This night was 9 years in the making. From a stormy Grafton night to a stormy Toronto night the journey of this CD has been anxiously anticipated and now, thankfully received. The journey Aengus took was necessary and I am thankful for his return to his natural talent.
Aengus sang some old tunes and some new ones with his evocative voice and lyrics. Tunes he wrote from real moments in his life and in the lives of others he discovered in his travels across the country.
'O'Shaughnessy's Lament' breaks my heart every time I listen. From seeing a gravestone in the silver mining town of Cobalt, Ontario came a story that will take your breath away. A story written only from reading the dates and names on a headstone. A wife/mother dying in childbirth along with her twins, leaving a devastated husband/father who outlives them for forty years. This is one of 2 songs that would win him the New Folk Songwriters award at the Kerrville,Texas Folk Festival.
Not on video is the 'Julia B. Merrill', another story that brings together tragedy of another kind and history. The Julia B. Merrill is a 3 masted schooner built in 1872 that lies in the waters of Humber Bay in Lake Ontario just west of the downtown Toronto core in 1931. When her sailing days were over she was set ablaze along the waterfront of Toronto for entertainment. Her remains lie beneath the waters still. After a concert one night Aengus met a man who was 7 at the time and remembers paying a nickel to take a boat out to the Julia B. Merrill for a last tour the day of the torching.
(it can be heard in this playlist: -
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...eature=mh_lolz )
dive photos-
http://www.warrenlophotography.com/u.../merrill-2005/
and info-
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?180162
On video is 'Last Night At The Old Place' - written as he was in the midst of selling a heritage property in his hometown of Grafton, Ontario. He had done extensive reno work and needed to sell it after moving to Toronto. Anyone who has been in the position of leaving a beloved home can certainly feel the emotions he conveys so beautifully. Tears.
"Fly Away" (not on video from last night) was written after he had an incident with a young student in Ontario's far north town of Moosonee on James Bay. As a 23 year old teacher he had a young student whose father had left the family and he was having a tough time and he and Aengus were not getting along. He punched Aengus one day but then called to apologize and from that event came the first song Aengus would write. From his own life he could relate to the young boy and his feelings about his parents splitting up and he certainly conveys the pain and confusion, anger and questions a child has in that situation.
Aengus belongs onstage singing his songs. He's written some new ones and is hoping for a new release of them in 2014. Stepping away for so many years as he did was necessary but now that he has discovered that he has more music to offer, all of the people who love him and his music are thrilled to bits knowing that such a talent will continue to enrich our lives. Welcome back Aengus!