James Keelaghan

Home (2002)

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"I have to admit there's a strange tale between us," sings James Keelaghan at the start of "Sinatra and I," a song from Home. It's only after a couple of verses that the Juno-winning folkie lets on he's talking about a four-legged companion--the Sinatra of the title. Sinatra is named for his eyes, although it "Turns out as well/He's a pretty good singer/Though he tends more to blues/Than to strangers at night."

A talented storyteller, songwriter, and guitarist, Keelaghan fills his sixth solo album (he also released a collaboration with guitarist Oscar Lopez in 1997) with stories and songs about home, nature, and politics. Some are achingly beautiful, such as "Red-Winged Blackbird" and "Sing My Heart Home"; others are whimsical, such as "Sinatra and I" and the closing love song "You Know Me." A couple of cautionary tales and the traditional "The Flower of Magherally" bring some sober moments to the disc. For the most part, the songs use minimal backing; the album crests with the jubilant violin of "October 70" while Keelaghan backs up his anti-rhetoric statement "Nothing" with harsh, windy electric guitar.

Throughout, the Calgary native's voice is even and sturdy, his words poetic ("My best laid plans gone like chaff upon the wind"), and his playing graceful, making Home a warm, comforting place to visit. --Shawn Conner

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01. (00:02:43) James Keelaghan - Red-winged Blackbird
02. (00:05:25) James Keelaghan - Henry's Downfall
03. (00:03:59) James Keelaghan - Sinatra and I
04. (00:03:59) James Keelaghan - The Flower of Magherally
05. (00:05:30) James Keelaghan - October 70
06. (00:05:34) James Keelaghan - Woodsmoke and Oranges
07. (00:03:19) James Keelaghan - Sing my Heart Home
08. (00:04:41) James Keelaghan - Stonecutter
09. (00:03:26) James Keelaghan - Nothing
10. (00:04:01) James Keelaghan - You Know Me

Playing Time.........: 00:42:37
Total Size...........: 97.55 MB





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A Recent Future (1995)

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A Recent Future, released in 1995, included some of Keelaghan’s most acclaimed works yet. ‘Cold Missouri Waters’ is the story of a team of fire fighters who perished in a 1949 fire in Montana. Keelaghan was nominated for a second Juno award in 1997 and A Recent Future spent two months on the Gavin Americana charts in the U.S.

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01. (00:05:01) James Keelaghan - Sweetgrass Moon
02. (00:03:16) James Keelaghan - Dance As You Go
03. (00:04:10) James Keelaghan - Hero and the Straightaway
04. (00:04:01) James Keelaghan - Get To You
05. (00:03:40) James Keelaghan - Turn Of The Wheel
06. (00:04:59) James Keelaghan - Cold Missouri Waters
07. (00:04:16) James Keelaghan - Sweet Loraine
08. (00:03:46) James Keelaghan - A Recent Future
09. (00:03:17) James Keelaghan - Honore
10. (00:03:56) James Keelaghan - Lazarus
11. (00:03:19) James Keelaghan - Never Gonna Stop This Train
12. (00:04:21) James Keelaghan - ( Just some banter on left over CD )

Playing Time.........: 00:48:02
Total Size...........: 109.95 MB






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Timelines (1987)

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This is the album that opened my ears to modern folk music. The album opens with "Fires of Calais", a lyrical tune about the Allied evacuation of that City during World War II. The flames are long gone but I felt the sense of urgency of the rescuers while listening to this tune. "Jenny Bryce" is a slow moving ballad that moves from joy to loss to joy and carries the listener along emotionally. "Follow Me Up to Carlow", a traditional Irish tune, is performed superbly without affectation. "Refugee" is perhaps the most haunting song on this album, but my favorite remains "Sea for the Shore" in which one may relive choices that lead to both happiness and loss.

If you've not heard James Keelaghan before, start with this album. You will want the rest as fast as you can get them!

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01. (00:04:27) James Keelaghan - Fires Of Calais
02. (00:03:56) James Keelaghan - Boom Gone To Bust
03. (00:03:43) James Keelaghan - Railway Tune
04. (00:05:20) James Keelaghan - Jenny Brice
05. (00:03:51) James Keelaghan - Follow Me Up To Carlow/Morison's Jig
06. (00:05:59) James Keelaghan - Refugee
07. (00:03:07) James Keelaghan - Roll Down
08. (00:03:39) James Keelaghan - Lost
09. (00:04:11) James Keelaghan - Snap The Line Tight
10. (00:06:11) James Keelaghan - Sea Foe The Shore/Stephen Behind The Eight Ball

Playing Time.........: 00:44:24
Total Size...........: 101.63 MB (MP3)
Total Size...........: 233.87 MB (FLAC)





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James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez – Compadres (1997)

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Until last month I was unfamiliar with Compadres - the multi-ethnic duo of Canadian/Celtic guitarist/composer/singer James Keelaghan and Canadian/Puerto Rican guitarist/composer/singer Oscar Lopez. Before the Philadelphia Folk Festival, where they appeared multiple times throughout the day, I head some "buzz" about them. When I heard them play the song "Coast to Coast", which is Track 5 on this 1997 CD, I was hooked! I can't tell you how many times I've pressed "repeat track" on my CD player for this song. The rest of the album is nearly as good. There are instrumentals (can anyone out there exceed Lopez's magnificent - and fiery - playing?) and vocals which Keelaghan's smooth voice to add a "country" tinge.

