''The Irish Volunteer'' is David Kincaid's first album of Civil War related Irish music. For years Kincaid has been the lead singer, lead guitarist, and leading songwriter for the American roots rock band,

The Brandos The Brandos are an American rock band formed in 1985 in New York City by Dave Kincaid (vocals, guitar), Ernie Mendillo (bass, vocals), Ed Rupprecht (guitar, vocals) and Larry Mason (drums, vocals). The Brandos achieved commercial success in t ...

. Kincaid, a long time

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

enthusiast, assembled a collection of songs written during the Civil War era about

Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

soldiers fighting for the Union. Most of the songs only came with lyrics so Kincaid had to find traditional Irish music to set the lyrics to. Kincaid was devoted to historical accuracy in performing the songs, the pieces are performed only with instruments that would have been available to the people of the period. With the exception of "Free and Green" all the songs were written either before or during the Civil War. The songs praise the Irish immigrant volunteers who fought for the Union, most of the songs mention

Thomas Francis Meagher Thomas Francis Meagher ( ; 3 August 18231 July 1867) was an Irish nationalism, Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sent ...

Michael Corcoran Michael Corcoran (September 21, 1827 – December 22, 1863) was an Irish- American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a close confidant of President Abraham Lincoln. As its colonel, he led the 69th New York Regiment ...

, and the famous Irish Brigade. " Pat Murphy Of Meagher's Brigade" is the only previously recorded song on the album.

Personnel

* David Kincaid – lead and harmonic

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, and bodhran. * Liz Knowles –

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

. * Jerry O'Sullivan –

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ), also known as Union pipes and sometimes called Irish pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the ...

and

tin whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

. * John Whelan –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

. * Ernie Mendillo - bass on "Paddy's Lamentation".

Track listing

The writer of most of the songs is unknown but is noted where the author is known. # "The Irish Volunteer" written by Joe English – 4:34 (to the tune of "The Irish Jaunting Car") # "Boys That Wore The Green" – 4:00 # "Opinions of Paddy Magee" – 3:37 # "The Boys Of The Irish Brigade" – 3:10 # "Paddy's Lamentation" – 5:26 # "The Irish Volunteer (Nr. 2)" written by S. Fillmore Bennett – 4:21 # "My Father's Gun" written by Joe English – 3:09 # "Meagher Is Leading The Irish Brigade" – 5:35 # "Free And Green'" written by David Kincaid and Carl Funk – 4:15 # "The Harp Of Old Erin & Banner Of Star" – 3:44 # " The List Of Generals" written by Joe English – 3:58 # " Pat Murphy Of Meagher's Brigade" – 4:40 {{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Volunteer, The 1998 albums David Kincaid albums