Start at the top. The first folk act I ever paid to see was Planxty, one of the most famous bands ever to come out of Ireland. And nearly forty years later I was off to the House to see one of the founding members of said legends. Andy Irvine has had a long, varied and hugely successful career as musician, singer and songwriter, playing not just Irish music, but with strong influences from North America and Eastern Europe.
He is blessed with a voice that, if not the most technically perfect, has an utterly distinctive quality that makes him immediately recognisable. Tonight he also played a variety of eight stringed instruments - guitar, mandola, bouzouki - and a confusing selection of harmonicas (confusing to him that is, for he constantly struggled to find the right one for any given number!).
As well as that fine, well-articulated voice and intricate accompaniments what we got was a night of story telling. Both in the introductory patter, which would set the scene, and in the songs themselves. There were traditional ballads telling tales of highwaymen and murders, American union songs and self penned numbers telling scenes from Andy's life. Amongst my favourites from the later category were those telling how he came to realise how acting wasn't the career for him and that he would make music his life; and the months he spent living in Ljubljana trying, unsuccessfully, to get his leg over with any of the local girls. And I was grateful that he found time to include, as his final piece, my request to sing Woody Guthrie's magnificent tribute to Steinbeck's Grape of Wrath, The Ballad of Tom Joad. Still brings a tear to my eye.
If there was the odd fluffed line or bum note they were entirely forgiveable from a man who's been such a powerful musical force for more than five decades. A lovely way to spend an evening.
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