Barry & Laura Kerr – Castor Bay
Self Released – 1 August 2018
The town of Lurgan in Co. Armagh has had more than it’s fair share of Troubles over the years. Being one of three towns in the North of Ireland that make up what used to be known as the ‘Murder Triangle’ it experienced a hell of a lot of tragedy from the seventies onward. But as can be known to happen, from this place, once filled with tension and travail has come a wealth, not only of creativity but artists of strong character. The likes of ‘Malojian’ and ‘The Bonnevilles’ show this in abundance, as do the curators of Castor Bay, Barry & Laura Kerr.
Castor Bay may be the first album from the Kerr siblings, but this is by no means their first outing. Far from it. In fact, as fresh as they appear and sound, they are both veterans of the Irish music scene. Laura first came to my attention as the fiddle player in the band ‘Captain Kennedy‘ fronted by Ciaran Lavey. Barry, a multi-instrumentalist, has been around the world several times with, amongst others, Cara Dillon, Celtic Woman and of course with his solo material. In 2015 he released a wonderful album Boy in a Boat (reviewed here) which, produced by Donal O’Connor, is well worth checking out.
“Play something you know!” is a heckle that any musician who has ever played in Belfast may have heard more than once. Barry and Laura begin, however, doing just that. The Angry Peeler is a popular session tune in Belfast and one that the two of them would have played many times. After the opening jig, they credit fellow piper Darragh Murphy for finding Padraig O’Keefe’s Slides. The tunes provide a wonderful opening to Castor Bay and immediately betray the relationship between the flute and the fiddle. Both are very much their own person, their own character. They sometimes play different notes, and often almost egg each other on, yet the deeply set family root holds the tune together masterfully. The combination of all this makes the experience even more enjoyable for the listener.
Hup Maddens is a collection of Marches and Reels dedicated to a bar of the same name in the centre of Belfast. Possibly the best pint of Guinness in Belfast, Maddens is a tavern steeped in the Irish Tradition and a hang out for musicians of all types. I have to say, any time I hear Barry Kerr playing, I always expect quality. It’s what everyone has come to know from this man. Yet it is the first time I have heard Laura under the microscope, and she matches him note for note in tone and technique. It’s a pleasure to listen to the two of them together, be it long overdue!
Sung by Barry, The Tern and the Swallow is a song from Lough Neagh, whose shores rest very close to where the Kerr’s home place. A gorgeous song, full of imagery, I think it is Barry’s best vocal performance to date.
Dawn of Dara is a jig composed by Barry to celebrate the birth of Laura’s second son. With a brief four bar transition, we are transported to Brittany for a tune by the renowned French guitarist, Giles Le Bigot. Once again, the fiddle playing is sublime.
At this point, I’d like to mention the wonderful job by producer Donagh Hennessy. It seems that a lot of trad recordings in this last few years have gone for impact recording. Using an abundance of limiting and over-compression that put the music right up in your face. Fair enough, in a world where people have more distractions than ever before, desperate measures can be taken to find your audience. However, it can come over as less musical, and perhaps fatiguing to the ear. It also opens the door for an album like Castor Bay to outshine all the others and makes an old-school folk concept of simply capturing moments, sound so wonderfully fresh and vibrant.
Hennessy & Kerr provides us with possibly the best ‘hup’ moment heard between two tunes since the early days of Solas. Composed by Marie Fielding, the entrance of the second tune is so very effective after the hypnotic quality of Paddy Fahy’s eponymous tune. The Tailor’s Thimble quickly follows and keeps the pace thanks to a fine example of pulsing bouzouki accompaniment from Ryan O’Donnell.
After a brief fling around the Highlands with The Chicken has Gone to Scotland, Laura takes centre stage with Planxty Davis, a 17th-century tune from harpist Thomas Connellan, that she heard from Nic Jones. She dedicates this to the memory of Seamus McNeice, her first fiddle teacher. Time for a song again, On Yonder Hill. A song that, like the Kerr’s, is from the shores of Lough Neagh, but further North in Co. Tyrone. It’s a hunting song, and one of the finest. Between both Barry voice and Laura’s fills, they make this song their own.
“On yonder hill there sits a hare.
Full of worry, grief and care,
And o’er her lodgings it was bare,
Singing ho, brave boys, hi-ho.
And o’er her lodgings it was bare,
Singing ho, brave boys, hi-ho.”
Fair Haired Mary is a set of two slow reels. A lovely contrast of colour from the rest of the album, and perhaps a sure sign that it is drawing to a close. Not, however, without one final crack of the whip. The Morning Dew and The Widow would be heard a fair bit in sessions about the North, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that they are great tunes and a fitting way to finish the album.
Sometimes in our efforts to create something new, we forget to document what we have lived. Barry and Laura have together made a scrapbook of their life in traditional music and it is truly lovely. There are no airs or graces, no production gymnastics, just a unique snapshot of how these siblings will forever be joined through a living tradition that they themselves have now passed on.
Castor Bay is packed with as many tunes you know as those you don’t. It is a vibrant yet personal collection that can make any trad lover feel right at home. The album is top full of emotion. At times thoughtful in reflection, whilst forever joyous in an obvious love this brother and sister have in playing music together. I would not be surprised if many versions of tunes on this album are considered standards up and down the country in the years to come by the next generation.
Buy the album here: https://www.barrykerr.com/shop-music