Check out 'Dated but Still Lovely', my video on YouTube & Myspace which is fun, but with a few serious themes lurking in the corner.Alison has contributed three tracks to a double album by Agitated Radio Pilot entitled 'World Winding Down', four tracks for an album by Syd Kitchen & Mike Dickman (forthcoming) and has an EP entitled 'The Fabric of Folk' coming out on Static Caravan in the summer of 08 with Steven Collins of The Owl Service. Work has begun on an album of her songs with Greg Weeks, to be recorded in Pennsylvania during 2008. Songs for a solo album are in embryonic stages with a number of collaborators such as Michael Tyack of Circulus, Greg Weeks (again!), Agitated Radio Pilot and Kevin Scott of Canadian band, Mr. Pine. Alison has just recorded a track entitled 'Sleep of Ondine' for the next Mr. Pine album, three tracks for a forthcoming album from United Bible Studies and a song written by Colin Harper, 'Aztec Energy' for the album 'Freedom & The Dream Penguin' by the collective The Fieldmouse Conspiracy. Gigs are due in the summer with The Owl Service.
Check out the Events section or her Myspace profile.
The April 2007 issue of Record Collector places Swaddling Songs in its Top 100 prog-rock quality rarities. It came in at Number 5 with five stars.
Mojo magazine 2006 rate Mellow Candle's Swaddling Songs as one of the top 50 genre-bending folk classic albums in forty years. It's a great peer group with albums from Donovan, Pentangle, Anne Briggs, Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, Devendra Banhart & Joanna Newsom also included.
My profile is now up and running on Myspace and gaining new friends every day.
There'll be a new section soon on the website, which will contain the lyrics of all my recorded songs.
Claddagh Records are handling Irish distribution and Proper Music elsewhere. Alison & Isabel -
Myself and Herself, purveyors of original songsand tunes from roots and traditional through to Celtic folk rock want to reach a wider live audience. They present a Live & Studio 5-trackCompilation EP containing tracks from their CD and recent Dublinconcerts. Genuinely interested promoters, agents etc please contact Alison fora copy. browdonn@iol.ie
Alison is currently working with Isabel Ní Chuireán. Their album of original songs and tunes entitled Mise agus Ise on the Osmosys label (OSMO CD033 www.terranovamusic.com) will be available from the end of January 2006. A Dublin launch is planned, which will include a live set with full band. Details will be posted as soon as a date and venue is confirmed. A new web page dedicated to this collaboration is currently under construction. Born and raised in the Gaeltacht area of An Fálcarrach, Tír Chonaill in Donegal, Isabel is a familiar figure in Dublin sessions. Together with Thom Moore, Joe Dunne and George Staines she is a member of IAD, the Thursday night band resident at The Radisson Hotel. In the past she has worked with Major to Minor, Celtic Fusion and Eimear Quinn. She plays keyboards, guitar, whistle and accordion with an agricultural twist.
Alison’s book
Alison is completed a non-fiction book which features her grandmother as its central theme. It is a true story of human interest, based on eight years’ research, and is a dual exercise in genealogy and detection. It also serves as a memoir and scholastic work. BBC4 filmed a ten-part genealogy documentary series entitled Family Ties, which highlighted a worldwide interest in recent years in this hot topic. Alison's true story of her grandmother's double life was first broadcast on November 16, 2004, with a further nine or ten showings on BBC4 and on BBC2 in October 2005.( . The two main strands of this observational documentary are a link between the past and present - Alison's grandmother Nina was also a singer - and a partially incomplete tale - this is the ongoing search for the details of the birth and death of Nina's first husband Walter James Leigh. The book will also focus on P.S.G. O'Donnell, Nina's second husband and Alison's grandfather, who was a conductor with The Royal Marines and Director of the BBC's Military Band from 1937 until its demise in 1943. The programme entitled Mother of Pearl after Alison's song, filmed in Dublin, Edinburgh and London, showed scenes of Alison working with Isabel on the new song written about her grandmother and the two children she left behind with her first identity. Interviews contained in the documentary details Alison's research techniques in tracing her ancestor's origins and her attempts to trace her grandmother's first husband whose life is still shrouded in mystery. Under current construction is a new page dedicated to Alison's interest in genealogy. Music Publications by Colin Harper, Shiloh Noone and Sean Campbell Journalist and writer Colin Harper, together with co-author Trevor Hodgett, has written a new book entitled 'Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History', which was published in November 2004, based on his articles about innovators in Irish music down through the years. A chapter on cult folk-rock band Mellow Candle is included. It is based partly on material published in Mojo Magazine, and also on recent, extensive interviews with the group’s two founders, Alison and her childhood friend Clodagh Simonds. Alison and her collaborate, Isabel, guested on a few numbers with the special house band (Brush Shiels, Henry McCullough & Jackie McAuley) for the night at the book's launch during the Belfast Festival on November 5th. 'A Seeker's Guide to the Rhythm of Yesteryear' by writer, poet, DJ and political activist Shiloh Noone, is a biography of various musical genres which gives the nod to Mellow Candle. 2005 saw the publication by Cork University Press of 'Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock' which also contained material about Mellow Candle. Bits and PiecesAlison has recently recorded all the backing vocals for a new E.P. by expressive new singer, Michele Ann Kelly. The songs are co-written and produced by Alison's cousin Anthony Bools (Booster). Michele gigs regularly with her band at venues such as Annesley House, the Sugar Club and the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. Other members of the band are: Isabel Ní Chuireán on keyboards and accordion, Frank Boylan (formerly of Mellow Candle) on bass, Al Cowan (engineer on Alison and Isabel's album) on drums, Eoghan Scott and José Carlos on guitars. Alison and Isabel contributed a live track to a forthcoming charity CD recorded by the organisers of An Cliabhán Folk Club at Conways pub in Parnell Street. The album also featured tracks from Peter Browne, Shane McGowan and Éamon de Barra.
