By Tom Clancy.
One of Irish music’s most influential and respected figures is making a rare appearance in the Bay Area. Paul Brady is playing two shows, one on November 7 in Napa and the following night at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. He is one of the musical wellsprings of his generation nestled alongside Donal Lunny, Christy Moore and Andy Irvine. His ongoing musical career has covered an enormous, genre-busting swath of ground. Brady is unique in that he commands equal respect in the Irish traditional, folk/rock and pop musical worlds.
He got an early start, playing summer gigs in Bundoran when he was still in his teens. His stint with The Johnstons, one of Ireland’s most innovative and influential bands in the 1960s and early 1970s, put him on the radar and gave him a start as a songwriter. (The band played a memorable reunion concert in Drogheda in 2011 and my review can be read further back on the blog.)
Brady then joined Planxty to replace Christy Moore, contributing to the final flowering of that powerhouse group. Sadly, that version never recorded an album. Paul stayed within the traditional tent for the rest of the 1970s recording signature albums for Shanachie and Mulligan Records. He also played a legendary concert at Liberty Hall in 1978 with Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn, Matt Molloy, Paddy Glackin and Noel Hill. The recording tapes of the concert went missing for over 20 years before been found and released in 2001.
In 1981, Brady had his Bob Dylan going electric moment when he released Hard Station, an album of his own songs. This was a hard-edged, personal set of literate rock songs with no overt traditional influences. He followed this with a string of albums mining the same seam: True For You (1983), Back To The Centre (1985), Primitive Dance (1987), and Trick Or Treat (1991).
I had left Ireland and arrived in the Bay Area in the early 1980s. In that dismal decade, it was almost impossible to find Brady’s recordings in the U.S. I had to depend on tapes made by my sisters in Ireland and England, many of which I still have. I saw him play a stunning solo concert at the Great American Music Hall in the late 80s. It’s safe to say that the music of Brady and Christy Moore were my major cultural lifelines back to Ireland during that pre-internet era.
The Spirits Colliding CD in 1995 was the pinnacle of that phase of his singer-songwriter career. In 2000 he released another collection of new songs called Oh What A World. This critically acclaimed album featured many of the songs he co-wrote with other songwriters over the previous three years. Brady formed his own label, PeeBee Music, in 2001 which gave him complete creative control of his work.
Many other artists have sung and recorded his songs, recognizing the extraordinary quality and consistency of his work. People who have not heard of Brady will know some of his songs: Paradise is Here (Tina Turner), Luck of the Draw and Steal Your Heart Away (Bonnie Raitt), The Long Goodbye (Brooks & Dunn, Ronan Keating), and The Island (Dolores Keane). His songs have also been recorded by Carole King, Joe Cocker, Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock, Cher, Maura O’Connell, Liam Clancy, Mickey Harte and Santana. Talk about covering the waterfront!
And there are many songs he did not write but his interpretations give him solid ownership: The Lakes of Pontchartrain, Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore, Arthur McBride, and the classic re-working of The Hills of Donegal as a rock anthem. He has so many anthemic melodies and riveting choruses to his credit that he should consider offering some to the many countries with turgid, militaristic national anthems.
In Brady’s songs the words flow as freely as the tunes and his stylistic diversity is breathtaking. He is also a master collaborator playing and recording with dozens of other singers and artists. His duets with Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (Daily Growing), Mary Black (I Will be There), Christy Hennessey (Lonely Boy), Tim O’Brien (Down in the Willow garden) and Rosanne Cash (Forty Shades of Green) are treasures to be sought out on other albums.
With such a large catalog of songs, Brady must have a hard time coming up with a set list for concerts. Let’s see what assembly of riches he produces for his Bay Area concerts.
Read Tom’s blog here!