Andy Irvine, Way Out Yonder

acoustic guitar magazine

On the third solo album of his illustrious career, Andy Irvine remains a captivating Celtic storyteller and arranger par excellence. His bouzouki and mandolin playing are always fluid and featherlight, his rhythmic freedom seems effortless, and he blows a harmonica with a force that would do the young Dylan proud. He can sparkle one minute with naive comic wonder and flash the next into vivid pain and moral outrage. On Way Out Yonder Irvine adds a strong "down under" influence to the Irish-Balkan amalgam he has made his own. He brings all the poignancy of his best-loved Irish emigration songs to the Aussie convict ballad "Moreton Bay," and he picked up a New Zealand gem in Marcus Turner’s "When the Boys Are on Parade." (Appleseed)
––Danny Carnahan

Andy Irvine -Way Out Yonder

Dirty Linen

Andy Irvine is a well-known figure wherever Irish music is played, from Dublin to Denver and Berlin to Brisbane. In the 1960s he was a member of Sweeney's Men, in the 70s and 80s he toured with Planxty, and in the 80s and 90s he fronted Patrick Street. In between these band commitments, he has been part of influential duos with Paul Brady, Mick Hanly, and Dick Gaughan, toured with De Dannan, formed the Eastern European band Mosaic, and, of course, performed solo. It is this solo aspect of Irvine's musical life that comes to the fore on Rain on the Roof and Way Out Yonder. Both feature Irvine singing a mix of original and traditional songs, accompanied by his bouzoukis, mandolin, and harmonica. Both also feature a cast of guest musicians adding fiddle, whistles, percussion, and other instruments.

Rain on the Roof is the more minimalist of these efforts. The songs are mostly recorded "as live," with Irvine singing and playing one of his stringed instruments, his harmonica, and occasionally an electronic drone controlled by a pedal. Many of these songs have been recorded before: "Baneasa's Green Glade" with Planxty; "A Prince Among Men," "Forgotten Hero," and "Never Tire of the Road," on his Green Linnet solo album; "My Heart's Tonight in Ireland" on an EMI compilation; and "Come With Me Over the Mountain," on a disc by Liam O'Flynn. Thus, it is in some ways "The Best of Andy Irvine," and these tracks are good choices. They show Irvine's fascination with both Irish and American labor history, his love of Woody Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, his penchant for social commentary, and, of course, the sweet singing and nimble playing that have kept him in the forefront of Irish music all these years. Newer songs like Irvine's own "The Monument," which commemorates the Ludlow Massacre, and "He Fades Away" by Alistair Hulett, which chronicles a miner's decline from asbestos poisoning, show that he has lost none of these skills or interests in recent years. The instrumentals are all energetic dance tunes. They feature guest musicians on fiddle, whistles, didgeridoo, and percussion, and range from Irish-style jigs to wild horos in 13/16 time. The final product is an appealing portrait of Irvine's past and present solo work.

Way Out Yonder has a fuller sound, surrounding Irvine with great players of Irish and Bulgarian music, including Dermot Byrne (accordion), Maire Breatnach (viola), Brendan Power (harmonica), Steve Cooney (guitar and percussion), Nikola Parov (gadulka), and Liam O'Flynn and Declan Masterson (both on uillean pipes and whistles). The material includes two traditional ballads, three original songs, a couple of covers, and two sets of tunes. The traditional songs are both about Irish people forced to leave home. "Moreton Bay"is an Australian convict ballad about atrocities in a penal station, while "The Girl I Left Behind" tells of an Irishman's journey to America after an unhappy romance at home. Two of Irvine's originals are political: One is a paean to the IWW or "wobblies," the other about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Both are in the best tradition of broadside verse and political songwriting. The best of the songs is Irvine's original "They'll Never Believe it's True," a surreal faery-story reminiscent of Christy Moore's "The Reel in the Flickering Light." The tune Irvine used for the song is one he composed years ago for the ballad "The Two Sisters"; his setting was subsequently recorded by Clannad, and thence became a folk standard. Many bands today sing this version of the song (which carries the chorus "I'll be true unto my love, if he'll be true to me") without knowing of Irvine's role in bringing it about, which he says has always irked him. The tune goes well with the words, which are about faeries and animals inviting Irvine to a session and gifting him with a magical plectrum!

As for the tunes, one is a traditional Bulgarian set, the other an original air in an Irish style. As on Rain on the Roof, they are handled with taste and skill, act as good breaks between the verbally intense songs, and get the mind working in a different mode.

— Steve Winick