Frank Emerson: Press/Reviews

Villa Rica, GA Voice
Stan Hardegree- Editor

In 1986, I was stationed in Savannah at Hunter Army Airfield, which is in
downtown southside.

One evening, some friends suggested that we get a bottle of champagne and
some strawberries and go down to the river for a romantic evening. The male half
of that couple was from Wisconsin, so his ignorance can be explained, but the
female half was from Bremen, Georgia and should have known better. This was
mid summer.

Well, we got to the river, broke out the champagne and berries and set about
to have a romantic evening in the humid 89 degree weather and Savannah’s
mosquitoes and Noseeums. In less than five minutes, we were drenched with sweat and
were waging a losing war against the bugs.

About that time, I heard guitar and singing coming from a River Street pub.
We agreed that the pub would provide a more hospitable atmosphere than the
banks of the Savannah, and on that night, I entered Kevin Barry’s for the first
time.

We took a seat at our table and ordered. About that time, the singer, Frank
Emerson, started his next song....

“When I was a young man, I carried me pack, and I lived the free life of a
rover....”

For the next five minutes I sat mesmerized as Emerson’s beautiful baritone
sang a tale of service in WWI, of facing the Turks at Gallipole and of coming
home to Australia a cripple.


Emerson sang happier songs, of nuns stuck in a lavatory, of what lies ‘neat
the Scotsman’s kilt, and more. Crying songs, drinking songs, clapping songs....

I left Kevin Barry’s that night a new fan of Irish music and a dedicated fan
of Frank’s.
Frank had some health problems over the past two years, undergoing treatment
for cancer. He faced his fight with typical Irish good humor – and he won it.

On Saturday, I sat near the Cultural Stage in the Savannah Civic Center and
listened to Frank sing songs of courage and patriotism. I listened to him tell
of trying to re-enlist in the Marine Corps after 9-11. I watched him absorb
and return the audience’s genuine love of Frank Emerson.

That summer night on the Savannah River was a turning point in my life. I was
a lifelong music lover before then, but Frank opened to me and my family the
wonderful world of Irish music, and I thank him for it.

So, here’s to Frank Emerson, Irishman, American, patriot! Cheers!

Irish troubadour sings of the ‘Wild Geese’
By Gene Owens


Frank Emerson is an overgrown leprechaun whose love of Ireland flows out of the hills of Southwest Virginia in a stream of music that might have washed the Blarney Stone.
The musical traditions of Ireland flow through his voice and guitar, but they have also picked up the flavor of America and the South.

I first encountered Frank about a year ago at Delaney’s Irish pub on the fringe of the University of South Carolina campus. Between witty toasts from whatever that was in his glass, he sang songs ranging from “Galway Bay” to “Waltz Across Texas.” You have to imagine Ernest Tubb with an Irish brogue. Frank brought it off well.
A year later, Miss Peggy and I drove to Columbia to join friends at Delaney’s for an Emerson encore. I was eager to learn more about the “Wild Geese of the Irish Brigade,” whose Latin motto translates to “Always and Everywhere Faithful.”
The song, which Frank wrote, celebrates the contributions of Irish expatriates toward American independence. Who were the Wild Geese of the Irish Brigade?
The first group to bear the name left Ireland in 1607 – the year Virginia was founded – and fought for France and Spain.
As Frank tells it, “The wild geese became a generic term for any expatriate Irish soldier who fought other countries' battles – usually against the British – and for one reason or another – largely due to British influence – was prohibited from returning to Ireland.”
A native of Ireland, Frank now lives in Wytheville, Va., the small town that lies in the Blue Ridge where I-77 crosses I-81 en route from Charlotte, N. C., to Charleston, W. Va. His wife, Frances, is director of historical resources for the town of Wytheville, where she oversees three museums.
Frank sings in places with names like Kevin Barry’s (Savannah), Mrs. O’Leary’s (Gaithersburg, Md.), Nanny O’Brien’s (Washington, D. C.), and O’Flaherty’s Irish Channel (New Orleans).
Frank collaborated with a former co-worker of mine from Roanoke, Va., to write a D-Day tribute. Titled “A New Dawn Forever,” it’s based on a poem by Bob Slaughter, who ran the composing room for the Roanoke Times when I ran its editorial page. Bob was one of the heroes of Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion.
Frank took Bob’s poem, tweaked it, arranged it, set it to music, and recorded it in a borrowed studio. The proceeds go to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va., the little town in the shadow of the Peaks of Otter. It suffered more D-Day casualties per capita than any other American city.
Next time Frank performs at Delaney’s, I want to hear him sing it.

