Album Review: Muireann Bradley, I Kept These Old Blues

Having made quite the splash with her debut TV appearance on Jools Holland’s annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny, 18-year-old Donegal guitar virtuoso, Muireann Bradley, has wasted little time in re-releasing her debut, recorded when she was just 15.

The first pressing of I Kept These Old Blues sold out globally and is something of a collector’s item. For this release, the original dozen songs been remixed and remastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Kevin Reeve. The Ballybofey native has also added an extra track, ‘When The Levee Breaks’, written by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929, and made famous by Led Zeppelin on their classic IV.

Muireann’s father is an accomplished guitarist himself, and she grew up listening to these old time blues standards, many of which were recorded in the 1920s and ’30s. Hence, this debut is all guitar and vocals, as the teenager delivers brilliant finger-picking takes on a host of classics, including Mississippi John Hurt’s ‘Richland Woman Blues’ and ‘Stagolee’; Blind Blake’s ‘Police Dog Blues’; and Robert Wilkins’ ‘Police Sergeant Blues’.

Self-taught guitar legend Elizabeth Cotten is a real influence, and Muireann also delivers a stunning ‘Shake Sugaree’ and a bittersweet ‘Freight Train’, as well as the beautiful instrumental ‘Vestapol’.

What’s perhaps most astonishing is that all of these songs were recorded live, with most being first or second takes. It’s a testament to the teenager’s incredible talent, honed during the lockdown of 2021, when she was forced to give up combat sports and focus on her guitar instead.

A truly remarkable record.

8/10

Out now