This week I’ve got “The Boys of Carrickroe” by the McKenna Family in my media yoke, and what a thing to be listening to! Hailing from Augher, Co. Tyrone, the McKenna Family includes Eugene (fiddle), Daniel (button accordion), James (concertina), Sinéad (fiddle, guitar, vocals), Peter (uilleann pipes, whistle), Ciarán (harp, fiddle), and Catríona (fiddle). The intuitive ease they share is the kind of thing that only comes from a lifetime of shared experience and development and it’s reflected extremely well on this album. “The Boys of Carrickroe” is an album lovers of traditional music will definitely want to check out.
Although fourth generation musicians who grew up in Tyrone’s Clogher Valley, their music is shaped by times spent across the border in Monaghan, around their granduncles Pete and Pat McKenna, fiddlers from Carrickroe and the “boys” the album’s title refers to. All seven have distinguished themselves musically, in both solo and band contexts. Eugene, for example, is a member of the 2018 senior all-Ireland champion Blackwater CéilÍ Band, while Sinéad released a solo album, “Faoi Lán Ceoil,” in 2024 (https://sineadmckenna.bandcamp.com). But the family is a familiar presence on Irish radio and television, with appearances on programs including RTÉ’s “Late Late Show,” “Geantraí” (TG4), “Fleadh Live” (TG4), and “Céilí House” (RTÉ Radio 1).
The album opens with "The Emyvale / …," a set of three reels played with real grace and fire. The musicianship is stunning from the first bar and it sets the tone for everything on the album that follows. Equally pleasing is the story behind the tune: Harry Bradshaw and Máiréad Ní Mhaonaigh collected the first reel in the set from Pat McKenna in 1987 for RTÉ's program “The Long Note,” and it later found its way onto an Altan album. That “Long Note” connection runs deeper than a single track. "Piper on Horseback / …,” for example, draws not just on a tune collected from Pat during the same RTÉ session, but another preserved from Pete on a Northern Sound FM broadcast in the early 1990s. Again, the family plays superbly, honoring their granduncles' legacy (here, and on several other tracks), while making the music entirely their own.
The album’s music isn’t all high energy, as the McKennas shift gears throughout. A good example is “Miss Kenny’s Waltz,” which they learned from a late 1990s recording of their uncle Pete. With the harp leading the way, the rest of the family slowly enters in, creating a beautiful, large sound that does the tune and the album well. The album also includes a couple of gorgeous songs from Sinéad in “Eileen O’Neill” and “Patsy Hunting Song,” with the former being one she, Catriona, and Ciarán learned from family friends in Corcaghan, Co. Monaghan and the latter coming from a 1970 home recording Eugene found of Pete singing. Both are finely executed and are a delight to listen to.
The album includes a number of guests, including Ryan O’Donnell, who plays bouzouki on four tracks, Mickey Fearon, who plays guitar on three, Paul McClure, who plays bodhrán on two, Lauren O’Neill who plays harp on two, and Martin McKenna (the family’s father), who adds banjo on one. Each brings something meaningful to the album’s texture, but I’ll note O’Neill’s contribution in particular, as she makes a wonderful contribution on “The Two William Davises / The Oak Tree.” It’s a superb track.
“The Boys of Carrickroe” is a lovely, fun collection of tunes and songs from a high-level musical family with a superb rapport. The individual playing is really something to savor, but it's the collective musicality that makes this album stand out. The vibe calls to mind other great family recordings – the Mulcahy Family's albums, The Family Album by the McCarthys, or the Vallelys, when they get together – though there's no shortage of fine examples in the tradition. I also appreciate the quality of research that went into the project's conception. I believe it was Eugene who drove it, and it's well done, with the family's musical heritage reimagined in a thoughtful, intelligent way. If you're a fan of exceptionally well-played traditional music with a deep reverence for the past, this is an album you’ll want to hear. Highly recommended! To learn more and purchase, visit https://themckennafamily.bandcamp.com/.
