26 October 2006

Tim O'Brien, The Quay,


Tim O' Brien

Take Me Home Country Roads

"We're going to rip right into it" West Virginian Tim O'Brien told the audience at the start of his Quay Arts concert, and that is exactly what happened as a sell-out crowd were treated to an evening of dazzling musicianship and song from O'Brien and his accompanist - Irish acoustic guitar maestro Arty McGlynn.

O'Briens ringing mandolin and silky smooth fiddle were in evidence throughout a concert of the highest technical quality.

The show began with a brisk 'Train On The Island', whilst the traditional song 'Foreign Lander' vividly conveyed both the music and spirit of the Appalachain mountains. 'Let's Go To Huntin'' quickly followed with chirpy and bright mandolin. A first half of many highlights also included 'Cornbread Nation', and 'Pretty Fair Maid' and 'Look Down That Lonesome Road', both taken from O'Brien's Grammy-award winning album 'Fiddler's Green'. Tim's vocal talents also impressed as well as the peerless Bluegrass instrumentation.

O'Brien has Irish ancestry and in the second half he sang 'Ireland's Green Shore' from his album 'The Crossing' which documents the story of Irish immigrants moving to Appalachia in the late 18th Century. A whole host of musical gems followed - 'A Mountaineer Is Always Free', 'Fiddler's Green', Jimmie Rodger's 'California Blues' with sumptuos mandolin and a magnificent slow song 'Let Love Take You Back Again'. Gordon Lightfoot's 'Early Morning Rain' was the closer followed by two encores - another beautifully- crafted tale of the mountains 'I've Endured' and finally the eerie and lonesome 'Long Black Veil' delivered with real expertise by the two musicians.

Vic King