Album Review: Dervish, The Great Irish Songbook Vol 2: Poets & Storytellers

This is a more than worthy successor to Dervish’s 2019 inaugural exploration of The Great Irish Songbook, shifting the focus this time onto a more contemporary handful of songs by Van Morrison, Shane MacGowan, Sinead O’Connor and Glen Hansard, among others.

That the Dervish team of Cathy Jordan, Brian McDonagh, Shane Mitchell, Liam Kelly and Tom Morrow can so comfortably embrace such diverse vocal styles as the late Moya Brennan, Eddi Reader, the Indigo Girls and the Del McCoury Band in itself speaks volumes. Yet despite the eminent guestlist, the knock-out track features the band’s own captivating vocal stalwart, Cathy Jordan, on Shane MacGowan’s ‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’.

They go full pelt behind Moya Brennan’s lively original ‘Tobar an tSaoil’, and their warmth and fluency adds value to Hansard’s plaintive ‘Leave A Light On’, while the Indigo Girls’ take on John Spillane’s ‘Passage West’ suggests it merits more covers.

Meanwhile, Phil Coulter’s ‘The Town I Love So Well’ not only survives its Atlantic crossing, but finds itself at ease in the downhome country treatment it gets from the Del McCoury Band. That focus on contemporary works, as well as the convincing results, dispel any notion that all our great folk songs come from the past.

Many of these works were not created specifically for a trad treatment, so the fact they work so well is a tribute to the flair brought to them by Dervish and their carefully-chosen accomplices. This series deserves to run and run.

8.5/10