Return To Droim

Colm Gannon’s melodeon-playing father, John Gannon, emigrated in 1959 from Droim in Connemara to Dorchester, near Boston, Massachusetts, where Colm was born and grew up. Now, following four years on the road with Riverdance, Colm is back living in his father’s home place and has just recorded his first solo album. It’s mightily impressive. Gannon is a neat and lively player, and he’s put together a never-dull collection of tunes that range from standards like ‘The Connaughtman’s Rambles’ and ‘Haste To The Wedding’ to lesser-known gems like the final track, ‘Bogs of Shanaheaver’, a march that Gannon learned from his great-uncle. John Blake provides well-crafted accompaniment on guitar, bouzouki and piano; his fellow Londoner John Carty plays banjo on one track, while two other tracks feature fiddler Jesse Smith – another young Irish-American who’s made his home on this side of the pond.