Deep is the Well by Kevin O’Donnell.

Artist: Kevin O’Donnell

Album: Deep is the Well

Players: Jim DeWan, Finbar Furey, Larry Gray, Kathleen Keane, Bill Lanphier, Maurice Lennon, Haley O’Donnell, John Rice, John William, and Jessica Willis

Style: Irish Country, Americana

Tracks:

• A Letter Home
• When I Was Young
• Factory Girl
• Downtowner Motel
• Girl from Durango
• Illinois & Michigan Canal
• Camp-Farm Road
• Rusted Dreams
• She
• The Ballad of Jackie Ryan Fagan
• Saint Malachy’s Waltz

There are recordings that accomplish the purpose of entertaining. There are those that serve to tell. Deep is the Well by Kevin O’Donell accomplishes both of these aspects. The album reads like a biographical book as it explores the lives of Irish immigrants to the United States. Those who are fascinated by Irish history and the American Antebellum period will take this album close to heart as any jewels uncovered from the treasure chest.

The album starts with A Letter Home . The spoken letter takes us back to the sentiments of someone sending a message to those close to the heart more than a century ago. There is something poignant and also I sometimes feel the hair on my skin stand as I realize that that the owner has been dead  a long time ago. To uncover these intimate details about another person’s life long after he or she is dead is such a fascinating thing.

Factory Girl is the promotional single which is available online. It’s a story of Mary Helen Dougherty (1879-1918)

Born a blue-collar daughter in an old river town,

where the slow-rolling water from the prairie run down

the bend of the river is the edge of her world,

there’s no place it seems for the modest of dreams of a Factory Girl…

Makes you want to find out more right? There are more vibrant lives through the liner notes of Deep is the Well.

The rest of the album play like old pages with the breath of freshness. Something like old pages smelling of tobacco, dust and the lives exposed to it. The music is lush, vibrant but unhurried. It is a story teller’s album. The intention is to tell you something with the accompaniment of music. The spotlight is on the lyrics, although the musical depth and richness are always present. Cellos, viola, acoustic guitar, dobro and other beautiful sounds embellish this album.

Kevin O’Donnell has a resonant and expressive voice that can appeal to any genre. The production is crisp, clear and bright. Appreciation also goes to the album packaging. That cover artwork is a piece of eye candy.

Inspiration (at least the great ones) always comes from something deep. Something that’s steeped in history and the passionate lives led by people who handed out their legacy to us through books and songs. This is what I found in Deep is the Well. It’s an album that’s focused on something that is lasting. It speaks of feelings across time, and the wisdom comes with age and experiences.

Do you recall how  older relatives tell us how life was harder and how they struggled to make ends meet. I realize how everything comes easy now, in this age of instant gratification. How we get spoiled and would like everything to happen when we want it. They struggled and fought just to get us where we are now. It isn’t hard to acknowledge all the sweat and blood that paved way for something like a generation of the free. It’s the very sentiment that’s found in Deep is the Well. Just acknowledging and not forgetting , I think is enough for those who came before us.

I recommend this album to people who are fond of history and ballads. You will get so much out of Deep is the Well, not just musically but something to feel your soul.

About Kevin

Singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and published author: these are the distinctive hallmarks of Kevin O’Donnell’s public career. He is affectionately called “uncle tunes” among his family and close circle of musician friends, and is more broadly recognized in Chicago music circles as the founder and front man for the Irish-American folk group Arranmore.

Kevin’s commercial success as a songwriter dates back to the 1986 release of Island Home. He has frequently been compared to such writers as Gordon Lightfoot, Cheryl Wheeler, and Bill Staines. Americana and folk artists have recorded his early works and his historically based compositions have been featured in television documentaries both in the USA and Ireland.  Under Kevin’s leadership and direction Arranmore attained musical success in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Kevin traded concert stages for theatrical stages in 2000, performing with the prestigious Racine Theatre Guild, playing leading roles in several plays including Twelve Angry Men, The Sensuous Senator, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Flowers for Algernon, and Neil Simon’s, I Ought To Be In Pictures.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/deepisthewell

https://twitter.com/DeepIsTheWell

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Huzzah!

Hi friends. Sunday edition comes too soon. That’s because this week is really hectic for me. And this is a good kind of busy because it’s all about music and writing projects. I hope your Sunday is being spent wisely: more naps and music. Yes those are good things. Anyway what you will meet below are links to what’s hot today. At least these are the things that people are talking about. So let me start:

An event for  Battlefield Band:

“A warm welcome back to Scotland’s BATTLEFIELD BAND Thursday April 11th. This a a fundraiser for NC Chapter of Leukemia and Lymphoma. We hope you will come out and support the event . Local Celtic Musician James Olin starts of the evening at 7pm with a 45 minute set of Celtic Music, Award Winning Wake & District Pipes & Drums open for ” The Battlefield band. Tickets are $8 in advance on ticketleap.com. or $10 at Door. Great Raffle Prizes plus brilliant Scottish Dinner special will make this salute to Tartan Day a great Celtic event. Please call 919 833-7795 to reserve seats stage side for dinner.”-Tir Na NOg Annie

Here’s the amazing video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDiVyra7jd0&feature=share

Whoa! The Edinburgh International Harp Festival

Wow if you are in the area better check this out. It’s filled with amazing artists. According to Corrina Hewat:

“A good day! And tomorrow will be even better as the CH Band are playing. Me and Fraser Fifield Alyn Cosker Tom Lyne Dave Milligan Woop. I suppose the sensible thing to do would be to create an event and invite you all, but on the other hand, I could just catch up with friends, hear harpy goings on and not be in front of the computer. I choose the latter!”

Photo from Wild Irish Poet

Spring has Sprung in Ireland: Our featured artist Alan Cooke, The Wild Irish Poet this week has posted this photo of the sunny Ireland today. It looks like the sun is finally here to stay!