Rome

The Spanish Steps

"Useful Violence"

Came across this passage today in 'A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland' by Samuel Johnson. "No faction of Scotland loved the name of Cromwell, or had any desire to continue his memory. Yet what the Romans did to other nations, was in a great degree done by Cromwell to the Scots; he civilized them by conquest, and introduced by useful violence the arts of peace. I was told at Aberdeen that the people learned from Cromwell's soldiers to make shoes and to plant kail. How they lived without kail, it is not easy to guess: They cultivate hardly any other plant for common tables, and when they had not kail they probably had nothing."

Ireland

I took a trip to Ireland this month for a family wedding and had a lovely, peaceful visit. After performing on Charlie McGettigan's 'Saturday Connection' on Shannonside FM we headed northwest from Longford to where some good friends live between Knocknarea and the sea in Strandhill, Co. Sligo. It's a very peaceful place where I always feel at home spending time with these friends who have been very good to me. As it was raining and there was only a day to spend there, I spent most of the time in conversation rather than walking up Knocknarea. The last time I was there they took me to the Fairy Glen, a magical place where I first had to wash my face in the well beside the road before turning around and taking the gate into the glen. I had heard about this place years before in New York so it was lovely to finally find myself there.

A few days later I went to Strangford Lough in County Down. We took some walks in the hills nearby that are steeped in lore about St. Patrick and the establishment of his first church there at Saul, from the early Irish 'sabhal' for 'barn': Patrick is said to have converted the chieftain Dichu, who then gave him a barn in which to establish his church in Ireland. Walking up the steep St. Patrick's Hill could be seen dozens of dishevelled boiled eggs left over from the Easter Sunday celebrations of the previous week. We also visited Downpatrick Cathedral where Patrick is thought to be buried along with Ireland's two other patron saints Bridget and Colmcille. It's a high, peaceful spot in the town of Downpatrick which is accessed by an inclining path through a pleasant grove of trees where bluebells and daffodils were in bloom.

It was on then to Loughcrew, an even more ancient site near Oldcastle in Co. Meath for an ascent to sit on The Hag's Chair (that's where I am in the photo), to take in a splendid view of the surrounding countryside from a fine height.

Finally as this trip came to a close I unexpectedly found myself in Glendalough walking through the ruins of Kevin's monastic settlement and imagining the lives of the monks there and the imagery of much of my favourite Celtic nature poetry about the ascetic life.

Through the Bitter Frost & Snow

At last it's snowing in New York. On our way to her drama class my daughter didn't even want to take a bus or cab today but to skip in the snow and throw snowballs. When I was seven months pregnant and on tour in Ireland I remember finding it difficult to play guitar and then I more or less put it away. I took it up again a few weeks ago and have been playing regularly. About time as the child is now nine. Years.
Last week I had another recording session for 'Belong' at Excello Studios in Brooklyn with Ryan McGiver, Lindsey Horner, Erik Della Penna and Allison Miller. We recorded the basic tracks for two songs "Down By The Liffeyside" (not the traditional song but my own) and "I Could Be Happy". The chorus of the latter song still needs completion but music is there. There's another song that's been hanging around that I call "Bring Back the Dead" but I'm not sure that's what it ultimately wants to be called, and satisfactory lyrics beyond the one verse are not forthcoming, though it has withstood a few rewrites over the past decade.
I also had a recording session for 'Smarty Girl' the audiobook of my friend Honor Molloy's beautiful novel, her story of growing up in Dublin in the 1960s with her mother (an American writer), father (a well known actor) and siblings. Honor invited me to compose and arrange music for the audiobook which will be released by Simon & Schuster in the spring.
For that project Brendan O'Shea and Donie Ryan played guitar and banjo beautifully on melodies I wrote for Honor's lyrics of two songs "Dartinne" and "Goosetown". Brendan also laid down some harmonica. Next week Shahzad Ismaily is going to record some appropriate musical weirdness and Marta Cook will be recording harp.
In the meantime, I have a few songs to finish so that I can start into the home strait of recording "Belong".

