“It’s a lovely song, so sweet to hear the passion in your voice and to have the story put to music. I am honoured that you made something more of the poem.”
Annie “Ana Ramana” Callan, (Poet Author of Copper)
Jerome Taheny
Jerome Taheny is a self-taught guitar player from County Sligo in the west of Ireland who has nurtured a life long passion for music. Deeply influenced by the work of Irish songwriters like Johnny Duhan, Jimmy MacCarthy, Johnny McEvoy, Mick Hanley and Thom Moore, the seed of an oddessey into songwriting world was planted listening to their work. Having played alongside Donal McLynn in his establishment in Old Market Street, Sligo, to further his knowledge of music and performance, he developed his talent and went further afield to become a solo artist. A quality management career in manufacturing industry kept him from working on his music more fully until recent years.
A love of the Irish artists and songwriters drew him to their performances and a fortituous meeting with one of his heroes of this world, Johnny Duhan; and he didn’t disappoint. After seeing Johnny perform an awesome show where only standing ovations were delivered after each half of the show, he contacted Johnny to compliment him on the performance. Johnny invited him to keep in touch. A friendship developed and a mutual friend Francis Kennedy, who had recorded a few of Jerome’s songs, suggested he let Johnny hear the songs. Johnny took note and in a few months enough songs were evaluated to engender the idea for an album.
A few months serious work ensued and with Johnny’s help “The Arrow and The Song” was born. A mutual love of poetry, music, and the sacredness of word and melody, friendship and respect were combined with a few very unique professionals present in the maternity ward(sorry Tony- bad description of the studio), to witness the birth of these songs. The songs are rooted in life experience and friendships and special moments when the words of others sparked a marriage of melody and lyrical poetry.
Jerome is a self taught guitarist and he developed a fluid finger-picking style to embellish his accompaniment of his own songs. His influences in this sphere included Henry McCullough, Richard Thompson, and Liam Clancy’s performances amongst others. This style is used to great effect on the album and it is combined with unusual chordal changes to imbue the work with many vibrant shades of musical colour in the soundscape. The songs might be uneasy listening for those tackling the harder issues of life, but their purpose is to engender positivity and a seeking of a better sense of enjoyment of the journey-song of life.
