The Usher Family
Album: Traditional Singing From County Louth
Label: Rossendale
Tracks: 22
Website: http://www.rossendalerecords.com

You could be forgiven for thinking that this particular singing family is likely to be known only to hard-core devotees of traditional singing - until you realise that one of their number, Mary Ann, became Mary Ann Carolan when she married. The background to this newly-issued collection of recordings is simple: it was made in August 1974 by Dónal Maguire, who had been introduced to the family by song collector Seán Corcoran a few years previously. Of the three family members represented here, Mary Ann performs the lion's share (13 out of 22 tracks), whereas Pat Usher performs eight (including two songs, Jock O' Hazeldean and The Waterford Boys, which are unfortunately just fragments, and a wonderful - yes, I mean it! - version of The Wild Rover) and Petey Curran (cousin of Pat and Mary) sadly only the one song (Johnny And Molly, a close relative of The Larks They Sang Melodious/Love Farewell). This is, by the way, the first time that any recordings of either Pat or Petey have appeared on record, so this release would be of value on that count alone, for they're both singers of real character.

But of course, Mary Ann's singing is nothing short of charming too, as those in the know will already be aware. That awareness is most likely to stem exclusively from prior acquaintance with the illustrious Topic catalogue. Latter-day collectors who invested in 1998's magisterial Voice Of The People set will doubtless have delighted in the five examples of Mary Ann's singing that could be found scattered across it (on volumes 2, 6, 7, 13 and 20 to be precise!), while a further example later surfaced on the lavish 2009 anniversary box Three Score And Ten. All six of these selections were drawn from the original, influential ten-track LP (Songs From The Irish Tradition) issued by Topic in 1982, which itself was sourced from recordings made in 1978 by Roly Brown at Mary Ann's home. But only two of the VotP selections (The Maid Of Ballymore on volume 6 and My Father's A Hedger And Ditcher on volume 20) recur on this latest collection, and a further three songs from the 1982 LP (The Old Oak Tree, Highland Mary and The Wedding At Baltray) are also performed on the 1974 recordings - so that now leaves only one song from the 1982 LP (The Bonny Light Horseman) currently unrepresented in CD format!… However, the large degree of overlap of songs will matter not when Mary Ann's readings (replete, as Seán has observed, with "finely crafted melodic decoration and rhythmic variation") are all so nigh impossible to resist.

The family's repertoire was distinctly eclectic, partly as befits their geographical location (the interaction of Ulster Scots and southern Irish traditions) but also reflecting two other important elements: the ready embracing of music-hall and vaudeville/sentimental popular material (Only An Irishman's Dream, The Little Old Mud Cabin On The Hill, Spanish Cavalier and Laugh And Daft-Half) and, much in evidence here, the compositions of locally-domiciled weaver and song-maker John Sheil (Pat performs no fewer than five of them here, while Mary Ann's fine rendition of his Erin's Flowery Plain closes this CD in style). These recordings are loaded with atmosphere, in that they transport you straightway to the intimacy of the family's kitchen table, and the entirely informal enjoyment of the singing. That means you'll hear the odd cough, chair-knock or creak, or jarring percussive tap-on-the-table (a vital part of Mary Ann's relish in singing Sheil's epic Wedding Of Sweet Baltray!) and some inconsistencies in recording quality, but the intensity of presence achieved by Dónal's cleaning-up of the original tapes is quite miraculous.

David Kidman