Media Quotes and Reviews

Tony O'Leary "Pump the Box"

Tom Keller
FolkWorld CD Reviews, Germany

Label: Own label; 0207635; 2006; Playing time: 43:00 min

Welcome to a kitchen party, Newfoundland style! Viking Leif Eriksson came to these shores looking for supplies for Greenland's settlements. The Irish and Scots came, following their saint Brendan's route who went there even before the Vikings, and brought the music. As people with a high regard for home and hearth but also for partying and dancing, they invented the kitchen party and developed the traditional dance music. This environment created some masterful performers over the decades, in recent time you can add button accordionist Tony O'Leary to the list. Quite fittingly Tony dedicated "Pump the Box" to all the transient workers both past and present who travelled many miles to earn a living for their families. He selected traditional Irish tunes and songs (from "Far Away in Australia" to "Banks of the Lee"), a couple of his own, and his uncle Frank O'Leary's Labrador tunes. It is an accordion-led ceili band with drums and all.

Tony O'Leary knows a good tune, and how to execute it. So pump the box, Tony, go on!