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Sleeve Notes
"This something special", one could hear many of the enthusiastic audience say after Ronnie Drew & Eleanor Shanley's first show at Dublin's Cobblestone venue. A collaboration of these two true masters of their trade until then had seemed so improbable, impossible, that nobody had even thought of it. Many fans and colleagues had thus been curious but very skeptical. But now they all agreed: "Strange, that these two did not do this much earlier."
The seeds had been sown some years earlier Eleanor was singing with De Danann, when they were invited to contribute to a song on the Dubliners' "30 Years A-Greying" album. That was the first time she and Ronnie sang "Boots of Spanish Leather" together.
Ronnie says even today, that "collaboration" is just a posh word for "singing together". Whatever one calls it, the Dubliner, whose low voice is unique and beyond comparison, and the Leitrim singer, the one with the softness and depth of a spring breeze in her voice, they toured the country together and quickly found the unreserved favour with Irish audiences.
The repertoire of this originally impossible duo consists of songs that are especially close to their hearts. They are singing "favourites" from the big treasures of their careers, some new and some given new life. And we, the listeners, realize with each of them: Yes. This something special!
