A living Irish national treasure, Christy Moore needs little introduction to many of you. With a career spanning over 50 years from the release of his first album “Paddy On The Road” in 1969, he has earned himself a unique place in the pantheon of Irish music, both as a founding member of not one, but two ground-breaking bands, Planxty and Moving Hearts, along with a string of successful solo releases and thousands of sell out concerts worldwide (to paraphrase the man himself – from the lonely citadel of Carnegie Hall to the dizzying heights of Caesar’s Palace in Bunclody). In 2007 Christy was named as Ireland’s greatest living musician in RTÉ‘s People of the Year Awards, and there are very few people who would argue with that.
I have been an ardent fan of Christy’s music since I was very young. I first heard him on a record singing Nancy Spain – that would have been when I was around 7 or 8 years old, so mid-1970’s. Later when I started to play guitar and sing, he was a massive influence on me, and my early gigs as a teenage balladeer wannabe were pretty much entirely made of his songs. Like myself, the bulk of Christy’s repertoire is made up of songs written by other people. Not a prolific songwriter like his brother, Christy made an art form out of taking someone else’s song and moulding it into his own unique shape, and he always does it with total respect for the original work. Who else but Christy could sing something like “My Little Honda 50” by Tom Tuohy and Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” in one show without it seeming incongruous? Partially for that reason, his influence on me remains to this day. I have seen him in concert many times, although not for a very long time now, more’s the pity, but I have never met him – not yet at least! (I did play support for his brother Luka Bloom once though -at The Mansion House in Waterford back in 1991).
Late last night, I was sitting down with a little glass of adult beverage, as you do, and putting together the set list for tonight’s Isolation Session on Facebook live. At pub gigs I rarely use a set list, preferring to wing it and ride on the mood of the room. That works a lot of the time but occasionally, like an over-confident surfer catching a wave, I wipeout. With the live streaming thing, it’s a whole new, and very different, way of performing. For one thing – the audience is there because they’ve chosen to be, not because they just happen to be in the pub at that time. As well as that – and this is the scary part – you cannot see them or hear them, but they’re out there watching and listening to you – not staring at football or golf on a silenced TV screen, (or sitting at the closest possible table talking over you!). The only interaction you have is when folks leave a comment on the stream. This is nothing like a regular pub gig – this is, to all intents and purposes, a concert. And it’s a concert that people can leave and go elsewhere with one click if you drop the ball. It therefore warrants extra care and effort. That’s not to say that the pub gigs don’t require care and effort – without those two things, one shouldn’t be doing it at all in the first place. But nobody who is kind enough to tune in and support my streams wants to spend half the time watching me staring at a list on a music stand trying to decide what to play next – they want to watch and hear a show – songs in rapid succession. Ergo one should work from set lists. 🙂
Anyway I got about five songs into the list and I noticed a pattern emerging. Not by design I hasten to add, it just happened organically. So I decided to run with it and turn it into a special tribute show to Christy’s music. So – tonight, Wednesday 20th May, at 8pm Singapore time, the Isolation Sessions presents “Mythen Sings Moore – a special tribute to the music of Christy Moore. It is fitting that this should come about now, given that the legend himself turned 75 earlier this month, a fact I only realised this morning in the course of researching some songs I have not sung for decades, and have mere hours to relearn 🙂
The intention was that this would be a one off event – however at the time of writing, I am up to 34 songs! On average a one hour live-stream show has about 12 songs or so, so I will either have to split this over a couple of nights, or – and this is where you good folks come in to the picture – if I get enough attendance and support tonight to warrant a marathon – I’ll just belt on through the lot!
So there you have it – tune in at 8pm on facebook.com/germythen
As always the Virtual Tip Jar will be open and entirely optional. Should you feel moved to make a contribution to help offset the loss of paid work and keep the show on the road in these surreal times, you may do so at your own discretion through any of the following channels. All contributions are very greatly appreciated.
Bank transfer via PayNow/PayLah : to UEN # 53367490E (within Singapore)
Paypal : http://www.PayPal.Me/TheIsolationSessions
or if you do not have a PayPal account –
TransferWise: depending on your location and currency, contact me (gerry@germythen.com or PM me on facebook) and I will give you region specific account details for receiving contributions in U.S Dollars, Australian Dollars, Singapore Dollars, New Zealand Dollars, British Pounds or Euros.
Cheers – stay safe! 🙂
GM
Ger Mythen 
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