Fergus Russell: Landless & Free | Album Review

The healthy state of our ballad and folk tradition is underscored weekly in club gatherings such as An Góilín and the Clé Club. Fergus Russell is a regular in the former since the late 1980s, and this collection is a snapshot of a singer in thrall of the songs. Here the stories reign supreme: porter, politics and the River Poddle (among other more nefarious influences) colour and shade the picaresque landscape through which Russell travels with verve. He is vocally limited in range, and his phrasing occasionally succumbs to a sprinting pace, but the essence of his delivery clearly lies in live performance. Landless & Free (a reference to "Lord Landless") is more a state of mind than a politically fuelled mission, and this collection offers some bright baubles for singers scattered from Inishowen to Skibbereen and points west. goilin.com