Dónal Clancy
Album: Songs of a Roving Blade
(Copperplate)
★★★★★ (Out of 5)
Dónal Clancy grew up in a household that was steeped in music so he had little chance of avoiding it, even if he wanted to.
When your father, Liam, is one of the greatest folk singers ever to emerge from the Emerald Isle and your uncles are the world famous Clancy Brothers, you naturally absorb the tradition. Dónal certainly embraced the music and now proudly carries on the Clancy legacy.
He spent his early childhood in Canada and the US before the family settled back in Waterford in 1983. Liam gave Dónal a guitar at the age of eight and his future was thus sealed.
By his early teens the young Clancy was playing a residency at an Irish bar in Hong Kong, co-founded trad band Danu and then left to join his father Liam and cousin, Robbie O’Connell, for a US tour. They continued to tour and recorded two albums before eventually disbanding.
In 1998 Dónal moved to New York where he quickly established himself as the go-to guitarist for many of the top Irish music acts.
He was a member of Irish-American super-group Solas for a couple of years before re-joining Danu. In 2009 he returned to Ireland with his family and after the sad passing of Liam.
Clancy’s latest release, Songs of A Roving Blade, is an important statement of intent. Sounding remarkably like his dad at times, this is a lovely album that should stand him in good stead.
Whilst they are all songs that have been covered by various Clancy family line-ups, Dónal manages to make them his own with tasteful arrangements and some excellent playing.
Songs such as Mrs McGrath, Rosin the Bow, The Limerick Rake, Eileen Aruin, Nancy Whiskey and I Once Loved a Lass were all Clancy favourites but sound fresh here.
Of the standout tracks, The Broom of the Cowdenknowes is folk singing at its best and the deceptively simple percussive feel on the 1798 ballad Roddy McCorley is brilliant.
Overall this is a smashing album that should help to ensure that these songs will never be lost.
