The song cycle album is a concept that has caught on well, offering many fine albums since the days where the ‘rock opera’ helped burgeon in full album concepts. Kevin O’Donnell has done this style proud with a lovely Irish folk affair documenting multiple generations of Irish immigrants in Illinois. This is all historical fiction, but through both his music and storytelling, you may have the feeling that you have heard some of these songs before. You get a full Irish feeling throughout although it does have an even stronger Irish-American hybrid sound. I would say the music leans more Irish mostly, but the vocals have the rich timbre of a classic country and western crooner. The CD release also contains keys for multimedia files at the album’s website which fleshes out the songs further. It is nice to see so much thought and effort being put into a release and thankfully the music holds up to the storytelling. There is a fine team assembled to create this music and it is nice to see the name Finbar Furey among the players.
 
© 2014 David Hintz