Come Gather All

Mickey Joe Harte / Paul Brady / John Condron

  20/03/2013

To celebrate the year of The Gathering, the Donegal Gathering and Earagail Arts Festival have teamed up to commission a new signature tune by some of Ireland’s well loved artists that reaches beyond its birthplace in Donegal. Written and produced collaboratively by Donegal native Mickey Joe Harte, Strabane’s global folk star Paul Brady and North American musician and producer John Condron.

With its inspiration and soul drawn from the composers’ and performers’ sense of their home place and nurtured with the support of many people in the community, Come Gather All was recorded in the hills of Donegal and thus has a unique Donegal flavour to it.

Commenting on the recording, the driving force of the project, Mickey Joe Harte said,

“There was a little bit of magic in the air, and a fair wind filled the sails during the  recording of “COME GATHER ALL” considering most of the artists had never worked together as a unit, it seemed that  in studio there was a common understanding and determination to do what was best for the song.  That energy and cohesiveness from everyone involved can be enjoyed for all now. You can here these contributions all over the recording.. And to help you pick them out here’s some names you might recognise and some you might not… YET!! The Henry girls ( Karen, Lorna and Joleen Mc Laughlin), Pat Gallagher ( Goats Don’t shave), Declan & Kieran Mc Clafferty (In Their Thousands) Martin Tourish, Paul Tully, Gary Porter and Rory Gallagher.”

About the ethos of the song he added,

“ Being Irish was always something that brought mixed emotions to me as a kid growing up in the turbulent, sometimes confused and troubled climate that was Lifford, a town that borders Northern Ireland. However, it was by no means all bad, and mostly good, and there were many invisible support networks in the small community that made life in the most part interesting, enjoyable and definitely colourful. Thankfully these networks are characteristic of the Irish landscape at large, no matter what side of the divide you happen to fall on.”

That divide is thankfully closing and this is in no small part down to the effort of local communities on both sides of the border. These communities have inadvertently helped to shape this new song and as one of the writers and producers, I hope the sentiment will ring true across all divides. This is our way of saying that we are collectively proud of all the good things that being Irish means. This song and the “gathering” of performers was an opportunity to come together and offer something that is true to us and where we come from – and something we are proud to be part of.”

Paddy Harte, Chairman of The Donegal Gathering steering group, commented “This song has at its heart an inclusiveness which reaches out to everyone who feels a connection with Donegal and to those who embrace their Irish identity across the globe. This has been very much a team effort culminating in the final recording in Termon. It has enjoyed generous support from the Riverine Project, the Earagail Arts Festival, the Arts Council of Ireland and the Donegal Gathering as well as a range of local businesses from across the county including The Bank Bistro in Dungloe, the Mount Errigal Hotel and Arena 7 in Letterkenny, who all  provided sponsorship. This is Donegal at its very best, working together to better our home-place and to encourage all of us to stay connected at home and beyond as part of the larger Irish Diaspora.”

Paul Brown, Festival Director with the Earagail Arts Festival added “There could be no more fitting homage to the 25^th anniversary of the Earagail Arts Festival, than through the medium of a new music commission by some of Ireland’s most established musicians and one that features so much emerging Donegal musical talent. It’s a fantastic piece of music with significant international appeal and a song that connects with all Irish people at home and abroad, whether in the home of Donegal native or the workplace of our Irish diaspora – wherever they are in the world. Recorded in the heart of Donegal at the incredible Attica Audio in Termon “Come Gather All” will be a celebration of the culture and heritage of Ireland to the world.”

“Come Gather All” will and available to listen to via www.donegalgathering.com and www.eaf.ie and from Friday 5^th April 2013.  Listen out to the Shaun Doherty Show on Highland Radio from 12 noon on Friday 5^th April 2013 to hear exclusive news and the first public airing of the new song.

For more information visit on the Earagail Arts Festival 25^th anniversary programme , the Donegal Gathering and the national year of The Gathering visit

www.eaf.ie / www.donegalgathering.com / www.thegatheringirleand.com / www.mickeyhartemusic.com

The Earagail Arts Festival is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and

Donegal County Council and presented in association with Fáilte Ireland.

Available for a limited time as a “FREE” download.

From Flipside Works LLC.  www.flipsideworks.com

Click HERE!

Here’s what Mickey has to say about “Practical…”

Sometimes songs burn so hot they tend to shelve themselves in a cooling zone and re-emerge when they are ready and not the writer. This happened to this song. A few years back I was asked to do a charity gig in New York so I and thirteen other musicians and performers headed for the transatlantic gateway of Shannon Airport. As we gathered and awaited our journey, myself and the band armed with our cups of tea, we  sat and relaxed.  I was trying to write about commitment and the transition from liking to loving and being “Practically in Love .”  I had my working title and bullet points and let the ol’ pencil flow.  We were called to check-in.  We approached Emigration and some of our papers were not in order. I explained our case but even after all that, our official signed the papers:

“REFUSAL TO FLY “.  To me… not “PRACTICAL.”

We all licked our wounds and decided to head to the studio to do some recording and this song bounced off everybody.

This song makes my play list in The States and here all the time and is asked for constantly. When our papers were refused our emigration officer signed them with the initials… “JD.”

Yes “JD STOLE MY WINGS.”  Funny in America those famous initials conjure up another meaning and relationship to a Tennessee liquor.  Some believe that was the real reason we didn’t get to fly! A strong smell of the strong stuff! Not so…but who am I to correct my listeners!

Hope you enjoy this single off my new album “Forward To Reality.”  Thanks for the continued support.  Mj

We’re very pleased that Podcast.ie has featured Mickey as part of their first broadcast in October.

Now three years in existence, Podcast. ie is a free audio podcasting site featuring exclusive interviews with and performances by Irish writers of Poetry, Prose and Music as well as  Irish culture and heritage including Myths and Legends and People and places. You can find it at: http://www.podcasts.ie/

Mickey appears in Showcase #28. It can be found here:

http://www.podcasts.ie/2012/10/podcasts-ie-showcase-no-28/

There is also a Mickey Harte page on Podcast.ie. It can be found here:

http://www.podcasts.ie/featured-musicians/mickey-harte/

A special thanks to Jho Harris for making this all possible.  We hope you enjoy Podcast.ie!

Seven long years!! Of blood, sweat and tears….

Not to point out the obvious, but… today is the 1st day of sept 2012 and that’s more or less 7 years since my last full length album release. So it’s with great excitement, anticipation and a fair amount of fear that my new album comes out in just two weeks time… September 14th.

“FORWARD TO REALITY” is an acoustic-sounding album of 13 songs that mean a lot to me. Songs about where I am from. Songs about the people I have met along the way. No bells, no whistles just clever minimalistic production for the most part. But gutsy and direct when it needs to be.

Produced by John Condron and recorded in Chicago IL, USA. Featuring local Chicago-based musicians and engineers.

I could go on about it for ages but I’m not sure I’d do it justice and the fact is I’m not someone who’s used to writing press releases or biogs or even blogs. So if your interested in seeing and hearing some more, have a look on the website: mickeyhartemusic.com. Or come to a gig if you can!

Thanks to all who made this possible, toooooo many to mention in this short space!

Released on Swerve music, through Beaumex distribution:

cat# Swerve 009

For all you folk in the business, you can contact us by emailing:

Shea Mc Nelis : theagency@ireland.com

Eric Johnson: eric@flipsideworks.com (USA)

God Bless and Slainte! Mj

(Mickey Joe Harte)