Voices: Cathie Ryan: Irish and American

Singer and songwriter Cathie Ryan builds bridges between Ireland and America, between past and present, and between the stuff of daily life and the spiritual and emotional dimensions that give that day to day another dimension.

Ryan makes her home in Ireland now; she grew up in Detroit. Her parents had emigrated to the motor city and they brought their music with them. "It was a way for them to stay connected to home, to Ireland, and music was a way for us kids to stay connected to them," Ryan says. "They loved music, it was always, always playing. You know how in the old days of vinyl, there used to be this great weight of records, and every record would plop down? It was Irish traditional music, and then more mainstream stuff like the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and then Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard, and Creedence Clearwater Revival -- it was great!"

Outside the house, the young Ryan found the music of Motown, her best friend's country and Appalachian favorites, Van Morrison on her transistor radio, and on summer visits back to Ireland, her grandmother's fiddling and singing, and her grandfather's telling of stories. "My grandmother Catherine Ryan was a singer, and a fiddle player. She loved to sing and play, she loved having people come into the house and pushing back the furniture. Then my mother's father was a storyteller," Ryan continued, "and he was the one who gave me my love of narrative. He told stories of the history of Ireland, the mythology, and the characters, what this one did and what that one did. For him there was a very, very thin line between this world and and the other world, and he had one foot in each of them."

to hear more of Cathie Ryan's ideas on Ireland, America, and the music that connects them please click on Music Road: Cathie Ryan: Irish and American

You'll find music content from many genres and plenty of other music fans at Gather Essentials: Music. For more of Kerry Dexter's Voices columns, look here. It's published on Thursdays.

Kerry Dexter, Music Correspondent Kerry's credits include VH1, CMT, the folk music magazine Dirty Linen, Strings, The Encyclopedia of Ireland and the Americas, and The MusicHound Guides. She also writes about the arts and creative practice at Music Road and contributes to Fred Bals' Series of Tubes.