Our Song of the Day comes from the Dublin-based Irish Traditional trio The Morning Tree. We reviewed their self-titled debut album in 2014 which Johnny summed up as “three musicians who combine a genuine love of traditional material with the skill and imagination to imbue it with freshness and vitality.” Read the full review here.
Here they are performing The Holland Handkerchief, a ballad that also goes by the name of The Suffolk Miracle. It’s a story of a noble daughter who falls in love with a commoner. Her father sends her far away so she cannot marry but one night her lover calls upon her and they go off riding together. He complains of a headache and she ties a handkerchief around his head to ease his pain. When they arrive at her father’s house he asks who the man is and she tells him it is her lover. Her father calls her a liar, telling her that her lover died while she was away. Not believing this she digs up his grave with the help of friends only to find his body with the handkerchief tied around his head.
The Morning Tree are:
Consuelo Nerea – Vocals, Fiddle, Bodhran
Eoghan O’ Shaughnessy – Vocals, Guitar, Fiddle
Lindsay Straw – Vocals, Bouzouki, Guitar