A new De has dawned

Over the years De Dannan served as a stopping off point for a bewildering array of musical talent. But, already having ceased to function as a touring entity, the band finally called it a day in 2003.

Well, that was the official line. But anyone who knew frontman Frankie Gavin would have told you it was unlikely De Dannan would stay in retirement for very long. In its latest incarnation, vocalist duties will be assumed by Michelle Lally while Gavin is to soldier on as the sole original member. Also joining are Mike Galvin on guitars and bouzouki, Eric Cunningham on percussion, flutes and whistles and Damien Mullane tickling the buttons on accordion.
De Dannan will be launching a new album with a special appearance at this year’s World Fleadh, which has now moved venue from Portlaoise to Castlebar. For one night only, they will be joined by former members Mairtin O’Connor, Mary Black and Dolores Keane in a performance that will celebrate the band’s past as much as look to its future.
The ‘Women Of Ireland’ vocal ensemble that has been performing with Frankie Gavin and the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra live in the United States over the last year will also be on hand to provide some firepower – and will be accompanying De Dannan on a limited number of shows during the rest of the year. Future De Dannan tour dates will include Carnegie Hall, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi and the Hollywood Bowl.
The World Fleadh actually kicks off on Thursday July 30 with a performance by the definitely non-Trad Chris de Burgh. The festival runs from Friday July 31 to Saturday August 8 and will conclude with performances from Martina McBride and Jeff Tuttle. Other highlights include Damien Dempsey, Moving Hearts, Sharon Shannon, Mary Black, Shane MacGowan (showing off the new teeth) and the Saw Doctors, plus an American contingent featuring Crooked Still, Randy Travis, Hal Ketchum and Georgette Jones.
As in previous years there is a strong ceili element with appearances by the Tulla Ceili Band, the Johnny Reidy Ceili Band, the Brian Boru Ceili Band and the Copperplate Ceili Band .
The magnificently named Hillgrass Bluebilly Records has released a double-album tribute to Hank Williams and Leadbelly entitled Hiram and Huddie, with contributions from many of the finest maverick talents currently playing alt-folk, renegade country and swamp blues. Some, like William Elliott Whitmore, who covers Hank’s ‘Mother Is Gone’ and C.W. Stoneking, who tackles ‘I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive’, play it straight and heartfelt. Still, there are others who are more than happy to take the ball and kick it over the fence into somebody else’s garden as in the case with Scott H. Biram’s funk-a-billy mashup of ‘Lost Highway’ with its fuzztone whammy bar Gretsch riff, and Bob Log III’s wonderfully dismembered remake of ‘Setting The Woods On Fire’.
It’s largely the same cast of miscreants who get to grips with the Leadbelly songs on the second disc with Scott H. Biram ditching everything for an a capella version of ‘Go Down Old Hannah’. Leadbelly’s major hit was ‘Goodnight Irene’ – the song least likely to offend the white middle America it was originally released to in the 1930s.
Like almost every recording artist since, John McKelvey here replaces the original line ‘I’ll get you in my dreams’ with the less sexually threatening ‘I’ll see you in my dreams’. That apart, this cranked-up, rumbunctious take on the song is one of the disc’s highpoints.
There’s a second version tucked away on a hidden track at the end of the disc – this time it’s Wayne Hancock and his wife Gina who approach the song in a more straightforwardly melodic way, the most commercially accessible recording on a fairly uncompromising record.
At the other end of the spectrum from this straight up and down take is Soda’s remake of ‘Old Riley’ which comes across all kind of Tom Waits-joins -the Residents and falls temporarily in love with bluegrass. Definitely taking liberties with the original but you can’t but help thinking that both Leadbelly and Hank would have loved it. Spinning in their graves? Hardly, but the coffins might well be shaking with laughter.