Welcome to the compendium of Tullamore’s recorded music.
To be entirely candid, Tullamore was admittedly fairly patient when it came to recording… a far nicer word then ‘nonchalant’ or ‘snail-like’. While there were contemporaries of the band that released recordings annually or biennially, Tullamore released six recordings over the course of their 27 years together. To be fair, a very large part of the time they’d have spent in the studio was spent in concert and bus tours of Ireland and Scotland.
In any case, it was definitely an exercise in quality over quantity, and we were proud of 99% of the material that ended up in the hands of our friends and fans.
Here are our recordings:
Tullamore's recording-debut is, at once, the highlight and finale of their second year together. The project delivers an assortment of traditional, contemporary, and original songs and tunes... over an hour of their most notable arrangements to date.
In their first season, Tullamore's materials were compelling arrangements of some, admittedly, more traditional chestnuts from the Celtic genre. With Timber and Stream, audiences can expect to hear, and appreciate, captivating arrangements of some less-commonly recorded selections, including Jackie Munroe, Lowlands of Holland, and the title cut Timber and Stream.
Reactions to the recording have been overwhelmingly positive, from fans and critics alike. Les Reynolds (Indie-Music.com) writes, “...the trio weaves rich harmonies and energetic, well-crafted instrumentation around mostly traditional Irish ballads... while it might be said there's a plethora of Irish bands in the States these days, not all keep to the tradition and truth of the music as well as these folks. Well done!”
Tullamore's recording debut.
After four long years, Tullamore has delivered on their assurances to produce another CD. Impelled by the (just in) timely persuasion of superfan and friend, Lloyd Camp, this latest offering is a collection of many of the favorites requested at O'Malley's Pub - the pub the band has called home for years.
An early-August live-recording session saw several-dozen fans from Kansas City, Weston, Leavenworth, and Atchison crowding into the pub, and sharing in the fun that ensued.
Like their first CD Timber and Stream, the recording is one good mix after another - Irish to Scottish, vocal to instrumental, and contemporary to traditional - with Mark, Mary, and Rachel each leading a small handful of pieces, and Tara's fiddle shining throughout. Listeners will hear a great variety of pieces, including love songs (A Red, Red Rose and I'll Lay Ye Down Love), Jacobite rebellion songs (Gathering at Atholl and Bonnie House of Airlie), some modern greats (Mary Ellen Carter and From Clare to Here), and our most popularly-requested piece to-date, Danny Boy.
The recording has garnered very positive responses, both from critics and fans. Pete Maher (Midwest Irish Focus) writes, "...it is the harmonies that will stay with you long after you have played the live album once or twice. Because, while the instrumentation is incredibly rich for a live album, the blending of voices throughout the selection of Celtic and Scottish tunes will absolutely captivate your ear as song follows song."
Tullamore's second recording, and the first of the two-album collection "The O'Malley's Sessions".
Only their third recording in eleven years Tullamore has more than made up for lost time with their latest studio project, Wild and Wicked Youth. Ironically, Mark conceived the "youth-gone-awry" theme of the CD rather shortly after the release of their first CD, Timber and Stream. And while that seed had to endure a half-decade of metamorphosis, it was well worth the wait.
Capped by a 16-day tour of Ireland, season eleven has witnessed Tullamore's transformation from an accomplished regional band to an aspiring national band. To realize those ambitions with this recording, the band enlisted the talents of Celtic music phenom Phil Smillie (of the Tannahill Weavers) to handle the post-production of the project. Together, with engineer Grant Milne, Phil pinpointed the finer characteristics of Tullamore's performance and cultivated them, and in doing so developed an incredible sound.
Lee Worman, host of KSMU's The Gold Ring and the first person to review the cuts, opined "With this impressive new recording Tullamore, quite simply, show themselves to be undeniably world class. Mark Clavey’s arrangements here are nothing short of inspired. Whether with her voice or with her dulcimer, there is great depth, beauty and heart in every note Mary Hanover sings. Everything Rachel Gaither does on this album is spot on... both her singing and virtuoso fiddling are imbued with immense energy and power -- full of heart, full of imagination, full of life. On this CD we hear the difference between some close friends in what has been a fine regional band, and three highly talented music partners in what has become a truly world class band." That response was as pleasantly surprising as it was rewarding to hear, and the band hopes these sentiments are just the beginning in a long list that ends with "critical acclaim".
Starting out with... four themed pieces (the classic early-1800s anti-recruitment song Arthur McBride, Robert Burns' stirring MacPherson's Rant, the Ballad of Jack Dolan - Robbie O'Connell's excellent adaptation of the Wild Colonial Boy, and the Wild and Wicked Youth), the line-up includes traditional ballads (My Johnny Was a Shoemaker, Far Away in Australia, and Bonnie Susie Cleland), a couple traditional Scottish favorites (the Work of the Weavers and Will Ye Go, Lassie), a couple of tune-sets (our Butcher's Set and Wedding Jigs), and Ron Hynes' contemporary classic Sonny's Dream.
Tullamore's third recording and second studio-project, the first of three produced by Phil Smillie.
