I'm A Rover

Description

Ye Vagabonds’ first release for Rough Trade’s River Lea imprint saw them named Best Group at the 2019 BBC Folk Awards and sweep the board at Ireland’s RTE Folk Awards, winning Best Traditional Folk Track, Best Folk Group and Best Folk Album for The Hare’s Lament. Hot Press called the record “A joy… Ancient and contemporary all at once�; while The Irish Times praised it as “A labyrinthine treasure trove�; and Folk Radio declared Ye Vagabonds to be “True heirs to Sweeney’s Men and Planxty.�

These two new songs were recorded at Hellfire Studio, Dublin by Lankum producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy in March 2020. The brothers learned I’m A Rover from their mother when they were young, and believe it travelled from Scotland to her home of Arranmore Island, off the coast of County Donegal, becoming this distinctly unusual version of the song on its oral journey. The Bothy Lads is a song Ye Vagabonds learned and honed at singing sessions, before becoming a highlight of their spellbinding live shows.
The cover photo was taken by fellow Vagabond Alain McFadden, backstage at Dublin’s National Concert Hall before the band’s biggest headline gig to date, in October 2019. The sleeve was designed by Brían and Diarmuid’s brother-in-law Jesse Smith whose fiddle playing was central to the sound of The Hare’s Lament.

“We recorded both songs live within two or three takes. We're delighted with this snapshot we got at the end of the Before Time.� - Brían Mac Gloinn, Ye Vagabonds.