This album is a culmination of Cathy and Feargal working together with Brendan on his demos for 20 years. In the end they decided to record an album of his songs with some fine guest musicians from Ireland, Scotland and Norway. More times than not it consists only of Cathy's soulful singing and Feargal's supportive piano, helping the songs speak and the stories be told.

It is a thing, unexpected as it is humbling, when a singer of the calibre and international respect as Cathy Jordan, suggests that she would like to make an entire album of one’s songs. My initial response was ‘are you sure you want to take that risk?’

      In one sense this was not a spur-of-the-moment or a planned thing. Since the mid-nineties, songs here and other of my songs were first demoed by Cathy and Feargal.

      Always, they were ‘simple’ voice and piano demos on which the song itself would rise or fall.

So, this album just ‘grew’ over those twenty-five years and while there are added here wonderfully sensitive musicians from Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden, the aim has still been the same…that of to ‘let the song speak’.

      I am grateful to them all and particularly to Cathy and Feargal for so doing.

Brendan Graham

Nearly three decades ago, I met songwriter Brendan Graham. He asked me to record demos of newly composed songs for his first novel, “The Whitest Flower.”

      I had never really thought about the songwriting process before, having sung mostly traditional songs with unknown authors. This collaboration, however, became one of the most important in my career. It was a mentorship and masterclass in songwriting, as well as a cherished friendship for many years.

      Over the years, pianist Feargal Murray and I recorded dozens of first-time demos for Brendan. In the process, Brendan taught me about the significance of each word and syllable and their importance within the lines of a song. His patience and attention to detail have always been an inspiration to me. It has been an honour to be the first to give voice to Brendan’s newly penned gems.

      This album is inspired by those demos Feargal and I made over the years. It forms a link between the old tradition I’ve long been part of and the more modern “folk tradition”.

      I hope these songs will be the traditional songs of the future and form part of the deep well of songs that give us a window into our past. They sing of love, loss, leaving, elemental things, shifting seasons and desires, country, emigration, and blessings.

Cathy Jordan