There's a Story Told

Frank Emerson’s There’s a Story Told has a warm, immediate feel. You can put on this disc, sit back with a pint and imagine yourself in comfortable tavern listening to him pick his guitar and wrap his rich voice around these songs.

Frank introduces each song with a short tale spoken in his brogue-ish voice. As he says at the beginning of the cd, that’s also what he does when he performs. It’s a folksy touch, and music historians might get a kick out of the information.

But most of the songs speak for themselves. Frank covers a spectrum that runs from Irish reels to ballads to jazz to love songs. One constant throughout is Frank’s guitar: he’s a heck of a player. Except for the occasional tin whistle, it’s all the accompaniment he needs.

Starting off an album with a looking-back-at-life Irish weeper might seem like an odd choice, but “Carrickfergus” is a heartfelt, expressive number. That’s followed by the spry “Lannigan’s Ball,” one of Story’s highlights.

Frank’s originals fit nicely within this album of cover versions. “'Tween the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” is a spirited seafaring ballad buoyed by a jaunty tin whistle. “Drink!” is, as its title not-so-subtly suggests, an ode to the camaraderie found in taverns.

The jazzy numbers “Sweet Savannah Sunday” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (the Mamas and Papas did a well-known version) are fun. Frank’s vocal work on “Dream” is smooth and charming. Picture yourself taking your pint at an outside table on a warm, breezy night as you listen to these.

Frank is a patriotic guy, and his version of “God Bless America” is stirring. His guitar turns it into a folk song, and his voice does this classic justice. This rendition would have had even more power if it had been the last song on the album.

There’s a Story Told is a good sampler of how a basic one guitar/one voice combination can work in a variety of genres. It’s also a good indication that Frank Emerson is a confident onstage entertainer.

Dear Sarah featuring The Flag of Our Fathers

They just don't make 'em like this anymore.

It seems almost impossible that an artist like Frank Emerson could exist in a day and age such as this, when a show of emotion is seen as a sign of weakness and indifference and hipness are considered interchangeable, when record labels view unique artists as liabilities rather than assets. Frank Emerson knows the value of a good story. He refuses to believe that tradition has lost its place in a world where thirty-five year old housewives run red lights in their Expeditions while simultaneously complaining to their broker about the maturity of their husband's 401(K) on their Nokia and to their children in the back seats about their scores on the latest standardized test at their National Blue Ribbon school of attendance.

Long story short: Frank knows how to sing songs that matter, that were written out of artistic expression, not to provide MTV with a canvas on which to plaster as much total square footage of bare female skin as possible.

On "Dear Sarah", Emerson has shed a substantial amount of pop influence that informed his previous release, "Safe in the Harbor". The result is a more traditional sounding folk album informed with some forward looking moments. On "Shelter", the tasteful, Eric Clapton-esque electric guitar adds dimension. Spoken-word introductions to some of the tracks add to the sense of theatrics.

The true miracle of this CD is how it manages to be melancholy without being nostalgic; joyful without being sugary. On the Dixieland-influenced "She's Gonna Marry Me", a man rejoices after his ninety-fifth marriage proposal to the same woman is accepted. "Dark Eyed Molly" has a proud, yet subtle parlor song feel to it, and "Supermarket Wine" is a bittersweet recollection of love that ended too soon. One of the most moving songs is "Waltzing on Borrowed Time", a testament to the inevitability of change and the importance of leaving things behind with grace.

There are a few places where the songwriting could be tighter. The opening track, "Flags of Our Fathers", despite an honest, strongly worded patriotic rhetoric, repeats itself too many times, and "She's Gonna Marry Me" seems to have one bridge too many.

But if every album ever released could claim to only have so few flaws, the world just might be a better place. I have the feeling that Frank Emerson will do all he can to make it so.

