Evans and Doherty with Jimmy Sweeny, Sailing Ships and Sailing Men (Evando Records, 2000)

Kevin B. Evans and Brian Doherty have been fixtures in the Eastern Canadian music world since 1985. In 2000, they joined with Jimmy Sweeny to prepare a one-hour program for CBC Radio's Atlantic Airwaves about life at sea in the 19th and early 20th centuries -- and incidentally recorded my family's favorite roadtrip album.

I say this as one fully cognizant of the miracle required to get a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old to listen to Irish music, much less sing along. However, all twenty tracks have infectious choruses that compel you to join in, even when you don't understand all the words (I hope my 10-year-old doesn't understand all the words to "Santianna"!) -- that's what shanties are for, after all.

Sailing Ships and Sailing Men is part of the great body of music that had its roots in Ireland and spread all over the world with those who left to make better lives for themselves as sailors and navvies. The tracks are a lively mixture. There are plenty of familiar songs, like "Paddy Lay Back", "The Leaving of Liverpool" and "The Drunken Sailor", yet several I have never heard anywhere else, including "The Rosabella", "Clear The Track" and "Rolling Home To Nova Scotia". A couple are variants on songs I thought I knew well: "Oh! California" is related to "Oh! Susannah", although the hero sets off for California in search of gold with a washbowl on his knee instead of a banjo, while "Bonnie Hieland Laddie" is called "Donkey Riding" in my neck of the woods.

Several tracks are sung a capella, which is certainly the traditional form for shanties. "Essiquibo River" (named for a river in Guyana) is mainly percussion. The instruments used on the others range from long-necked banjo to tin whistle to autoharp.

The songs fall into several categories. For instance, some are leaving songs (sad ones like "The Leaving of Liverpool" as well as comic ones like "Oh! California") and some deal with the hardships of the voyage ("Blood Red Roses", "Leave Her Johnny"). Others are cautionary tales of the dangers of booze and loose women ("All For Me Grog", "Maggie May", "Pay Me My Money Down" and "Tiger Bay"). Then there are the nonsense songs ("John Kanaka" and "Bonnie Hieland Laddie").

Two tracks are not primarily songs of the sea. "Old Moke Picking On A Banjo" comes from the construction of the intercontinental railways, while "Clear The Track" is a stevedores' song.

I love the tongue-twister chorus on "Tiger Bay", and the way the leader's part and responses to "Santianna" (which has the most salacious verses on the recording) blend together. Evans and Doherty have created an eminently singable album, one that you don't even need to be drunk to appreciate or to join in on. As a mother who has been trying to pass along her love of Irish music for years, I am forever grateful.

Evans and Doherty can be found on the Web. Their site has MP3s to give you a taste of their music, as well as tour listings and an online store.