Mick Moloney
's
McNally's Row of Flats
is a fun, quirky recording, a time warp that takes the listener back to another time and place. As a jumping-off place to the late-19th century,
Moloney
tackled the oeuvre of
Ed Harrigan
and
David Braham
, a team who wrote songs that were performed in
minstrel
shows and
vaudeville
in the 1870s and beyond. While neither
Harrigan
or
Braham
have the name recognition of
Stephen Foster
today, both were a big deal in their own time, making a financial killing and eventually writing for lavish theatrical productions. The songs included on
, as the liner notes point out, paint a nice portrait of the immigrant experience in America, and they're so tuneful that it's easy to imagine having a few pints and singing them in the local Irish tavern.
's conversational vocals and the lively arrangements enhance oddities like
"Such an Education Has My Mary Ann"
"Get Up Jack John Sit Down."
Whistle, fiddle, and button accordion provide a
Celtic
-styled background, while
Vince Giordano
the Nighthawks
add animated brass to a number of songs. Although the structure of these songs reminds one more of
show tunes
than
folk
,
and friends bring an air of faithfulness to these interpretations that evokes an earlier era. For everyone who thought that
was the only person writing for the stage in the 19th century,
's take on
's extroverted songs will be a real treat. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.