Welcome Here Kind Stranger

Welcome Here Kind Stranger
Studio album by Paul Brady
Released	1978
Recorded	March and April 1978, Lombard Sound Studios, Dublin
Genre	Irish folk music
Length	43:03
Label	PBCD
Producer	Paul Brady, Dónal Lunny
Paul Brady chronology
Andy Irvine/Paul Brady (1976) Welcome Here Kind Stranger (1978) Hard Station (1981)
The Missing Liberty Tapes album cover

Welcome Here Kind Stranger is a 1978 album by Paul Brady. After leaving The Johnstons, Paul Brady toured with Planxty, but never recorded with them, although he went on to record a duo album with Andy Irvine in 1976.

Welcome Here Kind Stranger

Brady's first solo album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger is his second (and final) folk recording prior to his embarking on a successful, long-term foray into the realm of mainstream rock. Its title is a phrase taken from one of the album's songs: "The Lakes of Pontchartrain". The album was initially released (vinyl and cassette) on Dónal Lunny's Mulligan label (LUN024) in 1978 and was voted "Folk Album of the Year" by Melody Maker magazine. The album was never officially released on CD due to a breakdown in the relationship between Brady and the Mulligan label and remained out of print for many years, until finally re-mastered and released in 2009 on Brady's own label, PeeBee Music.^[1]

The songs on Welcome Here Kind Stranger are highly arranged – instruments are heard then disappear as they are replaced by others. Two of the songs on the album are long ballads – "I Am A Youth That's Inclined To Ramble" and "The Lakes of Pontchartrain". The latter song had been recorded previously by Planxty on Cold Blow and the Rainy Night, though Brady's version is slightly different. He later recorded it in Irish as "Bruach Loch Pontchartrain" for the 2002 compilation album Eist Vol.2: Éist Arís, Songs In Their Native Language. The historical context of an Irishman in Louisiana is unclear. It may be set during the Battle of New Orleans.

Track listing

1. "Don't Come Again" (Traditional; arranged by Paul Brady) – 3:35
2. "I Am a Youth That's Inclined to Ramble" (Traditional; arranged by Brady, Irvine and Lunny) – 6:10
3. "Jackson and Jane" (Music: Paul Brady; Words: Traditional) – 4:22
4. "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" (Traditional; arranged by Paul Brady) – 6:45
5. "The Creel" (Traditional; arranged by Paul Brady) – 5:22
6. "Out the Door and Over the Wall" (Paul Brady) – 2:45
7. "Young Edmund in the Lowlands Low" (Traditional; arranged by Paul Brady) – 5:48
8. "The Boy on the Hilltop"/"Johnny Goin' to Ceilidh" (Traditional; arranged by Paul Brady) – 2:09
9. "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" (Traditional; arranged by Brady and Irvine) – 6:07

Personnel

• Paul Brady – vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonium, 12-string guitar, bouzouki & tin whistle
• Dónal Lunny – bouzouki, bass bouzouki & guitar (tracks 2 and 6)
• Andy Irvine – hurdy-gurdy, mandolin & harmonica (tracks 2, 3 and 9)
• Noel Hill – concertina (tracks 1 and 3)
• Tommy Peoples – fiddle (tracks 1, 3, 5 and 8)

The Missing Liberty Tapes

To launch Welcome Here Kind Stranger, Brady gave a concert on July 21, 1978 at Liberty Hall, Dublin. With the help of Irvine, Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, Matt Molloy, Paddy Glackin and Noel Hill, he presented the music from the album, minus "Young Edmund In The Lowlands Low" and "The Boy On The Hilltop/Johnny Goin' To Ceilidh", but adding "The Jolly Soldier", "Mary and the Soldier", "The Crooked Road to Dublin/The Bucks of Cranmore" and his own version of "Arthur McBride".

The Liberty Hall performance was recorded on reel-to-reel tape at Brady's request, for his own archives. In 2000 he found these tapes in his attic, and failing to drum up interest on the part of a major label, he decided to release them on his own PeeBee Music label in 2002, under the title of The Missing Liberty Tapes.^[2]

Track listing

1. "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Irvine) – 6:49
2. "I Am a Youth That's Inclined to Ramble" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Irvine) – 7:44
3. "The Creel" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Irvine/Glackin) / "Out the Door and Over the Wall" (Paul Brady) – 7:20
4. "The Jolly Soldier"/"The Blarney Pilgrim" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Molloy/Irvine/Glackin/O'Flynn) – 5:43
5. "Mary and the Soldier" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Molloy/Irvine/Glackin/O'Flynn) – 4:06
6. "Jackson and Jane" (Music: Paul Brady/Words: Traditional) – 4:47
7. "Don't Come Again" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Molloy/Irvine/Glackin/O'Flynn/Hill) – 4:07
8. "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Molloy/Irvine/O'Flynn) – 7:01
9. "The Crooked Road to Dublin"/"The Bucks of Cranmore" (Trad. Arr. Brady/Lunny/Molloy/Irvine/Glackin/O'Flynn/Hill) – 3:27
10. "Arthur McBride and the Sergeant" (Trad. Arr. and adapted Paul Brady) – 7:34

Personnel

• Paul Brady – vocals, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki & tin whistle
• Andy Irvine – hurdy-gurdy, bouzouki, mandolin & harmonica
• Dónal Lunny – bouzouki & guitar
• Paddy Glackin – fiddle
• Liam O'Flynn – uilleann pipes, tin whistle
• Matt Molloy – concert flute, tin whistle
• Noel Hill – concertina

References

1. Sleeve notes from Paul Brady – Welcome Here Kind Stranger, Abirgreen/PeeBee Music, 2009.
2. Sleeve notes from Paul Brady – The Missing Liberty Tapes, Abirgreen/Compass Records, 2002.

External links

• Welcome Here Kind Stranger at Paul Brady's website
• The Missing Liberty Tapes at Paul Brady's website
• Review of The Missing Liberty Tapes at Irish Music Review website