Search - Father Sydney Macewan :: Road to the Isles

Before Dick Gaughan and Kate Rusby, there was this fella...

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 08/22/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Glasgow's Sydney McEwan followed the call of both the Church and the roar of the crowd, pursuing a professional singing career even as he maintained his priestly status. These recordings, dating from 1935-47, were actually some of the only popular recordings of Gaelic song during the inter- and postwar eras, and although they do have some of the prissy artsong affectations that English tastes imposed on those otherwise unruly Celtic ballads, it must be said that MacEwan had a lovely tenor, and an ease about his singing that transcended the stiltedness picked up from his idol, John McCormack. Not modern in the post folk-boom sense (and not strictly folkloric either, there are several modern tunes on here as well...), but still rather nice. If you want to delve a little further back into the island sound, then this disc might be worth tracking down."