CHARLES O’HEGARTY – The More I Travel (2022, LP+CD Lollipoppe Shoppe)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Lollipoppe Shoppe

Format: LP+CD, Album, Limited Edition, Colored Vinyl, Hand-numbered (comes with a four-page insert with exclusive liner notes by Anna Hegarty and John Townley, also including many pictures, archival photos, and posters), 300 copies

Release Date: 17 Nov 2022

Charles O’Hegarty was born in 1937, in London. At a young age, he traveled to Germany, and after he went for a few years to Sweden, where he met his wife, Anna. In 1963, they both immigrated to Canada and in 1965 they crossed to the States, initially in San Fransisco and Los Angeles and then in New York. There (New York) in the autumn of 1965, Charles becomes a “member” of the huge Greenwich Village Folk scene, he plays different clubs, and in some of them, he’s been introduced to the audience by the Great Tom Paxton. During the 60s and the 70s, Charles is involved with many Folk scenes, in the States and Canada too. He also played in Ηοllywood Bowl and Berkley Folk Festival. In the mid-70s he moves to New England, where he was singing with the band Starboard List. Charles O’Hegarty died in 2010. During his lifetime, Charles released just one Single, the wonderful “Body In The Bag”, in 1966 through Verve Folkways, a song that gets away from the tight Folk standards and moves into more psychedelic rhythms.

In November 2022, Lollipoppe Shoppe records throw on the market the limited edition LP album “The More I Travel”, a compilation with 16 songs that Charles O’Hegarty recorded between 1964 and 1970, while the bonus CD contains 7 more tracks. The album is accompanied by a 4-page booklet with liner notes by Charles’ wife, Anna, and by John Townley who in the 60s was a member in bands such as The Magicians, The Family Apostolic, Ocean, and he was also the founder of Apostolic Recording Studio in Greenwich Village (the place where among others, Grateful Dead, Fugs, and Μοthers Of Invention recorded there). John Townley afforded to this release 5 unreleased tracks of Charles O’Hegarty, 3 of them recorded in John’s studio in 1969 and 2 that John did the production from 1970. 5 songs were produced by the great Bob Fass and recorded at WBAI Radio Studio in New York in 1966, 9 songs were recorded during 1964 in Vancouver, also this release contains songs that have been rescued with unknown recording places and times, it is believed they are from somewhere in 1969…

This O’Hegarty release is a must compilation for every admirer of the 60s Folk scene. A compilation containing songs written in Charles’ personal style, like “Μarika’s Lullaby” a song dedicated to his daughter, like the remarkable “The More I Travel”, or the astonishing loner folk “Face In The Crowd”. There are a few covers too, like “Johnny Todd”, “The Leaving Of Liverpool”, and “Wild Mountain Tyme”.

The purpose/aim of this collection is to place the Great but Forgotten Charles O’Hegarty on the map of the Important folksingers/singer-songwriters of the 60s, and it successfully manages it! Go for it!!! Jim Dylan

Tracklist

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