[caption id="attachment_71814" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Hair of the Dog’s 10th album is “Liam Left the Lights on Again.” "]
For two days in mid -September the Saratoga County Fairgrounds in Ballston Spa, N.Y., will host the 16th annual Irish 2000 Music and Arts Festival. Ranked one of the top five Irish Festivals in the United States, the 2012 Irish 2000 line- up features big names like Ashley MacIsaac, the Makem and Spain Brothers, and Enter the Haggis. It’s a thrill that New York State is home to such an affair, and while festival goers will likely marvel over the fast fiddle playing of Ashley MacIsaac and revel in the Irish folk sounds of the Makem and Spain Brothers, I suspect that a lot of the excitement will surround Hair of The Dog, hometown heroes who just recently released their 10th (and what many fans are saying is their best) album, “Liam Left the Lights on Again.”
Hair of The Dog, a sextet based in Upstate New York, has been playing together since 1993. Though they classify themselves as a Celtic folk/rock band, the musical resumes of the members include everything from studying at Boston’s famed Berklee School of Music to playing with the ‘50s style rock band Sha Na Na and performing with Marshall Crenshaw and Gene Clark of The Byrds. Some of the band members played Irish music in their previous lives - bassist and vocalist Rick Bedrosian was a member of The McKrells & Donnybrook Fair, bodhran/ guitar player and vocalist Mike DeAngelis and banjo player John Haggerty played with the popular Irish band, The Porters. Despite their varied musical pasts, when the six men came together to play Irish music in 1993 they definitely found something that worked.
With their Celtic Rock status in mind, I spun “Liam Left the Lights On Again” for the first time the other day. While I was anticipating a loud, wild, freight train kind of a sound, what I heard was quite different. With their original twists on traditional songs like “Handsome Molly” and “Three Drunken Maidens,” a couple of well-written original tunes, and a nod to Van Morrison with a solid rendition of “Into the Mystic,” the album in its entirety is simply a delight to listen to. I love the strong folk influence that shines through on the album, and their inclusion of “The Rolling Waves,” a pretty jig that really showcases the band’s ability play traditional Irish tunes. After 19 years together, “Liam Left the Light On Again” is a wonderful culmination of the band members’ varied musical pasts, and their inclination towards the music of Ireland. Well done, lads!
You can catch a set by Hair of the Dog if you’re up in East Durham this weekend for the Memorial Day Weekend Irish Festival. Also this week, check out Morning Star at Tir na Nog in NYC on May 25th and Finbar Furey at Joe’s Pub in NYC on May 29th.
