With the story of an entire people to tell and a set of vocals bearing so many nuances often strong and fierce, sometimes tender, but always confident and passionate Irish folk hero Damien Dempsey lends a voice to generations of his homeland past and present in his fifth studio album, The Rocky Road. In this collection of eleven traditional and contemporary Irish folk songs, which has already reached the No. 8 spot on the Irish album charts, Dempsey conveys his country s tumultuous history, his own family tradition and his personal emotion in a way that remains relevant and meaningful to the Irish and non-Irish listener alike. Ballads are my roots, Dempsey explains. It was the first music that turned me on, and the first songs that I heard being sung in my home by friends and family. I would have over two hundred ballads in my head, and I used to sing them regularly in pubs around Dublin in the 1990s. I reckoned I had a good feel for these songs, and as I studied Irish history, I felt I could really tell their story and do them some justice on an album. With the release of chart-topping, platinum albums and tours / collaborations with notable artists like Sinead O Connor, Morrissey, Bob Dylan, Shane McGowan and most recently Oscar award-winning newcomers The Swell Season, Dempsey s career has been on the rise since his first release in 1995. The Dublin-born singer-songwriter hit household name status after taking home his first Meteor Music Awards for Best Folk/Traditional Act and Best Irish Country/Roots Artist in 2004. Several more have followed since, including Best Irish Male in 2006 and 2007 and Best Folk/Traditional Act in 2008. Now, with The Rocky Road, Dempsey not only speaks directly to the hearts and minds of the everyman he represents; he also speaks for them. The album shares a musical, cultural and personal experience that opens the door to the past with all the life and vibrancy of the present. Recorded in Ireland, England and Spain and produced by John Reynolds (U2, Sinead O Connor, Peter Gabriel, Bjork), The Rocky Road includes collaborations with Dempsey s heroes John Sheahan and Barney McKenna of The Dubliners along with accordionist Sharon Shannon. Dempsey greatly departs from his last studio album, the eclectic To Hell or Barbados, presenting stripped down instrumentals and a purity of sound. The title track of the album, The Rocky Road to Dublin, and The Hackler from Grouse Hall/The Monahan Jig boast lively, jig-inducing tempos and nearly continuous streams of lyrics that adhere to tight, mesmerizing rhythms. The alternating and layering of instruments like the bouzouki, fiddle, flute and drums give the songs a multidimensional element and contribute to their ever-building crescendos. Dempsey s smooth vocals and the gentle, sweet musical arrangements in the love songs A Rainy Night in Soho, the album s longest track at over six minutes, and Night Visiting Song bring a tenderness and delicate touch to the album. The Foggy Dew simultaneously instills feelings of patriotism, respect and sadness as Dempsey s voice rings clearly through this solemn ballad about the 1916 Easter Rising. Like the title track, The Foggy Dew also layers instruments one by one opening with only a bouzouki and harmonium, then adding a whistle, next the guitar and finally the marching beat but in a more deliberate, pointed manner.