Since 2007, Tullamore has had the pleasure and privilege of sharing the stage alongside Brian McNeill , Ed Miller, John Taylor, Alex Beaton, and a host of other great musicians that comprise the line-up of the Texas Scottish Festival. The Festival has become a staple in the band’s annual Spring calendar, and has given rise to a great number of friendships, and performing relationships and opportunities. It was there that they met and became friends with Ed Miller, who they see and socialize with anywhere between Dallas and Dunkeld… or Hugh Morrison, who has begun accompanying the band as a guest-artist when the tour internationally… or Ros and Paul Shepherd, who have welcomed the band into their Houston home to perform house-concerts in the last couple years.
This past June (2011), it was Dave Olson (friend of the Festival, friend of the band, and organizer of Six Strings and Coffee Beans – the acoustic music outreach at Advent Lutheran Church) who connected with the band after a Sunday afternoon performance at the Glencoe Tent, and put into motion the course of actions that would have the band returning in mid-October to perform a concert there. On the heels of those arrangements, David Glass sowed the seeds of a concert-recording. He would be the sound-man for the concert, and had both the wherewithal and inclination to individually track the concert and dump the tracks onto a hard-drive for the band’s convenience. It only took one more conversation – with producer (and Tannahill Weaver) Phil Smillie – and it was a done deal.
The concert itself was a blast – with an incredibly-friendly capacity-crowd that included friends of Mark and Mary from their Scarborough Renaissance Festival days in the early-1990s. It was a genuine pleasure to see such a great array of friends and fans. Of the material performed at the concert, the effort has been made to include as many new pieces as possible. There are four pieces from the band’s other CDs, but two of those have been re-arranged… and all four are oldies-but-goodies… so expect to be thoroughly entertained.
Tullamore's fourth CD, and live concert recording.
On November 6th, 2004… the first Saturday of that November… we found ourselves up at O’Malley’s Pub for a most-memorable evening – the celebration of the release of our second CD, One For The Road (the first of a three-disc project we’d call The O’Malley’s Sessions). Ten seasons and 62 engagements later, on Saturday, November 8th… nearly ten years to the day… we found ourselves back up at O’Malley’s Pub setting up to record this CD, Two To Get Ready (the second of that project). It was likewise a memorable evening – similar in many aspects, yet different in others that bore witness to how many changes have transpired in that decade.
The most noteworthy was the departure of Rachel Bowerman and Tara McCullough from the band and the addition of Rachel Gaither – who began performing with the band in April of 2005… making the current line-up the longest-running line-up in our history. Also at the very noteworthy end of the spectrum was the departure of Sean O’Malley from the pub and the leasing (in 2005) and sale (in 2012) of O’Malley’s Of Weston to Michael Coakley and Corey Weinfurt – who have infused the pub and its day-to-day trappings with their own particular brand of clever-yet-bold vision. And in the wake of their acquisition of the Pub, they have re-opened for business the time-honored Weston Brewing Company and brought it online as the hot commodity among new micro-breweries in the Midwest.
But the noteworthy changes haven’t all been on the upswing. Absent friends include Rogues Gallery co-founder and perpetual smart-ass Pat Patterson, and the universally-loved Jeannie Dybdahl-Towns… both dear friends and loyal followers (of the band and the pub)… and both sorely missed.
It’s been a hands-down amazing ten years at O’Malley’s since “One For The Road”… fun, always a night we look forward to, sometimes tiring, never a dull moment… and all the more enjoyable because you come out and share your evenings with us. Thank you, Mike and Corey. And THANK YOU ALL!!
Tullamore's fifth recording, and the second in the two-album collection "The O'Malley's Sessions".
Sunday evening, September 15th, 2019... we had just wrapped up a beyond-fun closing-session at the Folk Tent at ScotFest Oklahoma with the Flowers of Edinburgh, and packed up, made our goodbyes, piled in the van, and began the 4-hour drive back to Mary's house. In short order, a conversation ensued in which we addressed the elephant in the car - that we don't have an album that reflects the current line-up. And what a conversation it was!
From personal schedules to the band's performance-schedule, from production-costs to pending gig-revenues, from album-concepts to the selection of songs... we pored over each subject nearly to our arrival in Kansas City. The result was a working plan for what would become the band's sixth recording, "Bent On Rambling".
As the project evolved from a list of thirteen individual songs into one cohesive album, we began looking for thematic connections between the songs, and it took mere seconds to distill one from a common undercurrent. Each song involved going, or having gone, or returning from somewhere. A title-track was out of the question as there wasn’t a song among the lot whose title captured that exact theme. But one song, “Spancilhill”, lent us our title “Bent On Rambling” from its lyrics.
Over the next few days... and as our goal was to have the CD completed and available for sale at the North Texas Irish Festival in just under six months... we hit the ground running--perfecting the arrangements of the selected material, coordinating a photo-shoot with friend-and-master-photog Robbin Loomas, and scheduling studio-time with friend-and-recording-engineer-extraordinaire George Hunt. And just as editing completed, emergency surgery for George prompted us to call on good-friend-and-brilliant-engineer Scooter Muse to mix and master the CD.
As it turned out... not only did the title capture the theme perfectly, it also captured the band’s wayfaring ways. With nearly 250 performances that we’ve rambled to over the past 24 years… from California to West Virginia and from Austin to Chicago, across the Caribbean, and all the way to Ireland and Scotland six times over… "Bent On Rambling" describes the wanderlust of the band to a “T”. With this recording, not only have we compiled a collection of really great songs, we’ve unconsciously put our finger on who we are as a band.
Tullamore's sixth album and third studio-project.