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Claddagh Ring

• Ripples in the Rockpools
• Carrickfergus
• Brian Boru's March
• Do You Love an Apple
• Coal Quay
• Powder Monkey/Bully in the Alley
• Mist-Covered Mountains
• Drowsy Maggie
• Skillet Pot
• Siuil Arun
• Risin' of the Moon

Although we did go into a digital studio and rerecord this tape, we eventually decided that the quality was not what we wanted to present to our fans.  Current plans are to include another recording of these songs, a few at a time, on upcoming CDs.

Circle of Friends

Recorded at Emerald City Studios in Wichita, Kansas, under the engineering expertise of Mike "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" Curtis, in May and June of 1994. This one was released on CD and cassette in August 1994. With a studio like this, we got to go crazy...doubling voices, adding sound effects, synthesized orchestra, and even a grand piano (no, we can't do it that way in concert, but we had to get all the new toys out of our systems). Nobody has told us that we overdid it -- and, believe me, we know some people who would tell us if we did.

By the way, our own Lisa Hager did all of the art for the CD and tape.

• Join the Circle (An original poem by Lloyd Helms)
• Step It Out Mary (A jazzed up version combining the traditional words with the tune for "Willie Taylor" and a couple of pieces of the tune "Dance to Your Daddy")
• Jamie Raeburn's Farewell (Borrowed from the Tannahill Weavers)
• Mingulay Boat Song (We got this one from some Renfaire friends of ours.)
• The Cruel Sea (An original piece by Devery and Lloyd.)
• Take Her in Your Arms (Ah, Andy M. Stewart, we have to thank you for this popular piece.)
• Mick McGilligan's Daughter (This hooley song really fits Lloyd!)
• Two Magicians (A traditional piece we got from Celtic Stone; Lloyd wrote a new opening, and Devery's daughter, Kira, got to speak her bit in the middle. Listen for the "acoustic" sound effects we added in the second half -- especially the bed!)
• Rosemary's Sister (We all fell in love with this piece when Connie Dover came to our tent at Winfield and allowed us to add harmonies as she sang.)
• Blood and Gold/Donald MacGillavry (We took these two songs with opposing views of war and tied them together with bodhrans and a bagpipe interlude.)
• Ancient Irish Lullaby (A late addition to our list, due to the untimely death of a friend's 7-year-old son.)
• The Session: Brian's Road to Maggie (When we rerecorded "Claddagh Ring" digitally, we decided to combine the three instrumental pieces we had done into one set. We decided to throw it in for luck at the end of this recording.)

Celtic Before Celtic Was Cool

Recorded at Anybody Listening Studio in Wichita, Kansas, and at Brick Barn Recording Studio in Newton, Kansas, from 1997 - 1999.  This one was released on CD in August 1999.  Since we went crazy with the last one, dubbing and adding special effects, we decided to tone this one down a bit.  Dean Karres and Mary Grider helped us out on several of the songs.  Devery Corteville designed most of the artwork; her daughter, Kira, did the Claddagh Ring for the CD imprint and back cover.  Patricia Helms, Lloyd's wife, took most of the photographs; Cindy Troutman, Devery's "adopted" daughter, took the one of Mary.
 

• Shady Grove (A traditional song set to a jig beat)
• Wild Colonial Boy (Upbeat version in 4)
• Siúil a Rúin (New arrangement of a traditional song we've done since the beginning)
• Shenandoah (Audiences seem to respond to our arrangement of this traditional song)
• Haughs of Cromdale (We've always liked this song, with it's listing of clans and a Scottish victory.)
• Dòmhnall mac 'ic Iain (We were looking for a mouth music piece that would allow each of us to do something different; when we heard this one from Mary Jane Lamond, we knew we had to adopt it.)
• Margaret Cromar/'Til You Come Over (Dean thought of pairing this tune by a member of Old Blind Dogs with the words he wrote and the tune Devery came up with.)
• Planxty Cleland (Devery wrote this tune in honor of some very special friends, who are more like family, in WaKeeney, Kansas)
• Pound a Week Rise (A political piece that was intended for a folk group, this song won the imagination of all the members of Claddagh Ring, so it was brought into the band.)
• Halivada Hame (Another song we had to do early in the group's history.)
• I See the Moon/Ode to the Universe (Altered from a one-verse children's song, Lloyd added the extra verses in 15 minutes.  Very popular with our fans.)
• Long Black Veil (If it was good enough for the Chieftains, it's good enough for us.  Were we surprised at how recent a song this really is.)
• La Ziguezon (A Quebequois song translated into standard French sung by a Celtic group from Kansas.  Truly international.)
• How Will I Ever Be Simple Again (This beautiful song caught our hearts the first time Dean brought it to our attention.)
• Star of the County Down (Our upbeat, twisted version.)