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Album produced by Trevor Hutchinson
All songs written by SJ McArdle except where noted

1. All for the Sailing Tomorrow

Drogheda was one of Ireland’s largest ports of emigration during the Great Hunger of the 1840’s, and desperate, starving folk travelled from every province to forge an escape to Liverpool. Shipping agents made plenty of profit. Co-written with Eugene Donegan.

“Like brooks that grow from many mountain rills/The peasant-stream flowed out from Irish vales” – John Boyle O’Reilly

Carol Keogh – lead vocal
SJ McArdle – harmony vocal, acoustic guitar, harmonica
John Ruddy – harmony vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass
Graham Henderson – dulcimer, piano, harmonium, Hammond organ, ghost bell, string arrangement

2. The Porcupine

An imaginary account of an actual ship and master, named in shipping records which were uncovered by the great Drogheda historian Brendan Matthews. His research revealed that the much-disputed story of ships delivering Turkish famine aid to Drogheda may actually have had a kernel of truth. I wanted to explore the character of the captain and imagine his life outside of the brief moment his ship arrived in Drogheda and how his wife’s love kept him safe at sea. Contains the first part of Brendan McCreanor’s reel “Whipping the Herring”.

SJ McArdle – duet vocal, high-string guitar, 12 string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, organ, mandolin, harmonica
Carol Keogh – duet vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass
Dermot Byrne – accordions
Barry Kieran – fiddle
Brendan McCreanor – low whistle

3. Island of St. Paul

In 1832 a ship called the Isabella became the latest to wreck off the coast of the infamous St. Paul Island in Nova Scotia, nicknamed “the Graveyard of the Gulf”. I was struck by the tone of the newspaper report I read of the incident, essentially apologising for a previous report which had overestimated the loss of life. It seemed a strange angle to take, as eight souls had been lost.

Carol Keogh – lead vocal
SJ McArdle – harmony vocal, high-string guitar, mandolins, 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars
John Ruddy – harmony vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass
Graham Henderson – glockenspiel, harmonium, piano, brass arrangement
Dermot Byrne – accordion
Brendan McCreanor – whistle
Barry Kieran – fiddle

4. The Brig Manley

In September 1871 the brig Manley was driven ashore at Bettystown with the loss of six of its seven crew. Drogheda’s lifeboat failed to achieve full muster and launched into an unprecedented storm with a partial crew. Failing to reach the brig, the lifeboat turned for home, only for the captain and crew to be villainised in the press for cowardice afterwards.

SJ McArdle – lead vocal, 6 and 12 string acoustic and electric guitars, EBow, mandolins
Carol Keogh – harmony vocal
John Ruddy – harmony vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass, organ, drum
Brendan McCreanor – uilleann pipes

5. Little Things

Scylla and Charybdis: the pull of the sea on one side, the fear of losing a lover’s faith on the other. Head bound for Liverpool, heart still in Drogheda.

SJ McArdle – lead vocal, high string guitar, EBow, 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars
Carol Keogh – harmony vocal
John Ruddy – harmony vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass
Dermot Byrne – accordion

6. Fanny Clarke of Featherbed Lane

Fanny works the streets around the Laurence Gate and Blind Gate areas in the 19^th Century.

Carol Keogh – lead vocal
SJ McArdle – harmony vocal, acoustic guitar, harmonica, 6 and 12 string electric guitars
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass, keyboard samples
Graham Henderson – piano, accordion, brass arrangement
Dermot Byrne – accordion

7. Tidewaiter

A retiring customs officer (a ‘tidewaiter’) looks back on the glory days of his youth, rummaging the incoming vessels at the old customs station at Queensborough, sniffing out contraband and unpaid dues in the name of the King. Saltwort and barilla were common imports, used in chemical processing.

Carol Keogh – lead vocal
SJ McArdle – harmony vocal, acoustic guitars, 6 and 12 string electric guitars, mandolins
John Ruddy – harmony vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass
Dermot Byrne – accordion

8. Ann Marie/Silver Sail

Our tiny protagonist’s father works at Grendon’s famous iron foundry at Graves’s Lane, keeping body and soul together for them both, holding out against the inevitability of their future.

SJ McArdle – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Carol Keogh – harmony vocal
John Ruddy – harmony vocal
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass, bass harmoniser, drum programming
Graham Henderson – upright piano, reversed dulcimer, harmonium, dulcitone
Nuala Kennedy – flute
Dermot Byrne – accordion

9. Jack

An old harbour master settles his Port – and his young employee’s questing mind – for the night. Drogheda was a major exporter of live cattle, and Michael Holohan’s 1990s interviews with local, already elderly residents, sailors and dockworkers for his A River of Memories project contain vivid accounts of the sleeping Port at night, the lowing of the cattle, the dying of the light. Mares tails and mackerel scales are cloud formations – the couplet at the beginning of the song’s bridge is an old sailor’s rhyme to predict the weather’s effects on the behaviour of the sea.

SJ McArdle – vocal, acoustic guitar
Trevor Hutchinson – double bass
Graham Henderson – dulcitone, piano, bowed mandola, tape piano