The Song For The Year

Living between Wexford and Manhattan, PIERCE TURNER has been lauded for over 20 years by a cult following, receiving the sort of press better known acts only dream of. He has been championed by America’s most important modern composer PHILIP GLASS, and found himself immortalised by the folk legend CHRISTY MOORE’S tribute recording I LOVE THE WAY PIERCE TURNER SINGS.

Pierce was hailed as one of the Best 50 Things about Ireland in the Sunday Tribune’s ROUGH GUIDE TO IRELAND articles by Geoff Wallis, and has received rave critical acclaim for his recorded works. His song WICKLOW HILLS, one of two songs covered by CHRISTY MOORE, was recently voted into the top 20 Irish singles of all time. The Wexford opus THREE MINUTE WORLD was voted into the top 20 Irish albums ever, and Pierce received a HOT PRESS AWARD for his live shows. Despite all this Pierce still remains commercially overlooked.

 For all things Pierce head to www.pierceturner.com

and www.myspace.com/thepierceturner

                             PIERCE WRITES…

Colin Murnane has a life of his own, and thank God for that! Otherwise I couldn’t have beared to watch THE SONG FOR THE YEAR. I saw it for the first (and only) time at the Irish Film Institute in January. Colin says there’s a DVD in the mail…so now I’ll have to watch it again and that half-fills me with dread…because I despise looking at myself, not because of the film’s quality! To my total surprise Colin actually managed to entertain me so well with his own story that I forgot it was mine too!

It begins with a shot of Colin’s actual bedroom in Greystones, his excellent narration follows the zooming camera into the colourful transistor Radio of his youth. He talks of first hearing WICKLOW HILLS on that very Radio. For me this is why this film works. I’m banking that people will care about the subject, because they will find Colin’s story interesting. It’s not just about me. It’s about a time and a journey in Colin Murnane’s life. I happen to be the conduit. And I am flattered to be the centre of so much very hard work by a very special-talented person.

Colin’s film will fly you around the world like a paper kite…he hops on planes at a whim. One minute he has the viewer in a parlour in Roscommon and the next minute you’re zooming in on Manhattan from what looks like an overhead shot from a helicopter – don’t know how he did that? He goes from the city to the recording sessions in Woodstock, then we’re in Wexford at a parlour gig, and he captures my bizarre and equal connection to both places. And no matter how short the notice, he would be positive and figure out a way of pulling something off.

When mastering the THE BOY TO BE WITH album the engineer Andy Heermans lived on the sixth floor of a very tall building on 8^th Street. At the finishing stages Andy was incredibly patient with my repeated requests for minor adjustments. Used to this, he has a system so the customer doesn’t have to repeatedly climb his ridiculous stairs. The system was simple (but rather surreal). I called Colin and told him what was goin’ on – he had only just returned to London from a week in Woodstock - Colin immediately said, “we have to film that!” and came up with a great way of solving the problem. We asked our very talented video maker friend John Rokosny from New York to come with me to the final mastering session. John did a great job and again Colin got what was important. Most people will love that scene on 8^th street in the twilight of a rainy Saturday; you’ll have to get the film to see this great surreal system at work…but even passing New Yorkers would say, “You guys are cool, fishing on 8^th Street between First and A.”

Colin is cool! And I am very grateful for the time, money and hard graft he put into this labour of his own perfection. Even I found the story fascinating! And from a person who knew what was coming – that’s pretty good!!!

Pierce Turner.