The Livies.

These are the Awards presented each year to the recipients of the LiveIreland.com recognition that they are the very best in each category.
Bill Margeson.

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR----SEAN TYRRELL
Sean actually gave us two albums this year--Man For Galway and Rising Tide. Both were " Best Of " compilations. One for Europe, one for America. Both show Sean to continue to be at the top of his form, as both also offered new treats, as well! There cannot be an Award in traditional music this wonderful singer from the Burren has not won, repeatedly. There is no truer voice in the tradition. Sean always, always offers the best in new tunes he has written, poems he has turned into music, or old standards of the form. Also, always, Sean opens his soul for all of us to hear. The music from his heart can never be recommended highly enough. He is a gift. To be sure.

Galway Advertiser. April 2005. Kernan Andrews.
No better voice than Seán Tyrrell’s

Rising Tide

Bryan Morrell
Sean,
I just wanted to thank you for going above and beyond by giving my
friend and I those CD's tonight. Our experiences here in Galway over
the past few months have been amazing, but we've always said that one
of the things we'd miss the most were the Sunday sessions at the Róisín Dubh.

fRoots
(Thumbs Up) Seán Tyrrell The Best Of Seán Tyrrell (Arc Music EUCD1859) This most masterful song interpreter is sadly little known beyond Ireland's shores, so perhaps his 14-track compilation, including four previously unreleased tracks, may garner the acclaim he emphatically deserves.

Bill Margeson.
One of the two supreme male singers in the tradition is Sean Tyrrell and Sean Keane, plus specific others as personal favs. Tyrrell is out with a new album which should be on anyone's list for Christmas, if they are looking for a sound present. Sean Tyrrell, Man For Galway is a "Best Of" compilation. Now, Sean Tyrrell's "Best" is great, indeed. Many of you know Tyrrell and you all should. He has won our Male Vocalist of the Year in the past. He has a compelling voice. Living in the Burren, he takes that sensibility with him into all his albums and projects. A romantic at heart, his voice mixes a rough-hewn "man of the land vibe", with wonderful flexibility and emotion. This is not a stage tenor, sliding around in patent pumps and tux. This is a guy who has lived, sometimes perhaps too much. What has come out in the end is a wonderful, full personality who understands his music perfectly. Sean will pen his own tune. He is also famous for taking a poem that hits him and deriving a melody for it, thus turning it into a song. These particular songs are his very best, headed by the perfection of Cry of the Dreamer and Sweet Ballyvaughan. You have read our comments on Tyrrell over the years and know how much we love this singer for his voice, intelligence, and open romanticism. Irish Music Magazine has surely lost count of the Awards its readers have given Tyrrell.

Net Rhythms. Gustavo Aires Mateus
He has the ability to make even the most frequently-performed, even hackneyed songs sound fresh-just listen to the magic he weaves for Wild Mountain Thyme for instance, and even Bill Caddicks John O' Dreams, which reveals new layers of plaintiveness and subtlety in Seán's wonderful rendition.

The Folk Diary. JM.
There's lots more to enjoy on this album, which also features Davy Spillane on certain tracks, but the best thing about it is the singing of Mr. Tyrrell Highly recommended

Folk London.
This anthology serves as an excellent introduction to those who have never actually heard of Seán Tyrrell before.

Hot Press. Sarah Mc Quaid.
One for longtime and new converts alike.

Rambles
written by Nicky Rossiter
I have hit upon a seam of Sean Tyrrell releases and I keep looking for more. This singer has a distinctive voice that takes any song -- folk, pop or musical -- and makes it sound as if it has been in the traditional songbook for centuries.
He opens this CD with that old standard "Side by Side," and he makes you forget the music hall rendition. This is the new definitive.
Some months ago I reviewed an album - no, raved about an album -- by Eamon Friel. Tyrrell has taken one of his songs, "Such a Night of Stars," and given it the Sean sheen. At first I kept referring back to Eamon's version and I didn't particularly like Sean's take. Then I listened some more, and guess what? Now I have two different favourite songs called "Such a Night of Stars."
A "magnum opus" on this album is the fascinating story of "The Quaker" using the words of Samuel Lover. What can I say about "Coast of Malabar'? A great song sung by a maestro.
In Ireland we have the feast of Little Christmas on Jan. 6. When Phil Gaston travelled in the Burren on that night he was inspired by the candles glistening in cottage windows to write "The Lights of Little Christmas." The tale of love lost to emigration is beautifully told: "Is she here or in America? Is she home or is she gone?"
Sean has a great love of poetry and is constantly putting the words of poets to music and exposing them to a wider audience. He uses a well-known writer like W.B. Yeats on "The Cap and Bells," but I much prefer when he takes lesser-known poets such as Michael Hartnett and gives us the wonderful "The Ghost of Billy Mulvihill."
The wonder of Sean Tyrrell is that he takes songs that I often hate and makes me like them. I was so tired of the usual versions of songs like "South of the Border" that I would be tempted to skip the track. Listen once to Sean sing the standard and no more skipping. Another one getting the treatment and rejuvenation here is "Isle of Inishfree."
Sean has been setting poems to music for three decades and I enjoyed his singing of one his first ventures from the 1970s on "Time You Old Gypsy Man" using the lyrics of Ralph Hodgson.
Sean Tyrrell has been singing for quite some time but I only discovered him in 2003. I am scrambling to make up those lost years and I invite any lover of good music and lyric to join me in the quest.

WHAT MAKES a great singer? When a voice conveys emotion, what does that mean? Do you really feel what he is singing about? The answers to these questions can be found in Sean Tyrrell’s Rising Tide - Collection Old & New album, which has just been released.
Rising Tide features eight new songs recorded in Sean’s home in Co Clare and nine songs from his three previous album’s; Cry Of A Dreamer, The Orchard, and Belladonna. A great voice should have the technical ability to carry the song. On ‘Coast Of Malabar’ Sean’s voice soars and glides over the music, yet not one note is given to exaggeration. There is a control to his performance which shows he knows how to use his instrument.
A great voice is also characterized by the ability to convey emotion, but emotions are extremely varied. Yet Seán’s singing of ‘Coast Of Malabar’ conveys nostalgia, romance, and perhaps a tinge of regret, as if he is actually singing about himself. This ability is also used to stunning effect in what is perhaps the best of the new material; ‘Marian’s Song’ where saxophones and cellos weave in and out of the song’s hypnotic guitar figure. In Sean’s voice there is a reassuring comfort for a troubled soul: "Let me help you unburden this feeling of lonesome/I’ve been where you’re anchored, let me be by your side."
You can feel the genuineness of every word coming from his mouth as in ‘The Twelfth of July’. His plea for unity and diversity is not some vague aspiration, but a reasoned argument hard to oppose: "Let the Orange lily be/Your badge my patriot brother/The everlasting Green for me/and we for one another."
Seán gets inside a song and makes it come alive. He half speaks/half sings new track ‘The Quaker’, creating an uneasy tension mirroring the song’s tale of suspense and highway robbery. On ‘The Ghost Of Billy Mulvihill’ both voice and music create a picture of a man determined to keep hold of whatever sanity he has left.
"If you’re lucky you come across a voice like Sean’s once in a lifetime," actress Brenda Fricker said. "When he sings I feel alive." We’re used to compilations having two or three new tracks, but so many new ones on Rising Tide is somewhat curious. However devotees will relish the new songs, while for novices this is unquestionably the best introduction to Sean Tyrrell, showcasing all sides of this singular talent.