Song of the Day: Doonan Family Band ... I'll Tell Me Ma/Route 66
August 26, 2021
August 2021 update: The Doonan Family Band, the Doonans, the Mighty Doonans. Call them what you will, they've been a brilliant fixture of the folk scene for a long time. I look for pretty much any excuse to showcase them, as I did 10 years ago, give or take a week, with this piece. More or less as it appeared then, save for some minor updates/corrections ...
The Doonans on another occasion. My usual thanks to folkimages.com
Song of the Week is on a bit of a North-eastern kick this week. We've had Republica, for no better reason than that their Ready To Go hit used to take over from Sergei Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights as the teams reached the pitch at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland.
No attempt will be made to persuade any reader that I'll Tell Me Ma is the greatest Irish song they'll come across. I can think of no other version that would have made it into this series. It was more a case of wanting the band, and in particular wanting to share its terrific sense of fun, and then seeing what was available.
The song leads into tunes to which Frances and Sarah, or the Doonettes as the band's original (Sunderland-supporting) Irish dancers were always called, perform some impressive steps, and is then followed by Route 66, more tunes and more energetic dancing.
The whole 12-minute clip captures the essence of this excellent Geordie-Irish ensemble that has been giving massive pleasure for decades. Traditional songs given a rocky urgency, rock standards served with an Irish flavour, foot-tapping jigs and reels and polished dance routines.
I remember with particular fondness Black Velvet Band as rock, Sam Cooke's Bringing It On Home To me as Irish soul.
What you see above was filmed at the 2010 Bromyard Folk Festival. Do your best to catch them if you hear they may be in your neck of the woods.
* But Doonan Family Band CDs and other music featured here by visiting Salut! Live 's Amazon link. If you like this site, you inevitably enjoy the sort of music it champions.
Outrageous. Outrageously good, I mean. Don't think I've ever heard "Route 66" played on a fiddle. "I'll Tell Me Ma" may not be the best ever Irish song but it's a great one. My favourite version is by Van Morrison with the Chieftains - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-jKJ-QDEY - but the Doonans are a very close second. I would love to see them live.
I started to wonder how old they would've been when we had the Aclet club on the go (the Doonettes, of course, were still undreamt of. And is it even possible to step-dance on beer crates?) but it was too depressing...
Posted by: Bill Taylor | August 26, 2021 at 04:22 PM