Safe in the Harbour

I love this CD. It combines some well-known modern folk classics with tracks I never heard before, and a singer with a lovely, strong voice (reminiscent of Liam Clancy's) and minimal instrumentation performs them. Most of the tracks are re-mastered from a cassette recording of the late 1980s but this probably adds and authenticity to the songs. "The Mary Ellen Carter," written by Stan Rogers, opens the CD. This is one of the best-written modern folk classics, comparing efforts to raise a sunken ship to any of us fighting adversity. It is a strong message "hidden in the long grass" of a tale well told with a rousing tune and chorus. (It was only when reading the credits on this CD that I realised how many great modern folk songs Stan Rogers wrote. The CD is dedicated to him.) Liam Reilly's "Savannah Serenade" is new to me but it grabbed my attention immediately. It is beautifully descriptive of what I imagine Savannah must be. "Ships from everywhere come up the river" reminds me that Savannah was a destination I wrote about for the small ships from my hometown of Wexford involved in the cotton trade in the 1800s. "Field Behind the Plough" was familiar to me from the singing of Frances Black with Arcady, but Emerson's deep male voice gives it a new meaning. The title track, "Safe in the Harbour," is by Eric Bogle and is yet another of those songs that gives us a positive message while the song tells a very good story. "Where Do You Go to My Lovely" was a big hit for Peter Sarstedt decades ago. I enjoyed it on its initial outing but only began to understand it when I listened to it with older ears on this CD. It is another example that in general good folk music often starts out as good pop music that has a story to tell. Stan Rogers' beautiful love song "Forty-Five Years from Now" has been murdered by some "country" singers here in Ireland, but Emerson renews it and makes it relevant again. The Virginia tourist board should present Emerson and writer Lew DeWitt with awards for the song "I Love Virginia." I wanted to pack my bags and get a flight straight after hearing it coupled with the traditional "To Be a Virginian." If Thomas Moore were alive he would be wealthy based on the number of folk artists who use his "Minstrel Boy" either as a song or an instrumental backing for a poem. Emerson uses it in both guises on "The Fallen" to great effect in a tribute to the many war dead. Maybe it is because I recently experienced the Canadian Rockies for the first time but "Canadian Whiskey" is my favourite track on this album. It is not as strong as the Buffy Saint-Marie songs but it does tell a tale very well. "The Granda" gives the dramatic recitation new life as it looks at war in the 20th century. This is a CD that seldom leaves my player. The blend of old and new, novel and familiar is hard to beat. I would dearly love to hear more of this singer and his unerring choice of material. There is not a single track that I skip.

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"It's a great read and had me in stitches laughing for a few weeks. It tells of life on the road and the fun and frolics of some of our favourite bards. It's well worth a read and would make a great Christmas gift for many Dads out there. Many of my friends have enjoyed it as well. All have the same reaction. …belly laughs!"



- Columnist Shay Clarke/"Raised on Songs & Stories"



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"Got a copy of the book a while back…Still enjoying it…Glad to know the road hasn't changed…HA! HA!"



Pete St.John /Multi-Time Ireland's Songwriter of the Year

The Rare Ould Times, Fields of Athenry, etc.



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"Expert Storytellers! The great yarns come one after another! Just try reading one story and putting the book down. It's impossible!"



- Mike Farragher /The Celtic Lounge &

- The Irish Voice



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"Funny, Poignant, Shocking, Memorable, Illuminating, Insightful…a Very Compelling Read and a Top Shelf Selection!"



-John O'Brien, Jr./ The Ohio Irish American News



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"Great untold stories of the men behind the mike, perfect for dipping into and eclectic in its styles. Damon Runyon meets Frank O'Connor, with a dash of Brendan Behan thrown in for very good measure. I loved it!"



- Irish Writer/Performer/Teacher Declan Forde



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"I enjoyed the bewk very much! Great stories and all around well-told, but then why wouldn't it be? Ye're all great story tellers!



-Danny Doyle/ Ireland's Leading Balladeer

A truly original and wonderful Irish performer!

