I Kept These Old Blues (Remastered) Muireann Bradley

• 1 Candyman (Remastered) 03:48
• 2 Richland Woman Blues (Remastered) 04:26
• 3 Police Dog Blues (Remastered) 03:14
• 4 Shake Sugaree (Remastered) 05:48
• 5 Vestapol (Remastered) 05:12
• 6 Stag O Lee (Remastered) 02:52
• 7 Green Rocky Road (Remastered) 03:53
• 8 Frankie (Remastered) 04:00
• 9 Police Sergeant Blues (Remastered) 03:12
• 10 Buck Dancer's Choice (Remastered) 03:40
• 11 Delia (Remastered) 03:21
• 12 Freight Train (Remastered) 03:31
• 13 When The Levee Breaks 03:55
• Total Runtime 50:52

Info for I Kept These Old Blues (Remastered)

A new voice born from the old blues: I Kept These Old Blues is an astonishing first glimpse at the breadth of Muireann Bradleys talent – both as a guitar virtuoso and a singer. Her astounding fingerpicking and original interpretations of blues classics has already created a loyal fanbase of listeners and collectors alike. The first pressing of I Kept These Old Blues sold out globally and is already regarded as a collectible among in-the-know music fans – truly remarkable given Bradley was just 15 years old when she recorded it.

Now remixed and remastered by Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Kevin Reeves and with the inclusion of a brand new track ‘I Kept These Old Blues’ demonstrates the kind of assuredness and skill to be expected of a musician five times Muireann’s age.

Muireann Bradley is a young blues, ragtime, roots and folk guitarist and singer based in Ballybofey in County Donegal Ireland. “This is my first album. Most of these tunes were originally recorded by the great blues men and women who were making records from the 1920s and 1930s right up in some cases to the early 1970s.

"I have also found inspiration for the renditions recorded here in the playing of some of the musicians who began recording this music in the 1960s and later, and who in some cases learned at the feet of the greats. Many of these guitarists played pivotal roles in the 1960s blues revival and subsequent “rediscovery” of many of the greats of country blues.

I grew up steeped in these old blues in the hills overlooking the valley of the River Finn just outside the town of Ballybofey in County Donegal. My father would play this music constantly at home and wherever we went in the car and talk about it endlessly whether anyone was listening or not, telling stories about the lives of these musicians as if they were legend, mythology or the evening news.

My father could of course play all this stuff on guitar, I remember watching him when I was very young and thinking “I want to be able to do that”. When I was nine he agreed to teach me and bought me my first little travel guitar. I worked hard to learn how to play but as time wore on I seemed to have less and less time to practice as I became more and more invested in the combat sports I was regularly training and competing in. Then in March 2020 the first Covid lockdowns happened and all contact sports were shut down. I was lost for a while but soon found my way back to the guitar. I was now listening, playing and practicing with a new intensity and focus.

In a very serious moment, I wrote out a list of tunes I was going to learn. The first tune on that list was Blind Blake’s “Police Dog Blues”. I’m not sure now how long it took to get that arrangement together but when it was ready we videoed me performing it and posted it on YouTube. It ended up getting a lot of attention, I remember my parents being quite shocked and soon after that Josh Rosenthal got in touch… and here we are! Each individual track on this album was recorded live in the studio and represents one entire take with me singing and backing myself up on guitar simultaneously. Most are either first or second takes. Nothing has been added or taken away, no overdubs or modern recording tricks of any kind have been used at all so at least in some respects this album has been recorded in the same way as those classics of the 1920s and 1930s.I hope you enjoy the record.” (Muireann Bradley)

Muireann Bradley

Digitally remastered

Muireann Bradley
is a 17 year old folk and blues guitarist and singer from Ballybofey in County Donegal. She specializes in performing acoustic fingerpicking country, piedmont, and ragtime blues styles from the 1920s, 30s and 40s as well as later folk, country and Americana.

Her influences include Blind Blake, Rev Gary Davis, Memphis Minnie, Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, Stefan Grossman, Ari Eisinger, John Fahey and Roy Bookbinder.

Her father started teaching her guitar when she was nine and then in 2020, she received an offer from Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records to record an album after he saw her on youtube. In December 2023 this album “I kept these old Blues” was released to rave reviews.

Before the end of 2023 Muireann had played a live session on Highland Radio which went viral and recieved a standing ovation when she performed on Jools Holland’s annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny.

In 2024 she did live sessions for Cerys Matthews’ BBC Radio 2 Blues Show, the Stephen McCauley show on BBC Radio Ulster and Ray Cuddihy’s Mise Sessions on RTE Radio 1. She also performed live on The Late Late Show and filmed sessions for Other Voices Anam in Ormond Castle and Acoustic Guitar Magazine.

“I Kept These Old Blues” reached number 1 on the Amazon download chart U.K. and got into the top 10 on the ITunes chart UK and broke into the Amazon New Folk Music Chart in the U.S. Not bad for a debut album in a genre now considered pretty uncommercial.

Hard copies of her album have been selling out everywhere leading to a second pressing with a third now on the way.

Muireann’s performances online have been viewed over 2 million times and her Irish and U.K. gigs have sold out.

“a natural” Arlen Roth

“that kid is really good and I don’t mean really good for a kid, I MEAN REALLY GOOD “ Jorma Kaukonen

“A wonderful player, I can now retire the torch has been passed” Stefan Grossman

This album contains no booklet.