There'll be a new section soon on the website, which will contain the lyrics of all my recorded songs.
Claddagh Records are handling Irish distribution and Proper Music elsewhere. Alison & Isabel -
Myself and Herself, purveyors of original songsand tunes from roots and traditional through to Celtic folk rock want to reach a wider live audience. They present a Live & Studio 5-trackCompilation EP containing tracks from their CD and recent Dublinconcerts. Genuinely interested promoters, agents etc please contact Alison fora copy. browdonn@iol.ie
Alison is currently working with Isabel Ní Chuireán. Their album of original songs and tunes entitled Mise agus Ise on the Osmosys label (OSMO CD033 www.terranovamusic.com) will be available from the end of January 2006. A Dublin launch is planned, which will include a live set with full band. Details will be posted as soon as a date and venue is confirmed. A new web page dedicated to this collaboration is currently under construction. Born and raised in the Gaeltacht area of An Fálcarrach, Tír Chonaill in Donegal, Isabel is a familiar figure in Dublin sessions. Together with Thom Moore, Joe Dunne and George Staines she is a member of IAD, the Thursday night band resident at The Radisson Hotel. In the past she has worked with Major to Minor, Celtic Fusion and Eimear Quinn. She plays keyboards, guitar, whistle and accordion with an agricultural twist.
Alison’s bookAlison is completed a non-fiction book which features her grandmother as its central theme. It is a true story of human interest, based on eight years’ research, and is a dual exercise in genealogy and detection. It also serves as a memoir and scholastic work. BBC4 filmed a ten-part genealogy documentary series entitled Family Ties, which highlighted a worldwide interest in recent years in this hot topic. Alison's true story of her grandmother's double life was first broadcast on November 16, 2004, with a further nine or ten showings on BBC4 and on BBC2 in October 2005.( . The two main strands of this observational documentary are a link between the past and present - Alison's grandmother Nina was also a singer - and a partially incomplete tale - this is the ongoing search for the details of the birth and death of Nina's first husband Walter James Leigh. The book will also focus on P.S.G. O'Donnell, Nina's second husband and Alison's grandfather, who was a conductor with The Royal Marines and Director of the BBC's Military Band from 1937 until its demise in 1943. The programme entitled Mother of Pearl after Alison's song, filmed in Dublin, Edinburgh and London, showed scenes of Alison working with Isabel on the new song written about her grandmother and the two children she left behind with her first identity. Interviews contained in the documentary details Alison's research techniques in tracing her ancestor's origins and her attempts to trace her grandmother's first husband whose life is still shrouded in mystery. Under current construction is a new page dedicated to Alison's interest in genealogy. Music Publications by Colin Harper, Shiloh Noone and Sean Campbell Journalist and writer Colin Harper, together with co-author Trevor Hodgett, has written a new book entitled 'Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History', which was published in November 2004, based on his articles about innovators in Irish music down through the years. A chapter on cult folk-rock band Mellow Candle is included. It is based partly on material published in Mojo Magazine, and also on recent, extensive interviews with the group’s two founders, Alison and her childhood friend Clodagh Simonds. Alison and her collaborate, Isabel, guested on a few numbers with the special house band (Brush Shiels, Henry McCullough & Jackie McAuley) for the night at the book's launch during the Belfast Festival on November 5th. 'A Seeker's Guide to the Rhythm of Yesteryear' by writer, poet, DJ and political activist Shiloh Noone, is a biography of various musical genres which gives the nod to Mellow Candle. 2005 saw the publication by Cork University Press of 'Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock' which also contained material about Mellow Candle. Bits and PiecesAlison has recently recorded all the backing vocals for a new E.P. by expressive new singer, Michele Ann Kelly. The songs are co-written and produced by Alison's cousin Anthony Bools (Booster). Michele gigs regularly with her band at venues such as Annesley House, the Sugar Club and the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. Other members of the band are: Isabel Ní Chuireán on keyboards and accordion, Frank Boylan (formerly of Mellow Candle) on bass, Al Cowan (engineer on Alison and Isabel's album) on drums, Eoghan Scott and José Carlos on guitars. Alison and Isabel contributed a live track to a forthcoming charity CD recorded by the organisers of An Cliabhán Folk Club at Conways pub in Parnell Street. The album also featured tracks from Peter Browne, Shane McGowan and Éamon de Barra.