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Sleeve Notes
TOMMY BYRNE, who plays guitar and is the lead singer, was drawn to Irish balladry through his years with An Oige. Week-ends spent hiking and mountain climbing led to evenings in the youth hostels where young people from all over the country sang and played the songs from their own localities. He soon found himself devoting more and more time to playing and singing, involving himself in folk clubs and following the Fleadh Ceoils.
It was during one such week-end that ho met the group now known as the WOLFE TONES. They have been together ever since.
Still a lover of the outdoor life, Tommy is also an ardent fisherman and holds the distinction of being his club's master angler. Born and bred in Dublin, he continues to make his home In that county.
NOEL NAGLE, who plays the tin whistle and the Uillean pipes, extends his interest in Irish music to his leisure time. The son of the well-known leader of a pipe band, he has inherited his father's love of Ceili music and spends much of his spare time in the further study of it.
An admirer of the late Seán O'Riada, Noel credits him with reviving interest in this traditional form. He feels that O'Riada's orchestration of Ceili music, using the ancient instruments, has moved it out of the small music appreciation circles and into wider public popularity.
Raised in Inchicore, where two of his closest boyhood friends were Brian and Derek Warfield, Noel now lives with his family in a Dublin suburb.
BRIAN WARFIELD, who plays banjo, rhythym guitar and tin whistle, writes most of the original material the WOLFE TONES play.
His compositions range from the amusing satire TEDDY BEAR'S HEAD, heard in an earlier release, to the moving story of the present situation in the North told on the sensitive CHILDREN OF FEAR track of this album; from the light-hearted look at present history of their hit single THE HELICOPTER SONG to his beautiful lyrics set to the lovely GIVE ME YOUR HAND which is included in this release.
While composing and writing occupy much of his spare time, Brian also paints in his leisure hours and his Dublin home is decorated with several of his own canvasses.
DEREK WARFIELD, the leader of the WOLFE TONES, who plays mandolin and shares in the bulk of the singing chores, is responsible for researching and collecting the majority of old ballads the group plays.
An avid reader, Derek haunts libraries and book stores in search of history books as well as song collections because he finds that a country's music generally expresses its political development.
While Irish music is obviously a prime interest, exposure to other musical forms in his early years led to a deep and lasting appreciation of the world's classical compositions.
A Dublin man, Derek now makes his home on the outskirts, where in his passion for gardening, he cultivates not only vegetables and flowers but rare and experimental plants as well.