories. I can still hear my parents, John and Sara, singing and remember the feeling of comfort it brought me. In 1952 my twin brother Michael and I made our "BIG DEBUT" there, a rendition of "California Here I Come" arranged and directed by Joan.

I thought it appropriate that my first solo recording should be a return to those roots. All of the ballads I've chosen were written before Delia was born; many were her lifelong favorites and became mine also.

It was truly a MIGHTY PLEASURE working with everyone involved in this project. I'm certain Delia would have appreciated their efforts and welcomed them into her parlor, as I hope you will.

Thanks also to Kevin d'Arcy and Bill Briwa for their research assistance, the Beland family of Tyler Trax for their hospitality, and my wife Barbara for her endless encouragement.

Rest in peace, dear Delia.

reviews

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  • A Singer Who Would Have Been at Home in the Golden Age
    author: Kevin D'Arcy

    The world of Celtic folk music is flooded with gifted instrumentalists and boasts several fine female singers. But there is a great dearth of good male singers. In this CD John Kelley shows that he is one rare bird -- a male folk singer with a voice. There are many nasally, insecure singers out there who are battering fine songs like these. Have any of us ever before heard "Arthur McBride" and "Whiskey in the Jar" actually SUNG? John Kelley is a balm to ears accustomed to today's weak and homely voices. ----- Kelley is a throwback to the golden age, indeed to the age of Delia's parlor. He takes up where McCormack, Thomas L. Thomas, McKellar, MacEwan, and other fine ballad singers left off, but in the modern setting of a singer and his guitar. Which other guitar strumming bard would dare take on "My Lagan Love" (a beautiful but treacherous song), or "Bantry Bay", with its difficult intervals and key changes? Kelley handles both songs easily and beautifully. And every word is crystal clear, something sorely lacking in most folk singing today. ------ If you like a sonorous, burnished, manly voiced singer, this CD is for you. Imagine Gordon Macrae's voice and Danny Doyle's musical sensibilities and you have a good idea of John Kelley. ------- One thing I particularly like about this disc is the variety of the repertoire. I had never heard "Tunnel Tigers" before, a song I like and my young son loves! And "The Streams of Doonah" (aka "Duna") I first heard as a child on a 78rpm record as sung by operatic baritone Reinald Werrenrath, and later on a 78 record by Sydney MacEwan. Kelley employs a different melody, but what other "folk" singer around today would know this fine song or the equally good "The Old Turf Fire"? ------- But even the old standards like "Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms" sound fresh in the hands of this fine singer. No phony pathos, just a sincere but respectful rendering. Listen as his voice darkens at the words "that the fervor and faith of a soul can be known". Simply great. -------- I love the accompaniments on this disc. Imaginative but appropriately simple; a tough combo to pull off but they made it work. --------- There is not space to note all the highlights in this fine CD. But the a cappella version of "The Parting Glass" is an unblemished farewell to a memorable hour in Delia's parlor. I wish I could have been there for the real thing so long ago.------- Buy this CD. I cannot imagine anyone with taste being disappointed. And if you ever get the chance to hear John Kelley in person, take it. He has a great stage personality and a huge repertoire of songs. ---------- Thanks, Mr. Kelley, for making this beautiful CD. May you live long and sing always.

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