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Songs of the Civil War
David Kincaid talks to Jamie Dawson about his albums of Irish songs
from the Civil War.
Irish-American musician and Civil War historian David Kincaid moved from
Seattle to New York in 1985, leaving behind him not only the West Coast
he’d been rooted in since birth – he was born and raised in Los Angeles,
the son of an oft-transferred Navy father – but also the Seattle music scene
in which he’d become a fixture. Kincaid’s proto-rock band, The Allies, was
one of the biggest club draws in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1980s
and won the first MTV Basement Tapes Award with “I’m in Love with Emma Peel,”
an homage to the British television series The Avengers.
Kincaid defines the cross-country move as having been crucial to his
artistic and business survival. “I’d hit kind of a wall with The Allies
– there wasn’t much more the band was going to do in Seattle.” In his search
for a bigger market, one with higher standards for its resident artists
in all genres, New York was the obvious choice, he says.
Soon after arriving in New York, he enlisted Allies drummer, Larry Mason,
to join him in a new band, The Brandos, formed with New Yorkers Ernie Mendillo
and Ed Rupprecht. The Brandos struck a nerve with “Gettysburg,” Kincaid’s
roots-rock ode to the famous Civil War battle, an event to which Kincaid
had ties he didn’t fully comprehend until he visited the site.
“All the men in my family served in the military, and I knew my great-grandfather
had been in the Civil War. I knew his name. I knew his unit. But I didn’t
know he’d died at Gettysburg until I found his name on a plaque,” recalls
Kincaid. He composed the song almost on the spot, conjuring up the atmosphere
of the battle and the site itself.
“I’ve seen a lot of wicked things, Heard a lot of people cry, I know
it couldn’t touch the pain of seein’ 50,000 die...”
“Gettysburg” became a modest hit on radio and MTV, giving the band enough
clout to tour the United States, opening for headliners like The Georgia
Satellites, INXS and The Cars. Since then, The Brandos have released nine
albums and have a devoted audience primarily based in Europe.
In the wake of the band’s success with “Gettysburg,” Kincaid found himself
drawn – nay, compelled – to acquire more knowledge of the Civil War and,
specifically, about the role of Irish-Americans in the conflict.
Kincaid believes that the Civil War changed the attitude towards the
Irish in this country, winning them some acceptance. “You take any group
of people and tell them they’re not as good as everyone else, they’ll fight
to prove you otherwise. That’s what the Irish did here in America during
the mid-1800s,” he emphasizes.
During the 1980s and ’90s, Kincaid became a Civil War reenactor and a
proud member of Company A, 69th Regiment N.Y.S.V. – an Irish Brigade Unit.
He is featured with his regiment in Gods and Generals, the Ted Turner-produced
Civil War epic, in which he gets the chance not only to don his authentic
uniform but also to play music of the period.
Kincaid has fused his twin passions for Civil War history and Irish/Celtic
music in his two collections of songs from that era: The Irish Volunteer
(Union Irish songs) and The Irish-American’s Song (a blend of Union and
Confederate Irish songs).
When asked why the albums are lopsided regarding the balance of Union
and Confederate Irish songs, he reminds us that “There were only 50,000-80,000
Irish soldiers on the Confederate side compared with more than 160,000 on
the Yankee side. A huge disparity.”
When Kincaid started participating in Civil War reenactments, he found
that the songs that were being played around the campfires at night were
“the same old songs everyone knows.” But a friend of his, historian and
musician Tom O’Carroll, played him a song called “Paddy’s Lamentation” and
hinted that there was more Irish material out there just waiting to be discovered.
“Knowing full well that the Irish don’t do anything without writing a song
about it, I started asking ‘Where’s the Irish stuff?’ and I was told, ‘You’ll
never find it.’”
Undeterred Kincaid started digging. He spent the better part of the last
five years scouring libraries, museums, private collections and historical
societies. At the Armory of the 69th New York (the oldest regiment in the
U.S. Army) he met historian Ken Powers, a retired Lt. Colonel, who made
him copies of some of the archives.
What he found was that “there are more than enough songs for a third
and fourth record.”
Kincaid performs the Irish-American Civil War songs in a theatrical way,
wearing authentic costumes and playing period instruments, mostly at Irish
festivals, Civil War round tables, historical societies, and, most notably,
at the Music Muster, held at Gettysburg National Park each summer.
“We’ve done the Music Muster four years now. It’s very difficult to get
into; they’re very selective about who they let take the stage there,” says
Kincaid. “If I play Irish festivals, I’ll usually be on the Cultural Stage.
“Irish-Americans, in general, don’t know about the great contribution
the Irish made towards the development of this country,” he says.
When asked why he pursued these songs so diligently, he smiles broadly.
“Because it hadn’t been done before. These songs have to be preserved so
that everyone can have access to them. Irish and non-Irish alike.”
Kincaid’s love of Irish music has also filtered its way into his primary
musical outlet, The Brandos, an American roots-rock band, molded in the
style of Creedence Clearwater Revival (“John Fogerty– probably the best
Irish-American songwriter ever,” declares Kincaid). Early on, Kincaid infused
a bit of Celtic spunk into the middle of the band’s set, launching into
a blistering version of “Paddy on the Turnpike/Exit 57,” a tune also learned
from pal Tom O’Carroll.
“Whenever we play ‘Paddy,’ there’s this roar that goes up and suddenly
everyone in the audience is stomping and having a great time.
“There’s something rhythmically appealing about Irish music that audiences
– doesn’t matter whether they’re Irish or not – seem to latch onto. The
Irish stuff generally gets the biggest response during our shows, but Irish
music isn’t the bulk of what The Brandos do,” says Kincaid.
Even though The Brandos have a much larger following in Europe, Kincaid
calls New York home and lives just steps away from Grant’s Tomb on Manhattan’s
Upper West Side. “New York is tough but fair...like a good drill sergeant,”
he says with a laugh.
For more information on David Kincaid, his recordings and performance
schedule, visit www.hauntedfieldmusic.com. Both The Irish Volunteer and The
Irish-American’s Song are available directly from the artist. A new record
from The Brandos is expected in 2004.
Song For The Irish Brigade 8
Not now for the songs of a nation’s wrongs,
Not the groans of starving labor;
Let the rifle ring and the bullet sing
To the clash of the flashing sabre!
There are Irish ranks on the tented banks
Of Columbia’s guarded ocean;
And an iron clank from flank to flank,
Tells of armed men in motion.
And the frank souls there, clear, true,
and bare
To all, as the steel beside them,
Can love or hate, with the strength of Fate,
Till the grave of the valiant hide them.
Each seems to be mailed Ard Righ,
Whose sword’s avenging glory
Must light the fight and smite for Right,
Like Brian’s in olden story.
With pale affright and panic flight
Shall dastard Yankees, base and hollow,
Hear a Celtic race, from their battle place
Charge to the shout of “Faugh-a-ballagh!”
By the souls above, by the land we love,
Her tears bleeding patience,
The sledge is wrought that shall smash
to naught
The brazen liar of nations.
The Irish green shall again be seen
As our Irish fathers bore it,
A burning wind from the South behind,
And the Yankee rout before it!
O’Neill’s red hand shall purge the land –
Rain fire on men and cattle,
Till the Lincoln snakes in their own
cold lakes
Plunge from the blaze of battle.
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