Bards dinner and show in Batterstown

Diarmuid O'Leary and The Bards will be appearing in Caffrey's of Batterstown on 18th December. 2010 is a significant milestone for the legendary folk group as it celebrates 30 years since their first hit song 'Julia At Lanigan's Ball'. Their new release is a contemporary album, a collection of 14 tracks, mostly new recordings like 'If I Go Sailing', 'Why Not Me', 'Breaking The Line', 'A Soft Place To Fall', 'Time Changes Everything' and 'The Way Old Friends Do', and also includes three of their best-known songs, 'Shaney Boy', 'The Old Dungarvan Oak' and 'The Railway Hotel', which is the title track. The other songs are 'Summer Friends' and 'The Gypsy Maiden', produced by Donal Lunny, 'The Last Blue Whale in the Ocean', a haunting and atmospheric recording about the hunting of the great blue whale into extinction, and for 'Roll on the Day' the group were joined by international singer-songwriter Chris Rea on slide guitar and vocals. The final track on the album is a return to an up-tempo, tongue-in-cheek song with a message we should all remember from time to time: 'Enjoy Yourself – It's Later Than You Think'. To mark The Bards' 30 years, Ireland's Own magazine wrote an extensive piece on Diarmuid O'Leary's life and times and featured him on the front cover on 16th July. This inspired Diarmuid to come up with the group's latest comedy release 'The Cover of Ireland's Own'. It's a parody on the Shel Silverstein song 'The Cover of the Rolling Stone' which was a chart hit for Dr Hook back in 1973. Tickets are available from (01) 825 8479 for the Caffrey's Christmas Dinner Show on Saturday 18th December.