Easy and Bold

The label Veteran specialises in English, Scottish and Irish traditional folk, with a focus on the source singers you might find in Topic’s Voice of the People series. This latest release features Irish brothers John and Tim Lyons, both lifelong journeymen in the Irish and British folk traditions. They were born in the 30s in Cork City and both spent time going to and back across the Irish Sea before settling – for now – in Clare and Donegal.

Though regarded as two of Ireland’s finest traditional singers, they have rarely sung on the same stage. Easy and Bold changes that, mixing unaccompanied performances with duets and a few dances, slides and reels featuring John’s children – Aisling on concertina and Sean on tin whistle. They join their warm, lyrical voices on the opening ‘The Limerick Rake,’ while John takes on the Jacobite battle song ‘After Aughrim,’ and Tim delivers a lyrical vocal that belies the maritime tragedy portrayed in ‘Anach Cuain.’ The pair have voices that don’t need instruments to dress them.

The emotion and poignancy of ‘Goodbye (O Maire Ban)’ or ‘Khillnamartyra Exile’ are fully realised by lone voices that know how to live in a song. Standouts include ‘The Green Linnet’, ‘The May Morning Dew’ and ‘The Bold Tenant Farmer’. The biography and song notes are detailed and, while unaccompanied song can make for stark listening if you’re new to it, this one is an approachable beauty.