"Top notch!" - King Street Chronicle

"Glorious - tremendous presence on stage." - Savannah Irish Festival

"Delightful" - Savannah Morning News "

A fine repertoire" - Irish Echo

"A fine voice" - Dirty Linen Magazine

"Emerson presents his music with grace" - Blue Ridge Serendipity

"High quality" - Glen Echo Irish Festival

"Exciting and highly entertaining" - Spotlight Magazine

"Could not have selected a better performer" - Council for Community Enrichment, Radford, VA

"A great Dublin entertainer with wonderful endorsements" - The Pilot, Southern Pines, NC

"A keen sense of awareness of a proper balance of both strength and sensitivity...a wealth of entertainment experience" - The Paper "

Knows how to entertain...Amazing dexterity" - Creative Loafing

"It was standing room only" - Diversions, Savannah Morning News

"Delightfully sentimental...Emerson does a wonderful job, inciting the crowd to sing along" - Savannah Evening Press

"Extremely powerful songs" - National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia

"The man of 1000 toasts - a favorite of Savannah and the festival" - Savannah Irish Festival 2001

"One of the best times of our lives" - Maryanne & Larry Rushton, Washington State

"This talented guitarist plays traditional and contemporary Irish folk songs and originals with both grace and flair" - Connect Savannah

"The most moving version of 'The Wearing of the Green' we've ever heard." - Cynthia & Craig Wadsworth, Louisiana

"Wonderful! A pleasure to listen to!" - Craig "Butch" Wilhelm, PGA Tour Caddie

"As the Cajuns down here say, 'All passed a good time!" - Heather & Frank Cole, New Iberia, LA

"My Marine & Firefighter friends believe you are an extraordinary entertainer and toaster as well!" -Major John Keegan, USMC (ret.), Florida

"Thank you for all you do for soldiers & their families."
-CPT David Nethkin, US Army, Fairbanks, Alaska

"I'm a currently deployed 'Dog-Face Soldier'. Thanks for your support of the 3rd ID."
-SSG David Boyle, US Army, Iraq

Thre's a Story Told


Frank Emerson has a voice like honey. He entices us in and wraps us in warm sweet sentiment. His love of America, of folk music and of Ireland is tangible and over a number of albums he has promoted the music and the values. On There's a Story Told, he again offers a wide range of songs from the traditional through respected writers and performers to his own compositions. He offers a fine version of "Carrigfergus" before inviting us all along to "Lanigan's Ball" for a good old Irish knees-up. His varied listening is evident with the inclusion of Ireland's Johnny McEvoy's "Long Before Your Time" and ex-Liverpudlian Michael Snow's "The Dawning of the Day." You also get some more unusual tracks like "Dream a Little Dream of Me," which is not often recorded by the male of the species, and Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," not too common on folk albums. Marrying "Two Little Boys" and "Shenandoah" works much better in song than I might have thought after the Rolf Harris hit. Emerson's own compositions include "Tween the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea" and "One Nation United." This is wonderful collection, an eclectic collection in many ways, but it works. My one problem with an album like this is that Frank introduces each track with some background. This is great once but on repeated playing one gets a bit fed up with hearing the chat. Eric Bogle did a similar introduction on a recent CD but had the chat and the song as separate tracks making it easier to skip over. Maybe next time, Frank?by Nicky RossiterRambles.NET11 March 2006 [ visit the artist's website ]

There are all types of storytellers; the one that sing their tales and the one that bind them into a book form. A group of Irish folk legends recently got together to prove that they could do both. Clean Cabbage in the Bucket, the brainchild of folk balladeer Dennis O’Rourke, edited over seventy stories written by friends that include Robbie O’Connell, Frank Emerson, Harry O’Donahue, ad Seamus Kennedy.
The book gives you an insider’s view, painted by these expert storytellers, of a musician’s life. The bars, the fans, and the women are all in there. Just try reading one story and putting the book down. It is impossible. The great yarns come one after another, so plan on spending a large block of time with the book once you crack it open.

All five authors have a commonality, an ability to take all they witness with a tongue-in-cheek,"chalk it up to experience" attitude. And they laugh. Throughout the book, they laugh and laugh.

The well written Clean Cabbage is, first and foremost, funny, but also memorable, at times shocking, poignant, illuminating, insightful, and a very compelling read. The only time I put it down was to give myself time to stop laughing or to think about other stories that the reading jarred loose from the deeper parts of my brain.

Clean Cabbage in the Bucket and Other tales from the Irish Music Trenches is a great read and a Top Shelf Selection!

The ongoing popularity of Irish music has much to do with its blend of infectious melodies, spirited rhythms, and sometimes sad, often funny, but always moving lyrics. But that music's enduring appeal is also a result of the individual and collective charm of its performers.

