Cornelscourt Parish Hall

Cornelscourt Parish Hall
The Location of Foxrock Folk Club

THE FOXROCK FOLK CLUB

As Luke Kelly remarked when he played the club in December 1972, a folk club in the suburb of Foxrock was a somewhat unlikely combination. Probably even more unlikely was the fact it was organised and run by teenagers and managed to attract to Foxrock some of the biggest names on the Irish music scene (see Folk Club History & "Local and Visiting Artists").

The aim of the Foxrock Folk Club Project is to (1) research the history of the club (2) develop a club archive and (3) create a space in which people who played at the club or attended some of the sessions can share their memories of what was an unique musical and cultural experience.

Contact: jeremy.kearney40@gmail.com


Wednesday 30 December 2015

"AS LIVE AS IT GETS" - NIALL TONER ON 'ROOTS FREEWAY'

That was Niall Toner's comment at the end of Luke Kelly's Foxrock Folk Club recording of 'The Unquiet Grave' which he played on his RTE show, Roots Freeway, last Saturday night (Stephen's Day). He said that he had actually been there that night in December 1972 to hear Luke's performance and a very special night it was too.
Niall was full of praise for the album and the range and diversity of the recordings on it. To illustrate this he also played Johnny Norris's virtuoso guitar performance on his Ragtime Medley - three, or is it four? -, ragtime pieces run together. As Niall said, this recording could be an early field recording from the 30s or 40s, so authentic is the playing.
The third track he played was 'Blues in the Bottle' with Red Peters and Brian Fry and he rightly introduced Red Peters as 'one of the greatest Blues singers ever produced in this country'.

It was great to hear these tracks from the album on Niall's programme as Roots Freeway is a wonderful show with terrific music of all kinds. In a way 'roots' music is a very good description of the different types of music on the album as all the tracks are 'rooted' in the early traditions of folk, trad, blues and jazz (listen to the Butler Fox band and 'Swingin' the Blues' to hear what a South Dublin 'speakeasy' sounded like).

For those who weren't lucky enough to be at the club (and even those who were) put on the CD, close your eyes and listen to the music of the time 'as live as it gets'.

This edition of Roots Freeway can be heard again on the RTE Radio web site at
http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9:10507887:3104:26-12-2015:

Thursday 10 December 2015

ALBUM SALES ARE GOING WELL


The 'Live at Foxrock Folk Club' album sales are going very well with a number of shops looking for further stock.
Remember it makes the perfect Christmas gift so buy now and don't be disappointed.
The album is available in Ireland from Tower Records, Claddagh and HMV (both from shops and their on-line stores) and also from Amazon and iTunes.
In the UK and worldwide, the album is available from www.birnamcdshop.com. as well as www.amazon.co.uk / www.amazon.com and iTunes.

'LIVE AT FOXROCK FOLK CLUB' IN AUSTRALIA


Declan O'Connell, originally from Blackrock in Dublin but now living in Canberra, Australia, is planning to feature 'Live at Foxrock Folk Club' in his programme, 'Rebel Chorus', on the Canberra station 2XXFM on Friday 10 December at 11pm (UK/Irish time). I'm delighted to hear that the programme is about his six favourite albums of 2015 and 'Live at FFC' is one of these (quite an accolade considering that one of his other favourites is 'The Joy of Living', the commemorative album celebrating Ewan MacColl's centenary, which has a stellar cast of artists including Peggy Seeger, Norma Waterson, Martin and Eliza Carthy, Damian Dempsey, The Unthanks and more).

There is live streaming of the programme at http://www.2xxfm.org.au/listen from 11 pm, Friday 11 December to 1 am, Saturday 12 December.



RADIO BROADCAST NEWS

Noel Casey including two tracks from the CD as part of his excellent and musically eclectic programme, 'After Midnight', last Monday night / Tuesday morning on Dublin City FM. The songs featured the great blues singing of Red Peters with guitarist Brian Fry on 'Alberta' and a blues harp/vocal duo on 'Louise, Louise Blues' with Shay Fogarty, a member of Dirty Dozens.
The Dirty Dozens played the club on two or three occasions and for many of us, it was our first experience of hearing live, raw, early blues - a never to be forgotten event.
An essential part of the sessions were Red's informative, but also hilarious, introductions to songs. One memorable intro was to the song 'I Got Fooled' where his explanation of the story of sexual misadventure ended with the summary that the main character was 'caught frolicking and cavorting around the living room'.

Monday 7 December 2015

MORE FROM DUBLIN CITY FM

The 'Live at Foxrock' album will be featured on Dublin City FM again tonight/tomorrow morning on Noel Casey's splendid programme 'After Midnight' which runs from midnight on Monday to 2am Tuesday. He always plays a wide selection of musical styles from rock, blues, folk, country and more.
It looks as if he will be playing a couple of Red Peters tracks.
Keep up with the programme on the 'After Midnight' facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AfterMidnightDublinCityFm. 

Friday 4 December 2015

MORE RADIO PLAYS

John O'Regan of Limerick City Community Radio spoke very postiively about the album and the club on his radio programme 'Eclectic Celt' on Sunday 29 November. He also played the Al O'Donnell track Avondale.
The podcast of the programme can be heard here:
http://www.limerickcitycommunityradio.org/podcasts.php?show=eclectic-celt&ampdate=2015-11-29  
and the material on the club is about 10 minutes in. More tracks are promised for future programmes.

On his 'Blues Train' programme on Dublin City FM last Sunday, Charlie Hussey played a couple of the blues tracks from the album - Johnny Norris singing the Rev Gary Davis song 'All My Friends Are Gone' and Red Peters and Brian Fry version of 'Alberta'. Charlie also gave due credit to Kevin McCann and his reel-to-reel tape recorder.
It was good to hear Charlie dedicate the tracks to the amazing Larry Roddy who did some much to encourage the development of the blues scene in Dublin in the 60s and 70s and beyond. In the mid 60s with Red Peters and some others he formed the Irish Blues Appreciation Society which was based in Slatterys of Capel Street and then organised many concerts with leading American blues artists.

Wednesday 2 December 2015

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT!


Many thanks to Barry Somerville for the great idea.