Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
I first came to know Massachusetts based Celtic band The Kelly Girls when I had the opportunity to attend one of their delightful live performances in Spring 2016. I’ve been waiting for the group’s debut album ever since and I’m thrilled to say it’s finally arrived and surpasses the already high expectations I had for it.
May You Always was produced by band member Nancy Beaudette, an artist of which I’ve long been an admirer. The band, which is comprised of Beaudette along with Christine Hatch, Aisling Keating, and Melinda Kerwin, recorded the album, a beautiful mixture of newly-written and traditional tunes, in Central Massachusetts.
Beaudette had a hand in writing or co-writing six of the album’s songs, including four by herself. She tells of strangers in a bar connecting over a pint in the gorgeous “Reeds on the River” and gives fair warning not to mess with the Canadian riverboat captain at the center of the feisty “Molly Kool.” The title track is a wish of continued good fortune for us all and a timely message any time of year.
Her final solely written number, “Mariners of England,” was adapted from the 1880 Thomas Campbell poem “Ye Mariners of England”. The mid-paced waltz “Daffodils,” co-written with Keating, has its origins in the William Wadsworth poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” She teams with Kerwin for her final writing credit, the stunning lullaby “Another Goodnight.”
Kerwin and Keating teamed up for, “Miss Martha / Barney’s Shenanigans & Barney Get Home,” a medley of striking instrumentals. Hatch and Kate Chadbourne contribute “Last Rose of Summer,” a haunting ballad about the passage of time framed in a story about a woman’s relationship with her mother.
The jaunty, and excellent, “Walk In The Irish Rain,” comes from the pen of Americana singer-songwriter Steve Spurgin. The band also includes their beautiful version of iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Allister MacGillivray’s “Song for the Mira,” one of my favorite songs on the album.
Another favorite, “Wild Mountain Tyme and Sommervals,” was one of the traditional tunes they performed when I saw them live. I loved it then and I adore it equally now. “Jolly Rovin’ Tar,” which opens the album, is a wonderful Irish jig and a perfect way to set the mood for the album as a whole. “I Know My Love” is equally spirited and just as delightful.
May You Always is a fantastic introduction to The Kelly Girls and a stellar debut album. I fell in love with them and their sound when I caught their show and I’m pleased to see how brilliantly their distinct personalities translated to this record. I eagerly look forward to continue following them and cannot wait for whatever it is they choose to do next. I’m very fortunate to have them performing, living and recording essentially in my backyard.
NOTE: For more information on The Kelly Girls, please visit their website
Grade: A
My Kind of Country 