Caught these guys at a few Irish festivals back in the day - they have since broken up. The Makem and Spain Brothers
A lost Irish folk-rock classic from 1984 - In Tua Nua's debut single, Coming Thru. Got a bit of traction but they never really took off; Leslie Dowdall (the lead singer) went solo and released a couple of albums as well, but I lost track of her after the mid-'90s or so. In Tua Nua: Coming Thru
Barbara Dickson's another interesting one - she started out in the '60s as purely folk and worked with many other Scottish folk singers around at the time (including Archie Fisher, mentioned earlier in the thread). Then she had a run of pop singles and went through a period of hits from musicals in the later '70s and '80s (she was involved in John Paul George Ringo... And Bert, Blood Brothers, Chess, and Evita among others), before returning to her folk roots in the mid'90s. She's still going strong and has mostly stayed in the folk arena for the last 20 or 30 years. Here's Fine Flowers In The Valley from 1972's From The Beggar's Mantle...
Here's an artist whose work "straddles folk and pop", and this track is gorgeous - Paul Brady, The Island:
On the completely other end of the spectrum, the '90s brought us The Corrs - very mainstream Irish folk-pop by a family of four Irish siblings. Their albums were about 80% straight-ahead pop (with a bit of fiddle or tin whistle or bodhrán added at choice moments to keep a minor bit of celtic presence), and 20% instrumental traditional pieces. All four siblings are very talented and still active - the group released their most recent album in 2017 and the three women have all released solo albums along the way. Of course, if you want to know just how mainstream they were, they were produced by David Foster and were Céline Dion's opening act before they released their first album... Most of their material is miles away from the style being discussed in this thread (although they released a more traditional album called Home in 2005), but here's an example of their more traditional tunes - this is Erin Shore from their 1995 debut album Forgiven, Not Forgotten:
If you need a palate cleanser after The Corrs, here's Eleanor McEvoy's Only A Woman's Heart from 1993. This was used as the title track of an Irish women's folk compilation (A Woman's Heart) which went on to sell more than 750k copies in Ireland alone, more than any other album in Irish chart history (a record I believe it still holds). McEvoy's solo music has more rock influences to it than folk, but this is by far the song for which she's most known. The compilation album was released internationally as well and is well worth a listen for the other singers involved, too: Mary Black, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, Frances Black, and Maura O'Connell.
Eddi Reader has released some great folk-oriented albums from her days in Fairground Attraction through her solo releases. 2003's Eddi Reader Sings The Songs Of Robert Burns is pretty self-explanatory and includes some great tracks - here's a live performance of Ae Fond Kiss.
Hedgehog Pie ! Love the name. Rare indeed - unknown to me. Went to youtube and there was the Green Lady album, and curiously, a song I know very well, used to bang it out in a folk rock outfit myself (well more rock folk actually), although I had no idea where the person who showed it to me got it, one of those rebel rousers that lends itself well to rock, has those wonderful theatrical Tull stops and starts. Hedgehog Pie - The Burning Of Auchendoon
That's the rare Hedgehog Pie lp. I have the other one (which don't come easy - okay,Sherlocks, point me to Ebay, but know that I will NEVER gain a lp thru criminally exorbitant mail. That shoite ended for me in the 90's.
You are correct: Electric Muse is a wonderful box set AND extremely difficult to find. I must have gone the e-bay route when I got this years ago, as I've never seen one in a record store or anywhere else out in the wild.
If you have a chance, snatch up the Van Morrison/Chieftains collab Irish Heartbeat. The adaptations of traditional Irish tunes are stunning....
A lot of people forget Kate Bush is first generation Irish. She does a great job of the Gaeilge (Irish language) here.
Thank you Speedracer for initiating this thread. After I purchased the "Gathered From Coincidence" Grapefruit label multi disc box a few months ago I then bought the "Strangers In a Room" comp . Finding the "Summer Is Acumin" In set proved more difficult but I eventually managed to track down a copy from Rare Waves UK. Looking at parent label Cherry Red Records web site it shows they are repressing some out of stock sets including last week's repressing of the "Dust On The Nettles" box which I just ordered. Grapefruit head David Wells does a masterful job of these projects and I tip my hat to him. Classy cover art and really good booklet that maximizes the paper real estate with dates and sources of release and each track has either a artist/band picture, 45 or lp cover, Press clipping or poster. Each song has a paragraph or 2 of text with really interesting information, an anecdote or quote and some history that makes the entire presentation a journey that will entertain and fascinate you. People looking for just the big hits might be disappointed. There are alternate mixes, limited edition pressings, acetates and unreleased versions. For example, the Sandy Denny " Who Knows Where The Time Goes" is an unreleased version with only a guitar accompaniment and Ian Matthews Southern Comfort version of " Woodstock" is not the single mix but features the original acoustic guitar accompaniment which was removed on the radio hit version. I put off getting the first comp " Gathered From Coincidence' as I only was after a handful of things. My mistake but was easily fixed by getting other projects David Wells has put together for us all to enjoy.
Some live Pentangle 1972 - selected by Colin Harper @Colin H our very own resident prof of this subject - this links to his Youtube channel.
Preceding video of Pentangle shows master musicians in performance. Willie O' Winsbury slays me every time. Jacqui McShee has great control of her vocals and delivery
