Singer Paul Carroll

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"If you can't leave 'em, drink 'em; if you can't drink 'em, leave 'em!''

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The old departure orders of the barman at Carlton's Dan O'Connell Hotel's made for a hard call when you had all manner of traditional Irish music belting away furiously. On the occasion you had singers the calibre of Paul Carroll on hand, it was especially difficult.

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Early frontman for the mighty Celtic outfit Poteen, much-loved fixture of the Melbourne Irish scene through the '70s and '80s, Carroll's vocals were like an embrace. His songs, a lilting, lyrical and social catalogue of Erin's struggles. The mix of guitar, violins, accordions, bodhrans, banjo and bouzouki that propelled his music, an otherworldly trip through time and emotion.

And regardless of whether you left those drinks behind, if you were lucky enough you might move on with Carroll's music into the night elsewhere.No-one wanted the sessions to end and with names like Melia, McAuslan, McManus, Keenan, Cooney, Francis, Fennell, Jones, Bourke regularly on hand, it was a fair chance they'd continue to dawn.

As John McAuslan recalls of Carroll, in his own lyrical fashion: "He never failed to stop the pub, or the hall, or the festivals ... (with) the ghosts of Dublin streets ... ballads of freedom and of union struggle, songs of revolution, bush songs and tales of sentiment and heartache, unrequited love and murder.''

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That's a fair stock to be carrying about. Delivered in Carroll's warm signature timbre, it insinuated Ireland into the breast and brain of his audience. Whether in a kitchen, on a bar stool or on stage, he intersected the natural rollicking drive of the Gaels' reels and jigs with the joy, charm, toil and pathos so richly captured by Ireland's songs. An essential crossroads.

For years, Carroll's vocals were integral to Melbourne's Celtic music scene. As much as they were enjoyed, they also inspired many others to take up Irish music, to learn the stories of the songs, to help carry the flame. Carroll was a key seminal player in what has become a massive cultural phenomenon in this country.

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But the former Jan Juc-based Carroll, with a wanderlust shared by many an Irish exile, took his leave for the US. And, regrettably for so many, that was the last they saw or heard of him.

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Until now, with a new recording that's been too many years in the making.

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His album The Road You Take is as evocative of the heady early days of Carroll and Poteen as it is moving and engaging in the here and now.  The old master hasn't lost a thing, doesn't miss beat and remains every skerrick the touchstone of a musical culture.  Songs such as Dublin In My Tears, Taglione, Raglan Road, Cavan Girl, Lord Franklin, matched with the haunting backing of uillean pipes, flutes, whistles, mandolins and fiddles, demonstrate the veteran's deep and abiding links with his muse. So too Reynard, Davy Lowston, Joe Hill, Isle of Hope _ all up, a dozen gorgeous tracks including a tip to Oz with his rattling Queensland Drover.

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As McAuslan so accurately says, it's a rare treat. And it's one you won't want to leave behind.

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 Noel Murphy   |  January 24th, 2012      CD Review    Geelong Advertiser, Geelong, Victoria, Australia