Song:Johnson's Motor Car
Album:In Person At Carnegie Hall
The Clancy Brothers were a big part of the early 60s folk music boom. They released several albums with Tommy Makem including this 1963 Carnegie Hall concert which was a big seller at the time. There were four Clancy Brothers. There was Paddy, Tom, Bob and Liam all born in Ireland. Makem was also born in Ireland. After serving in the Royal Air Force during WWII, Paddy and Tom Clancy moved to North America. They lived in Toronto for a couple of years and they moved to Greenwich Village in New York City in 1951. They acted on Broadway shows but they also performed music after shows. These shows attracted big name folksingers like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Bobby Clancy briefly joined them in New York. But he returned home to take over dad's insurance business and was replaced by Liam Clancy in 1956. Meanwhile Tommy Makem moved to New York and he was friends with Liam. They started their own record label Tradition Records. It was owned by Guggenheim heiress Diane Hamilton who loved folk music. They recorded several albums as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem because they couldn't think of a group name. They were successful enough locally that The Ed Sullivan Show came calling. Then they wore sweaters sent by their mom and that became their trademark look. After appearing on the Sullivan show, legendary producer John Hammond signed then to Columbia Records. This led to worldwide success including back home in Ireland where they were unknown because they lived in the US. Their most successful album and the one you should get is In Person At Carnegie Hall recorded Mar. 22, 1963. The album reached #50 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. Sony released the full concert on two CDs in 2009. Johnson's Motor Car is an Irish rebel song written by poet Willie Gillespie in 1920. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem continued to have success in the 60s. Makem left to go solo in 1969. The Clancy Brothers continued for many years. But their 60s recordings and the influence they had on Bob Dylan and others will be their legacy. Here's The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performing Nightingale and Johnson's Motorcar on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963.
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