June 2020 Artist of the Month: John Doyle

John Doyle

The Path of Stones

Compass Records

There is scarcely an Irish music project in the past 30 years in which fretted instrument wizard and vocalist John Doyle hasn’t played an integral part. You’ll find him alongside Liz Carroll, Karan Casey, Eileen Ivers, Kate Rusby, Mick Maloney, and Heidi Talbot; and in bands such as The Chanting House, Solas, Usher’s Island, The Crossing, and the Joan Baez Band. Okay, the last isn’t Celtic but you get the idea.

The Path of Stones is by my count his fourth solo recording, though he’s been so prolific it wouldn’t surprise me to learn I missed one. He opens The Path of Stones with a traditional song, “The Rambler from Clare” in which he showcases his mandolin skills as well as his guitar (and even adds a touch of fiddle to supplement that of Duncan Wickle). His treatment is in keeping with the song’s title and subject in that it musically saunters at a lively clip and the vocals practically skip off his tongue. Doyle sings with a light tenor reminiscent of Christy Moore when he wasn’t rocking out. It’s the sort that has soothing qualities and folds easily into a melody rather than seeking to overpower it, as too many virtuoso artists are prone to do.

The remaining eight tracks–four sets of tunes and four songs–are Doyle originals. His guitar work is an offshoot of the dropped D (DADGAD) fingerstyle playing pioneered by Davy Graham in the early 1960s. On the album Doyle overlays 5- and 6-string guitars and a mandolin to the tune “Elevenes,” but check out the style on the attached live clip in which he sticks to a 6-string guitar. Watch his hands–if you can! The tune title, by the way, is a double wordplay. The time signature is 11/8 and elevens is a British Isles colloquialism for an 11am tea break. Doyle showcases mandola, bouzouki, and guitar on the “Naoise Nolan’s” jig, and builds up to a faster pace on a set or reels that opens with the quite “Coolaney Reel.” “The Winding Stair” turns up the gas; Michael McGoldrick’s flute and Cathy Jordan’s bodhran add to the swell of “Rossagh’s Rambles,” the final tune. He closes off the album with an air, jig, and slip jig in the “Knock a Chroí” set that features fiddler John McCusker, with Doyle playing 5-, 6-, and 12-string guitars plus keyboards.

In between we get some fine new songs written as if they had elderly parents, as it were. This is particularly true of “Lady Wynde,” a paean to an unobtainable beauty. Cathy Jordan (Dervish) adds harmonies that add to the song’s wistful ambience. The title track is a six-minute love song, though it’s mostly of the unrequited sort. (It’s inspired by a Yeats poem, so expect romance tinged with mystery.) You can hear Doyle sing a live version of “Her Long Hair Flowing Down,” an immigrant’s regret song. (Doyle explains the background in his intro to his song.) By the time he’s done, you’ll probably be surprised this is an original, not some reworked selection drawn from the public domain.

I’ve been listening to John Doyle for decades and it’s been an absolute to watch him grow in skill, confidence, and stature. The Path of Stones adds more building blocks to Doyle’s impressive career.

Rob Weir