The musicians refer to their musical style as "Celtino" (Celtic/Latino) and even chose that for the name of their record label.

As I said above, the six-minute instrumental "Coast to Coast" is reason enough to buy this album. But you'll get all the other goodies as a bonus.
Then...

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01. (00:05:03) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Bump Me Up
02. (00:03:14) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Lamentos
03. (00:04:03) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Mi Vida
04. (00:03:10) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Why Don't You Just Grow Up
05. (00:06:05) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Coast To Coast
06. (00:04:06) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - The Kiss (Saskatoon)
07. (00:04:00) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Follow Me Up There, Carlos
08. (00:03:32) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Chiquinila
09. (00:04:54) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
10. (00:03:39) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - La Espanola
11. (00:04:22) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Red River Rising
12. (00:06:02) James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Brave Soul

Playing Time.........: 00:52:10
Total Size...........: 119.43 MB





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Road (1999)

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The problem with Road comes down to one thing: the soprano saxophone. James Keelaghan has a gentle voice that melds nicely with his equally soothing songs. His songwriting is competent, if unexceptional, and while his songs aren't particularly punchy, he doesn't lack for melodies. On songs like "Who Dies?" (the answer, in case you're wondering, is "everyone") and Ewan MacColl's pro-union Luddite-tinged anthem "My Old Man," Keelaghan is a convincing folkie. But then that saxophone reappears, and all that pleasantness becomes magnified. Before you know it, a song about life on the road ("Love What a Road") is suddenly transformed into a forgettable lite-rock ride in the minivan of life. The difference between sweetness and saccharine is a narrow one for Keelaghan. The arrangements on Road provide sugar substitutes. --Percy Keegan



This album is heartfelt and beautiful. I learned about Keelagen after hearing his song Cold Missouri Waters played by Cry Cry Cry. I thought, is this the saddest song ever? Come to find out he tops it with an ever sadder song "Captain Torres" on the album Road. "Captain Torres" is a story of the untimely death of young sailors. Bring your hankies! He really has a knack for capturing emotional moments. Check out the songs "Ring" and "Your Secret" for stories of lost love. And "Mirabeau Bridge" and "Pillow" for sweet love songs. "Mirabeau Bridge" is really a treasure and should be a standard for country/folkies. Keelagen has created a touching work full of emotion and substance. I disagree with the Amazon review on the saxophone parts, I think it adds a modern edge,starkness and the emotion that one on the "Road" would feel; loneliness.

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01. (00:03:14) James Keelaghan - Love What A Road
02. (00:04:44) James Keelaghan - Message To The Future
03. (00:04:12) James Keelaghan - Number 37
04. (00:04:39) James Keelaghan - Mirabeau Bridge
05. (00:03:43) James Keelaghan - Ring
06. (00:04:00) James Keelaghan - My Old Man
07. (00:04:15) James Keelaghan - Your Secret
08. (00:03:41) James Keelaghan - Pillow
09. (00:07:50) James Keelaghan - Captain Torres
10. (00:04:49) James Keelaghan - Who Dies?
11. (00:01:02) James Keelaghan - Bonus Track

Playing Time.........: 00:46:10
Total Size...........: 105.69 MB





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My Skies (1993)

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In 1993, Keelaghan made his debut on the Green Linnet label with My Skies, which won him a Juno Award (Canada’s equivalent of a Grammy) for Best Roots Traditional Recording, and was recognized by the Alberta Recording Industry Association.

James Keelaghan might be the Canadian John Gorka. On this 1994 Juno award winning album James Keelaghan offers lyrical portraits of regular folks and the details of their lives that make each life special.

Very few songwriters could lay down a tale of a budding hockey star (Glory Bound) and follow it with a devastating chronicle of mistreatment of the Japanese by Canadian authorities during World War II (Kiri's Piano). Only a cold-hearted individual wouldn't want to cry over Kiri's Piano. Keeleghan can turn any event into a compelling story, along with powerful vocals and tasty guitar work.

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01. (00:03:14) James Keelaghan - My Skies
02. (00:03:15) James Keelaghan - Hold Your Ground
03. (00:03:42) James Keelaghan - I Would I Were
04. (00:03:52) James Keelaghan - River Run
05. (00:03:24) James Keelaghan - Big Picture
06. (00:03:58) James Keelaghan - Glory Bound
07. (00:05:01) James Keelaghan - Kiri's Piano
08. (00:03:48) James Keelaghan - Hope Princeton Road
09. (00:03:32) James Keelaghan - Orion
10. (00:04:50) James Keelaghan - Abraham
11. (00:02:08) James Keelaghan - Tomorrow Is Another Day

Playing Time.........: 00:40:46
Total Size...........: 93.33 MB (mp3)
Total Size...........: 236.17 MB (flac)






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Then Again (2004)

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The greatest thing about James Keelaghan is that he is a sort of trinity: indeed to secular characters like me, one can almost give that word a capital T and stick the word HOLY in front.

