Road to Boston

Jolly Rogues | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 22, 2003)
• Original Release Date: February 22, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jolly Rogues
• ASIN: B00008GQ2Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,091 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Band taking act across the pond By Christine McConville, Globe Staff, 2/26/2004 MTV may not be calling, but that doesn't matter to members of the local band the Jolly Rogues, as they prepare for their first international tour. For 10 days this summer, the band's four members, from Wilmington, Concord, Reading, and Westford, will be performing before dancing crowds in England. Just don't expect to find the group and its followers cavorting at trendy hot spots in London after the shows. This band specializes in tavern tunes and sea ditties from America's Colonial days. "It's going to be great," said Jim Murray, 56, who plays guitar and mandolin for the Rogues, when he's not at work at an insurance company in Wilmington. The rest of the group includes Mike Ryan of Concord on Native American and Irish hand drums; Paul Harty of Reading on fiddle, wind instruments, and mandolin; and Alan Hicks of Westford on guitar. For concerts, they dress in period clothing, and Ryan, who specializes in Revolutionary era history, usually offers a brief history lesson before each song. For the past year and a half, the group has performed to growing local crowds, while attracting fans overseas. Thanks to the Internet, their songs were discovered by disc jockeys in Germany and the Netherlands. The British Broadcasting Corp. has even interviewed the band. "It's bouncy music, and people over there like that," Murray said. This summer, the group will perform a concert on a field in Tewkesbury, England, where in 1471 a pivotal battle in the War of the Roses was fought. That field now is slated for development, and the Rogues are paying their own way over there to help the preservation cause. While in the United Kingdom, the group plans to perform in Billericay, England, a small village that is the namesake for Billerica, Mass. "We're more popular than the Beatles," Murray joked. The group met when they were working as volunteers at the Minute Man National Historical Park, which memorializes key battlefields in the Revolutionary War. In late 2002, as park volunteers and staff were trying to figure out new ways to spread the joys of history, someone mentioned music. "Music was important in that time period," said Ryan, who performs with the Rogues when he's not working as an associate dean for student development at Boston College. The group released its first compact disc about a year ago. Members expect to release their second disc, called "Captain Billy's Privateers," in the spring. --Boston Globe

Product Description

Pirate drinking songs and sea shanties along with songs from the sea such as Captain Kidd,the Mermaid,All for Me Grog and Greenland Whale Fishery. Also Irish hornpipes,Scottish tunes and songs.

See all Editorial Reviews