Three generations of Irish country and western family takes Nashville by storm
Last summer, TG4 filmed three generations of the Cannon family's visit to the annual CMA Festival in Nashville.And it is doubtful the home of country music and The Grand Ole' Opry will ever be the same following their eventful collision with country music Donegal Gaeltacht-style.The resulting documentary called 'Nashville - Seo muid ag teacht' will be a classic of the country genreThe traveling Cannons, who hail from Gortahork, consisted of dad John who used to be the leader of The Clubmen, his daughter Diane who is a noted trad and bluegrass artist and her daughter Kelly, a respected sean-nos singer.All three are devotees of different types of country music, John into old style such as George Jones, Diane more bluegrass and swing via Ricky Skaggs and The Time Jumpers while Kelly's liking is for modern acts such as Shaboozey.Once there, they even get to record a song with legendary country producer John Mock (Randy Travis, James Taylor, Dixie Chicks, Ricky Skaggs) and legendary guitarist Tim O'Brien.And the result, a reworking of a vintage RTE Radio na Gaeltachta competition winning song, is superbSays Diane of the trip: "The concept that TG4 had at the beginning was to take us as a family, three generations of country and western type singers from the Donegal Gaeltacht to the real home of country music Nashville."I would say they were pitching for a different programme about and around country music and with my involvement in trad and folk and even bluegrass and Scottish music and everything else, it's just a journey."So we had all our interests in country music but I also wanted to show how Nashville is not just (itals) country music, it is a great place for all kinds of music, delve into the different types of music there, try and understand music there as a business and why people go there, as they say, to make it."We spoke to promoters, managers, record companies, went to the studios to see their different way of recording there, what they call the 'Nashville Sound', as opposed to recording here in Ireland or the UK.
"So it's kind of like a behind the scenes, more in-depth and away from that mainstream and what people kind of generally think country music is, your downtown broadway, stetsons, cowboys boots and all that."The Cannons spent 12 days all told in Nashville."There was going to a lot of gigs, we visited some of the iconic places and we got to meet people such as Steve Earle, Allie Colleen (Garth Brooks' daughter), Kelsey Hart, Tayler Holder and lots more."To get to talk to people such as John Mock and Tim O'Brien in such depth, things that you wouldn't get to do normally was fascinating.
"We also met Eamonn McLaughlin who is the fiddle player in the houseband in the Grand Ole Opry. It was a real, real honour to get backstage at the Opry, to see behind the scenes."Mock and O'Brien went as far as inviting the Cannons to record a song with them.And as it turned out, they set up a version of honky-tonk standard Don't Let Me Cross Over first recorded by Carl Butler and Pearl in 1962, a tune Jerry Lee Lewis and Jim Reeves also associated with it."We went into John's studio with Tim who played guitar and the three of us sang the song which they knew as Don't Let Me Cross Over."But our song has lyrics as (itals) gaeilge (itals) and they are not a direct translation. The words are about where we live, around different locations here in Donegal and it was written to the melody from that song."This version has a fascinating history, it came from a competition that RTE Radio na Gaeltachta had years ago with Ronan Mac Aodh Bhui and it was won by a man called Danny Cannon who isn't a relation of ours."I have also since recorded the song with The Time Jumpers who we met in the programme and I released that single earlier this week."Some of it was recorded remotely with The Time Jumpers recording in Nashville. I did the vocals here in Brian Kerrigan's studio in Letterkenny and then the whole thing was mixed and mastered."
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