Clean Cabbage in the Bucket and Other Tales from the Irish Music Trenches — a new anthology of short writings by five Irish musicians who for many years have plied their trade in various venues across the U.S. — is chock-full of charm. While it provides the reader with a sense of the song repertoire and instrumental technique associated with Irish music, the book's focus is on the professional and personal lives of Irish musicians, who possess the uncanny ability to captivate an audience by drawing upon inspired musicianship, loquacious — if often bawdy — storytelling, and a ferocious sense of humor.

Musicians have long told stories that convey their experiences within their romanticized if misunderstood profession, but such stories are generally shared with fellow musicians, not with the public. Clean Cabbage in the Bucket is unique in that it documents the types of stories that musicians often tell but rarely write down. The five performers who committed their experiences to paper have obviously spent hours swapping stories with each other. Hence, though the pieces in the book were written separately, Clean Cabbage in the Bucket reads as though it contains transcriptions of orally swapped stories from an impromptu, post-performance round-robin between musicians sitting in a pub, collectively reflecting about their careers over pints of Guinness.

Clean Cabbage in the Bucket was edited by one of the aforementioned musicians, Dennis O'Rourke. Ironically the only one among the five not born in Ireland, the Massachusetts-native O'Rourke is not only a performer of Irish songs but also a successful country music songwriter best known for having composed "Honky Tonk Moon," a number one hit in 1988 for Randy Travis. Showing considerable imagination in his editing, O'Rourke juxtaposed writings by all five musicians so as to constantly shift the focus of from the sublime to the silly and back again; the overall effect is that of going on a wild ride. Some people may choose to read the book in the traditional manner, and those who read the book from the beginning to the end will be amply rewarded (similar-themed selections are grouped together into separate chapters identified by colorful titles like "There Are Risks, But It's Better Than Playing In The Piranha Pool...Sort Of"). Other people may enjoy by opening the book randomly and by reading just a few of the more than 80 different selections incorporated in the book.

Among the many noteworthy individual pieces in Clean Cabbage in the Bucket are three that illustrate the book's broad range of material: a memoir by Seamus Kennedy, in which the musician recalls publicly performing his parody of the 1971 hit song "Country Roads" with John Denver himself in the audience; a piece by Frank Emerson, in which he reflects upon his bout with cancer and its impact on his music career; and an evocative narrative that reads like a tightly crafted short story: O'Rourke's memoir entitled "Tinted Windows."

Significantly, a reader doesn't need to be especially fond of Irish music in order to enjoy this book's generous sampling of humorous anecdotes, philosophical reflections, and outrageous jokes. While not as widely known as their fellow Irishmen the Clancy Brothers, Paul Brady, or Christy Moore, the five Irish musicians who contributed their stories to Clean Cabbage in the Bucket are master entertainers who possess a rare combination of musical ability, the gift of gab, and street smarts. Indeed, as this book memorably illustrates, all five are as tough as they are talented, having surmounted the archetypal difficulties of being traveling troubadours, and all ultimately flourished in their roles as unofficial diplomats of Irish culture in America.

About the reviewer: Ted Olson is former director of Appalachian-Scottish and Irish Studies at the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University. Olson's poems, creative nonfiction, essays, and photographs have appeared in a wide variety of magazines. For many years, he has performed traditional and contemporary American, British, and Irish songs and ballads at educational and entertainment venues.

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Just received these TWO reviews for Clean Cabbage in the Bucket and Other Tales From the Irish Music Trenches from Writer's Digest, one of the foremost trade magazines in the writing world.

"Clean Cabbage in the Bucket is an uproarious romp through the pubs of America. The stories collected in this anthology range from hilarious to heartwarming and even disconcerting at times. At times the reader can almost hear the sweet notes or an Irish brogue wafting off the page. Most of the time, however, the reader will be in stitches from giggling so hard. The picture section is fantastic. this is a great behind-the-scenes book that demands the reader grab a pint of Guinness or a snifter of Jameson and sit back for a great ride."

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"What I liked best about this book was the rollicking humor and sense of plain old fun. You can tell that each author absolutely delights in telling a story. There's a real sense of joie de vivre in this book that's impossible to resist. One wants to gather the authors around, kick back with a pint, and just listen to them go. This is a book that, for what it is, can't be much improved upon. In other words, its literary "flaws" are part of its charm."

Frank is highly entertaining with a beautiful voice and a gift with the limericks. If you get the chance to see or hear him, I highly recommend it!