WEBVTT 00:00:14.704 --> 00:00:20.704 The new album is called UAM - U-A-M - which means 'From me' in Scottish Gaelic. 00:00:20.704 --> 00:00:24.642 This album is kind of from me, my little offering of songs and tunes. 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:30.898 We wanted to do something a little bit different perhaps to what has come before 00:00:30.898 --> 00:00:36.341 we've toured so much over the last 2 years that every now and again a new song or tune 00:00:36.341 --> 00:00:42.171 has kind of come into our repertoire, and I suppose in a way this album really reflects travelling 00:00:42.171 --> 00:00:47.217 to the States, spending time in Ireland, all these things, whether you realise it or not, influence 00:00:47.217 --> 00:00:50.611 who you are as a musician, and what music you make. 00:00:58.286 --> 00:01:04.623 This album features our regular kind of core band that we tour with and it represents very much more 00:01:04.623 --> 00:01:09.880 the live act, the music that you will see on the stage at a concert or at a festival. 00:01:10.342 --> 00:01:16.215 That band consists of myself and my husband Ian Dooley from Dublin, playing bazzuki, 00:01:16.215 --> 00:01:22.975 and our guitarist Tony Byrne from Dublin also, Highland fiddler Duncan Chisom, and 00:01:22.975 --> 00:01:25.861 a great friend Martin O'Neil from Glasgow on bowrum. 00:01:32.629 --> 00:01:36.813 In addition to the core band as well we had some great special guests, we had the very 00:01:36.813 --> 00:01:42.697 talented Tom Dooley playing flute on this album..(unintelligible)..Jerry Douglas from the States who plays 00:01:42.697 --> 00:01:44.566 Dobro on a couple of tracks. 00:01:49.119 --> 00:01:54.091 We had the pleasure and honour of recording a couple of songs with a great friend of mine 00:01:54.091 --> 00:01:57.354 a wonderful Gaelic singer from Lewis called Mary Smith. 00:01:57.354 --> 00:02:02.735 Mary has been a great friend to me over the years and a very generous sharer of songs. 00:02:04.259 --> 00:02:08.667 We also collaborated with Sharon Shannon and she played box on a couple of tracks which was fantastic 00:02:08.667 --> 00:02:15.760 to have her, and also our great friends from Scotland Alan McDonald on pipes and vocals as well, 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:20.366 and Phil Cunningham on piano, and the wonderful Eddi Reader, who did a duet with Eddi 00:02:20.366 --> 00:02:25.447 and even managed to get her to sing in Gaelic as well. Also we were joined by my little sister Michelle 00:02:25.447 --> 00:02:28.087 who came and sang on a couple of tracks with us which was great. 00:02:42.408 --> 00:02:47.537 2 years ago at a festival in Brittany the organisers asked us to perform a Brittan song, 00:02:47.537 --> 00:02:51.511 which we fell in love with there and then. The words they lend themselves very well to the Gaelic 00:02:51.511 --> 00:02:55.812 tradition and they seem to have a lot of connections, but the melody is very different. 00:03:02.920 --> 00:03:07.785 There are 2 songs on this album that are actually connected, and they are both about 00:03:07.785 --> 00:03:13.694 the universal theme of jealously and specifically the story of the jealous sister which appears 00:03:13.694 --> 00:03:19.544 in folk songs and tales throughout all mainland Europe and the States as well. 00:03:19.544 --> 00:03:25.084 We picked 2 songs and put them together. 1 is a traditional song, a walking song from the 00:03:25.084 --> 00:03:26.918 Hebrides called 'Thig am bata'. 00:03:32.842 --> 00:03:36.907 The other 1 is from the Irish-American tradition and is called 'the wind and rain'. 00:03:46.847 --> 00:03:51.657 ...and we took half of the song and we translated it back into Gaelic, trying to make it come full-circle 00:03:51.657 --> 00:03:55.345 in a way and myself and Eddi Reader shared this song. 00:04:20.255 --> 00:04:23.584 We do 1 song on the new album which is called 'M fhearann saidhbhir' and it's a walking 00:04:23.584 --> 00:04:28.303 song, and this is the type of song that is very particular to the Gaelic tradition, 00:04:28.303 --> 00:04:32.338 and would have been a working song, would have been sung traditionally by a woman, 00:04:32.338 --> 00:04:37.337 accompanied by many other women, but we didn't have that many women in the band so we had 00:04:37.337 --> 00:04:40.167 to get all the men to sing but they do a really good job. 00:04:43.783 --> 00:04:49.298 I also had the pleasure of recording a song with the great piper from Glenuig Alan McDonald, 00:04:49.298 --> 00:04:53.006 and we recorded a song together called 'A mhic dhughaill ic ruaridh' which means 00:04:53.006 --> 00:05:02.071 'Son of Dougal, sun of ruaridh' and this is a beautiful and very intense and at times slightly obscure song. 00:05:04.502 --> 00:05:19.233 [speaking gaelic] 00:05:19.618 --> 00:05:25.671 which means 'it was climbing the garden that you gave the first shout my darling, it was 00:05:25.671 --> 00:05:31.455 descending the slope that you received the fatal blow, and the blood on your lovely chest 00:05:31.455 --> 00:05:38.290 pouring through your shirt, and although I drank my love sum of it it did not healing of your wounds'. 00:05:44.752 --> 00:05:49.666 After concentrating so much on the last album it's great to move on to something else 00:05:49.666 --> 00:05:56.335 and really get some new energy from new music, and we're looking forward to taking it out on the road 00:05:56.335 --> 00:05:59.136 and we've had a great time doing it, and we hope you like it too.