Album Review: Mary Stokes Band, Hometown Blues

Hometown Blues was originally released as a limited CD run in 2002, It sold out at the Mary Stokes Band’s annual appearance at the Guinness Cork Jazz festival and the material has lain dormant since.

Until, that is – almost a quarter-of-a-century later – radio broadcaster and respected musicologist, Bernard Clarke, began playing tracks from the CD on his RTE Lyric FM show. That inspired the band to dig out the original Sonic Studio recordings, remaster them, add two new bonus tracks, and well, here we are!

Bravo for Clarke’s sonic archaeology, as Hometown Blues is a marvellous trek through The Mary Stokes Band’s back catalogue. ‘When You Are Old’ offers a microcosm of just how splendid the record is. A reinterpretation of the WB Yeats poem, it melds the blues with Irish trad, an approach that was originally suggested to the band by their friend, the legendary bluesman Taj Mahal. That masterful mix is repeazted superbly on original track ‘Bad News’, a fine tribute to the late, immensely great Phil Lynott.

Two tracks – Louisiana Red’s ‘Where Is My Friend’ and Derroll Adam’s ‘Portland Town’ – were cut live in support of Taj Mahal at a 1999 Dublin gig, and they sound just fine here. Elsewhere, there are songs by Son House, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Rogers and Big Bill Broonzy that were first aired across parties at harmonica player Brian Palm’s Percy Place flat in the 1980s, busking on Grafton Street, and gigging throughout Dublin.

Another standout is ‘My Voodoo Doll’: featuring the mighty Queen Bees, it doubles as a fine closer and a brilliant addition to the Mary Stokes canon. Vintage stuff.

8/10