| Debut Album by Bruce Scott My Colleen
by the Shore is the debut album of Bruce Scott the Liverpool Irish balladeer.
Bruce is a name and a face that is well known to many with an interest
in Irish folk and traditional music on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Born in Liverpool in 1941 he is steeped in a musical tradition that crossed
the Irish Sea to the north west with generations of Irish emigrants, intermingled
with Scottish dock workers and seafarers from around the world.
Bruce spent a large part of the 1960s busking and playing in bars and
sessions in every parish and town in Ireland from west Cork to Derry.
During these travels and adventures he met, befriended and sang with
the likes of Kevin Conniff, Finbar and Eddie Furey, Liam Clancy, Christy
Moore and the late Frank Harte.
After returning to Liverpool he quickly built a reputation as a singer
and songwriter on the folk circuit and also became and remains a central
figure in the Liverpool Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
As well as being a superb interpreter of the traditional ballad, Bruce
is also a gifted songwriter.
The album takes its name from a song which won Bruce the All-Ireland
Championship for newly composed ballads in the 2004 Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
This whole album is charged with a depth of emotion and sheer enthusiasm,
from the deeper songs such as The Lowlands of Flanders to the haunting She
Moved Through the Fair or the fanciful Kinsale Herring.
His accompanist is the excellent whistle and flute player Terry Coyne.
Probably what makes this album so likeable is the fact that the themes
are about life and history. It’s about love, life, dreams and reflection
and Bruce Scott has a talent for telling it straight. This long overdue
album is one for the top of your CD pile.
It will be officially launched at 7.30p.m. Thursday, October 27 at the
Fly in the Loaf, Hardman Street, Liverpool with an evening of ballads from
Liverpool and Ireland.
The album is available on the Veteran label Mail order 44 Old Street,
Haughley, Strawmarket Suffolk IP14 3nx or
www.veteran.co.uk.
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