Irish Troubadour

Adding nine previously unreleased tracks to 1965's Liam Clancy, Irish Troubadour offers fans the unique experience of hearing Liam Clancy perform over 70 minutes and 23 tracks of wonderful Irish ballads without the accompaniment of his brothers and, largely, with only an acoustic guitar. Highlighting the more delicate side of the Clancy Brothers, there is simply not a bad track here, with most of the classic themes of Irish folk music represented and delivered with genuine emotion and authenticity from the man Bob Dylan calls the best ballad singer he has ever heard. Gently fingerpicked guitar supports pristine ballads like "The Nightingale" and "Dirty Old Town," while some of the rollicking fun characteristic of a Clancy Brothers collaboration remains in songs like "The Rocky Road to Dublin" and "The Sash My Father Wore." More standard traditional fare like "The Foggy Dew" and "Blackwater Side" also appear. This is definitely something fans of the Clancy Brothers shouldn't be without. ~ Matt Fink