Tom
Dahill & Ginny Johnson
Irish Dance Music, Ballads & Humor on Fiddle, Accordion, Uilleann Pipes and Guitar
Tom Dahill has been
nominated by The Irish Music Association in the category "Top Solo
Performer in a Pub Venue"!
Feedback From a Booker:
Hi Tom and Ginny,
I just want to say THANK YOU for the wonderful performance at the Club
Friday night! EVERYONE enjoyed the music:o) Especially Paul:o)
It was truly a wonderful party and you made the evening all that more
special for my friend Paul. He truly cherished it:o)
People have been asking me about you so you may have others booking future
gigs elsewhere:o) I should have gotten some business cards from you!
I will definitely be booking you again in the future. I just direct
them to your website.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the both of you!
Take Care,
Becky Locher (aka Ducky:o)
Letter To Tom From a fan:
Hi Tom,
I just wanted to let you know how much my brother and I enjoyed the fabulous concert at the Irish Fair. You and all the other musicians did such a great job. That was the best Irish music I've ever heard in all my years of going to the Irish Fair.
I remember going to see you back in the 70's at McCafferty's on Grand Ave.
Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us.
Maureen (Weldon) Hill
Pat Hill's granddaughter in law
Review of "Let The Goat Out"
June 21, 2010
"This album is sort of a big deal. It’s called Let The Goat Out, it’s by an amazing musician named Tom Dahill, and I could make a solid case that this website exists because of it. In 1998, I was a sophomore in high school, and Mike was a freshman attending a small college in Oakwood, Georgia. One day Tom Dahill performed on Mike’s campus, and after the show Mike purchased this CD. He loved it and he loaned it to me. We passed it back and forth. We squabbled over it. We learned most of the songs by heart and we sang them in the car, around the house, and possibly in public once or twice, much to Julie’s embarrassment.* Let The Goat Out was our introduction (and gateway drug) to the wonderful, wild, world of Celtic music. I can’t tell you how much it means to have this album sent in for us to review, it feels - well, indescribable.
All of that said, I simply don’t have it in me to be overly critical of this particular album. I have too much history here, it’s too close to me and I realize that I’m ridiculously partisan. So, I’m just going to share a few of the things I love about it, and call it a day.**
The first track on the CD is Roads of Kildare, a song about an upstanding, well to do young man who falls in love with a gypsy. If there is a sweeter, more charming version, then I certainly haven’t heard it. Accordion, guitar, and vocals come together beautifully, and there’s a lovely bit of whistling at the finish. It’s little touches like this that make the album such a treat to listen to - it could come off as superfluous or even pretentious, but somehow it never does. Cynics and pragmatists beware, as this one is going to tug at your heartstrings.*** Romantics, it’ll be right up your alley!
Lark In The Morning is an interesting little piece of work. Half nature documentary and half soap opera, but if you ask me, it’s all about the bodhran - and the guitar. While the appeal of the majority of the album lies in the storytelling, this is one song where the musicianship outshines the tale.
Crossmaglen is a somewhat obscure traditional Irish ballad. I rarely come across recordings of it, most likely because of the lyrical content. It is a rebel song and it tells the story of a small band of Irish rebels readying and carrying out the ambush of a convoy. Tom Dahill’s Crossmaglen is a lovely song telling an ugly story, acknowledging that the men involved will be labeled terrorists, but relating their belief that they have no choice but to act as they do.
There is no funnier song in the Celtic trad music library than Paddy McGinty’s Goat. The goat’s baaing noises only make it more hilarious, as opposed as I usually am to such things. I defy anyone to listen to Tom singing this song and not smile. I firmly believe it’s impossible. Do stick around for the surprising, dare I say, explosive! ending.
Let The Goat Out is a gem of an album, containing rarely recorded songs, old favorites, and more heart than you can shake a stick at. Tom Dahill’s personality comes through with so much straightforward authenticity that listening to this CD is like getting to know a new friend, or reconnecting with a treasured old one."
"Tom Dahill is one of the best entertainers playing Irish Music. He'll have you singing the party peice you practiced since you were a kid or dancing an Irish jig for the first time in your life. Tom is a well rounded performer and very easy to work with"
Tim Fitzgerald
Kieran's Irish Pub
Mpls. MN
"His show is spontaneous and flows with the mood of the audience. From quite ballads to the roudy and comical, and on the political, songs woven together with rich Irish stories that lead you through the culture and robust life of the Irish."
I.B. Dent
Fort Hays State University
"Considered by many to be the finest vocalist of Irish music n the United States"
The Chattanooga Times
Over his long career in Irish music,Tom Dahill has performed solo at scores of colleges and universities including The Universities of Wisconsin,Indiana,Illinois, Minnesota and Notre Dame. The Winnipeg Folk Festival, The Vancouver and The Lincoln Center Folk Festival are on Tom's list of past performances. He also toured the US with The Dayhills and with Hill 16. Tom also lived in Ireland where he toured extensively with the Wicklow Mountaineers.
Together, Tom and Ginny are now based in St. Paul, Minnesota. They have
played The Minnesota Irish Festival yearly as well as O Garas at the
Minnesota State Fair for the past two years each day of the fair. They
perform regularly at The Water Street Inn in Stillwater, Keegans in
Minneapolis and at Shamrocks in St. Paul.
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