Reviewer: Sean Laffey
"Don Stiffe comes from the Headford area of Co. Galway and has been singing for most of his life, having toured much of Ireland, the United States and Europe with his songs, no matter where he goes he is always at home with his voice and his superb voice somewhere between the edginess of Sean Tyrrell and the deep clarity of Sean Keane, and that doesn’t do Don real justice, because his voice is uniquely his own.
Joined by Frankie Gavin, Cathal Hayden, Arty McGlynn, Sharon Shannon, Brian Duke, Carl Hession amongst others, the musical quality of the album is in the premier league. Style, taste, paste and final exaction are faultless and his choice of songs is inspired. He has a fondness for the songs of Richard Thompson and bookends the album with Waltzing for Dreamers and Dimming of the Day (fans may know the first songs from Four Men and a Dog).
Stiffe’s song writing gets a showcase too with four tracks which more or less deal with the emigrant’s plight in foreign lands, and he does so with wit and surety in his word pictures. His “Missing Galway†deserves to be a classic modern folk song (if you can rhyme Sharon Shannon with drinking Guinness by the gallon you are up there with the best of word smiths!). He turns his hand at the traditional Cragie Hill and makes it his own (aficionados will no doubt compare it favourably to Dick Gaughan’s version). Don also tackles Nat King Cole’s Mona Lisa, yes that old crooner’s smoothest of smooth little numbers, and you know what? Don makes it work, which is testament to his vocal talent and the empathy he has built with the band.
Don Stiffe is a class act and this is a class album."