Nothing but a Child

Singer, guitarist and bouzouki player Cyril O’Donoghue has taken his time getting round to making his debut solo album, having been touring with one band or another since the late 1970s. No surprise, then, that he’s accumulated a magnificently eclectic repository of songs and made them his own. The material here ranges from an unusual version of ‘A Blacksmith Courted Me’ (with a completely different melody from the one generally heard) to songs by Robert Burns, Joe Dolan and Steve Earle; there’s also a lovely original waltz composed in honour of his baby granddaughter. O’Donoghue doesn’t have a particularly powerful voice, but what it lacks in strength it makes up in affability – and on ‘big’ songs like the monumental ‘The Scariff Martyrs’ he rises to the occasion, singing with an authority that attests to his long experience. A host of Clare-based musicians and singers, including Siobhán Peoples, Tola Custy and many others, provide impeccable accompaniment and harmonies.