By this I mean that for many of us he's always incorporated the COMMAND of a Stan Rogers with the RAW ENERGY of a young Gordon Lightfoot. And then he has added a large dollop of HIMSELF to provide us with a heady brew.

In Keelaghan we have a man who has yet to produce a dud album. But surely his luck is going to run out sometime. Would this be the album too far? Well no, it wouldn't. There was no real danger of that. However, I think I'd be dishonest if I did not say that I enjoyed relatively recent albums of his like 'Home' and the earlier 'A Recent Future' and 'My Skies' just a wee bit more. But then, that is maybe more a comment on ME than the album: let me explain.

You see, this new album is a sort of retrospective. It is about bringing eleven of James's previously recorded songs back to the recording studio, and laying them down again, this time as James sings them today. The changes are usually subtle ones, sometimes too subtle even for James to notice as his singing does not always match word-for-word the lyric in the liner notes!

Now the problem (and I use the word 'problem' rather loosely) with that sort of 'retrospective' CD is that for guys in the middle like me, who are simply admirers of Keelaghan, but are neither devotees nor hostile to him, a retrospective just serves up songs we have mostly heard before, and indeed have in our CD collection. So there is not the 'thrill of the new'. However, I can well see that real fans will enthuse over the smallest nuance, and indeed some would write an enthusiastic thesis on these smallest of changes. But, I am sorry, I am not one of them.

That said, I did enjoy the album very much. To me, James the performer comes before Keelaghan the writer. And here he is in his usual commanding voice, with guitar work to match. And talking of instruments, he has his trusty chum Hugh McMillan accompanying him with real intelligence on bass and mandolin, and Oliver Schroer provides classy violin.

Which tracks really stood out for me? Well, I zeroed-in on his version of 'Cold Missouri Waters' as I had become rather taken with the 'Cry Cry Cry' (Lucy Kaplansky, Richard Shindell, and Dar Williams) version since originally hearing his. And indeed he has made changes in the song: changes of geography (North Montana to West Montana) and lyric (he has adopted a Shindell rephrasing of one of his lines in the last verse). But all this is for Keelaghan aficionados to talk late into the night over. It ain't for thee and me. We just settle for the fact that it is a fine sad song, a song that shows James's narrative gifts in all their glory.

The standout track however just has to be 'Fires of Calais' that comes from his first album in 1987. It tells the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk. And by golly, doesn't he just tell it so well.

It is a big song on a big subject. There's a sort of John McCutcheon feel to it, like it is a first cousin of 'Christmas In The Trenches'. And it reminds us of not only the extraordinary courage exhibited through those dark days, but that we all should open our history books a bit more. Now be honest. Hands up all those of you who knew that immediately preceding the events on Dunkirk beach, Calais was bombed to kingdom come, and the flames could be seen from the Kent coast. I confess that I had forgotten, but thanks to James Keelaghan it is firmly in my head now. As is his fine melody: it will be a while before that goes away.

And although I do not think that he has ever approached the aforementioned Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot in the quality of his songwriting, this song - and indeed the whole album - reminds us that he is still a considerable force to be reckoned with.

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01. (00:03:46) James Keelaghan - Turn Of The Wheel
02. (00:03:39) James Keelaghan - Hillcrest Mine
03. (00:03:36) James Keelaghan - Orion
04. (00:04:04) James Keelaghan - Gladys Ridge
05. (00:04:02) James Keelaghan - I Would I Were
06. (00:03:27) James Keelaghan - Fires Of Calais
07. (00:03:12) James Keelaghan - Somewhere Ahead
08. (00:06:27) James Keelaghan - Cold Missouri Waters
09. (00:03:21) James Keelaghan - A Recent Future
10. (00:05:15) James Keelaghan - Jenny Bryce
11. (00:03:27) James Keelaghan - Hold Your Ground

Playing Time.........: 00:44:16
Total Size...........: 101.36 MB





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A Few Simple Verses (2006)

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James is one of Canadas greatest songwriters and on this recording, he brings his resonant baritone voice to a repertoire of mostly traditional songs.

He's included some great accompanists, among them Jordan McConnell from The Duhks, members of the Irish band Danu, guitar wiz Oscar Lopez, and Jez Lowe, to name a few.

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01. (00:04:58) James Keelaghan - Jackson & Jane
02. (00:05:03) James Keelaghan - Farewell to the Gold
03. (00:03:39) James Keelaghan - Harvest Train
04. (00:05:33) James Keelaghan - Bonnie Light Horseman
05. (00:05:41) James Keelaghan - Jack Haggerty / Le Tourment
06. (00:05:01) James Keelaghan - Sweet Thames Flow Softly
07. (00:04:09) James Keelaghan - The Boston Burgler
08. (00:03:25) James Keelaghan - Galway Races
09. (00:05:33) James Keelaghan - The Constant Lovers
10. (00:04:04) James Keelaghan - My Blood

Playing Time.........: 00:47:06
Total Size...........: 107.82 MB






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