“The Cocks are Crowing” is no. 15 in Hugh Shields’ book, Shamrock, Rose, and Thistle: Folk singing in North Derry.  It was sung by both Eddie Butcher and his brother, John Butcher. Norah heard beautiful versions of it by both Sandra Joyce and Shawna Mullin during her time at the University of Limerick and was inspired by them to put her own twist on it.

The Cocks Are Crowing trad, performed by Norah Rendell and Brian Miller

Whiskey Evening is a great song written by Maria Dunn, a singer-songwriter from Edmonton Alberta.  Here it is performed by the Two Tap Trio with Norah on vocals, Brian Miller on guitar and Tom Schaefer on fiddle. 

Whiskey Evening, written by Maria Dunn performed by the Two Tap Trio

The Hawk & The Crow by The Outside Track from the album, Flash Company (vocals by Norah Rendell)

This track was produced as a single before The Outside Track's third album, Flash Company.  The proceeds of the track went to three charities in Canada, the UK and Ireland.  Norah's husband, Brian Miller, came across this little gem late at night perusing Sam Henry's collection, "Songs of the People.  While turning his peat in the bog, a young man's heart is captured by a stunning young maiden who passes him by.  Additional words are by Norah.

Mountain Road by The Outside Track from the album, Flash Company (vocals by Norah Rendell)

Reel Cork, Like! from the Máirtín de Cógáin Project's album, "With Cork With Love"

Norah Rendell on vocals and whistle, Brian Miller on guitar and Randy Gosa on mandola.   "Clear, expressive singing, which is among the best on today’s Celtic folk scene." – Stephen Winick, Huffington Post

From the album, "Spinning Yarns", available for purchase on itunes and other places... itunes.apple.com/us/album/spinnin…arns/id977714356

MacEdward Leach was the first song collector to bring recording equipment to Newfoundland. The recordings he made in small fishing villages around the Avalon Peninsula are a largely untapped treasure trove of beautiful songs with close ties to the Irish tradition in which their singers were steeped. A snippet of the 1951 recording of this song, along with hundreds of other gems, is available online through the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

St. Patrick's Day, from the album "Spinning Yarns"

From the album, "Spinning Yarns", available for purchase on itunes and other places... https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/spinning-yarns/id977714356

In the age of old-time, live-in lumber camps, the need for bunkhouse entertainment during the long, isolated winters led to a high demand for lumberman-singers. Many Irish-Canadians carried with them rich repertoires of songs from the old country which were sung often. Sometimes, words were changed to adapt an old song to new circumstances. One old song, “The Sailor Boy,” about a woman searching in vain for her drowned lover, passed from singer to singer from the British Isles to the Maritimes and across the Great Lakes before someone in Wisconsin decided to alter it to fit a more local story.
In 1923, Franz Rickaby transcribed “The Pinery Boy” from the singing of Martha Olin of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who had learned it around 1867 from a local boy named Thomas Ward. Norah’s version was inspired by Dáithí Sproule’s singing of the song.

Oh, a raftsman’s life is a wearisome one,
It causes many fair maids to weep and mourn,
It causes them to weep and mourn,
For the loss of a true love that never can return.

“Oh, father, father, build me a boat,
That down the Wisconsin I may float,
And every raft that I do pass by,
There I will inquire for my sweet pinery boy.”

As she was sailing down the stream,
She saw three rafts all in a string,
She hailed the captain as she drew nigh,
And there she did inquire for her sweet pinery boy.

“Oh, Captain, Captain, tell me true,
Is my sweet William among your crew?
Oh tell me quick and give me joy,
For none other will I have but my sweet pinery boy.”

“Oh, auburn was the colour of his hair,
His eyes were blue and his cheeks were fair,
His lips were of the ruby fine,
Ten thousand times they have met with mine.”

“Oh, honoured lady, he is not here,
He’s drowned all in the Dells, I fear,
’Twas at Lone Rock as we passed by,
That is where we left your sweet pinery boy.”

She wrung her hands and tore her hair,
Just like a lady in great despair,
She threw her boat against Lone Rock,
You’d have thought this fair lady’s poor heart
was broke.