Recording with Michelle

This afternoon I met Michelle Kinney to record her playing cello on a number of songs for the new album at Ross Bonadonna's Wombat Studios in Brooklyn. Michelle flew in yesterday from her home in Minneapolis. When we met at the studio door I remembered that it's been 17 years since we began recording 'Bones'. It's been a decade since I recorded 'Prophecy' and most of the songs on this album were written since then. There are also two songs from before then that for some reason I'm only getting around to putting on an album now. In all, I know I have too many songs for the album so at some stage I'll have to figure out which ones end up on it.
On Sunday evening I was at the studio with Erik Della Penna, Lindsey Horner and Alli Miller rehearsing three songs that have yet to be recorded. While I still have to finish the lyrics, musically they're mostly there, and I performed one of them, 'Down By The Liffeyside', in New Mexico and Arizona a couple of weeks ago with Ryan McGiver and Jason Sypher.
I'm working on a couple of new songs which may make it on to the album yet, tentatively titled 'Star' and 'Patience'.

My Favourite State

When Ryan McGiver and I flew into Dallas on Thursday our connecting flight to Albuquerque was delayed. Then we got on one which took us half way until the pilot had to turn back because of high winds. So we were delighted to get there on Friday in time for our performance at The Outpost Performance Space. We had a brilliant time there a year ago with Jason Sypher on the end of our tour for ‘Singing in the Dark’ and we hadn't performed together since so we were excited to play some of the new songs from the forthcoming album I've been working on. Tentatively titled ‘Belong’, it consists of songs I’ve written over the past decade and is the kind of album that follows on from ‘Prophecy’ (2002) and ‘Bones’ (1995), with some musical guests who previously appeared on either or both of those albums.

I've played in Albuquerque for many years so it was an audience familiar with the different kinds of music I've done in recent years and a good place to perform some of the new songs.

Then it was on to the lovely Flagstaff on Saturday. We had never been there but heard great things and our experience of it was wonderful. The interstate had been closed and there was heavy snow in the morning so we weren't sure we'd get in until our flight landed and the highway reopened and we made it just in time for soundcheck. We really got to know a lot of the audience in hanging out after the show and we have to go back there!

Currently post-sound check at the amazing Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix and RYan made the comment that you could love in the dressing room here. What a beautiful venue and a great home for an incredible collection of musical instruments from all over the world.

United Nations and Poetry Society of America

I received two lovely commissions to write and perform new work in October. Cristina Diez of FTD Fourth World in New York invited me to write a song based on texts from people living in poverty in Ireland to perform at an event to commemorate International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Irish singer songwriter Michael Brunnock worked with me on the song we called 'Be Change' and we performed it at the United Nations on October 17.

Alice Quinn of the Poetry Society of America invited me to perform at the launch of the Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry, which took place at Poet's House on October 25. Two of the songs on my album 'Singing in the Dark' are in the Anthology as poems - Theodore Roethke's 'In A Dark Time' and Anne Sexton's 'A Woman Like That', and Alice asked if I would write music for another poem from the Anthology. I chose Paul Laurence Dunbar's 'Life's Tragedy':

It may be misery not to sing at all,
And to go silent through the brimming day;
It may be misery never to be loved,
But deeper griefs than these beset the way.

To sing the perfect song,
And by a half-tone lost the key,
There the potent sorrow, there the grief,
The pale, sad staring of Life's Tragedy.

To have come near to the perfect love,
Not the hot passion of untempered youth,
But that which lies aside its vanity,
And gives, for thy trusting worship, truth.

This, this indeed is to be accursed,
For if we mortals love, or if we sing,
We count our joys not by what we have,
But by what kept us from that perfect thing.


It was wonderful to debut the song in front of a room packed with poetry lovers and to be performing with Erik Della Penna and Jason Sypher once again.
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