“Dig my grave both wide and deep,
Place a marble slab at my head and feet,
And at my breast a turtle dove,
To let the world know that I died for love,
And at my feet a flowering oak,
To let the world know that my poor heart

The Pinery Boy, from the album "Spinning Yarns"

From the album, "Spinning Yarns", available for purchase on itunes and other places... itunes.apple.com/us/album/spinnin…arns/id977714356

Jim Whalen ( James Phalen was his actual name)was rafting logs down Ontario’s Mississippi river near Lanark around 1878 when a dangerous jam formed in a treacherous part of the river known as King’s Chute. Called on to help break the jam, young Jimmie fell in and drowned. Another song, “Jim Whalen,” recounts the details of the accident and was composed by a local ballad singer at the time. “Lost Jimmie Whalen” seems to be an adaptation of an older ballad about a lover’s ghost that was adjusted to reference the same Ontario tragedy.

Norah’s version is based mainly on Sidney Robertson Cowell’s beautiful 1952 recording of Wisconsin singer Robert Walker, though she swaps in some text from a version sung by Martin Sullivan of Nassau, Ontario, for Edith Fowke and another sung by Will Daugherty of Charlevoix, Michigan, for Franz Rickaby.
Source: Robert Walker (1883–1961) of Crandon, Wisconsin, USA

Slowly and sadly I strayed by the river,
Watching the sunbeams as evening drew nigh,
All alone as I rambled I spied a fair damsel,
She was weeping and wailing with many’s a sigh.

Sighing for one who is now lying lonely,
Mourning for one who no mortal can save,
As the dark foaming waters flow sadly around her,
As onward they roll o’er young Jimmie’s grave.

“Jimmie,” said she, “won’t you come to my arms,
And give me sweet kisses as ofttimes you gave?
You promised you’d meet me this evening,
my darling,
Oh, come, dearest Jimmie, love, come from
the grave.”

Then slowly there rose from the depths of the river,
A vision of beauty far fairer than sun,
While red robes of crimson encircled around him,
Unto this fair maiden to speak he’s begun.

“Why did you raise me from the realms of glory,
Back to this place where I once I had to leave,
To hold you once more in my fond loving arms,
To see you once more I have come from my grave.”

“Jimmie,” said she, “why not stay on earth with me?
Don’t leave me alone for to weep and to rave.
If you won’t mind me and bide here beside me,
Oh Jimmie, take me to your cold silent grave.”

“Darling, to me you are asking a favour,
That no earthly mortal can grant unto thee,
For death is the dagger that holds us asunder,
And wide is the gulf, love, between you and me.”

“One fond embrace, love, and then I must leave you,
One loving kiss, pet, and then we must part,
And cold were the arms he encircled around her,
While cold was the bosom she pressed to her heart.”

Then straightway the vision did vanish before her,
Straightway to the sky he then seemed to go,
Leaving his loved one distracted and lonely,
Weeping and wailing in sadness and woe.

Throwing herself on the banks the river,
Weeping and wailing her poor heart would break,
Sighing, “My loved one, my lost Jimmie Whalen,
I will lie down and die by the side of your grave.”

Lost Jimmie Whalen from the album "Spinning Yarns"

The Stornoway Gazette wrote, “Her singing left me goose-pimpled all over – a sure sign of a gutsy, emotional delivery laced with meaning and pathos”. Live Ireland Awards has named Norah Rendell Best Vocalist of the Year two years in a row. Nominated as Traditional Singer of the Year for the Canadian Folk Music Awards 2008, Norah not only sings, but also plays flute and whistle "with a degree of style and sensitivity envied by many", says Tim Carroll of FolkWords.

Norah moved to Ireland in 2005 to do a Masters degree in Irish Traditional Music Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick.  During that time, she co-founded the award-winning Celtic band, The Outside Track with whom she recorded three critically acclaimed albums and toured 70-100 dates a year in North America and Europe.  Norah has nine albums to her name including the 2007 solo release," Wait There Pretty One" and the Máirtín de Cógáin Project’s “From Cork With Love”. She also appears as a guest vocalist on Canadian string quartet, The Fretless' album "Waterbound" which won three prestigious Canadian folk music awards in 2012.

In addition to her Masters from the University of Limerick, Norah has a Bachelor of Music degree in Early Music Performance and Music Education from McGill University in Montreal. She has given guest lectures and workshops at University College Cork, the University of Liimerick, the Folk Steps Conference in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and has taught numerous workshops in Irish song, flute and whistle at festivals throughout North America and Europe.

Norah's performances have been featured live on MPR's Heartland Radio, CBC's Canada Live, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and Radio nan Gaidheal. Her recordings have been broadcast on the CBC, BBC, RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta (Ireland) and on folk shows across Canada and the United States.

In addition to numerous performance-based projects, Norah is currently based in Saint Paul, Minnesota where is the Executive Director of the Center for Irish Music, a non-profit community music school dedicated to handing down the tradition of Irish music.


Norah Rendell

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