New Releases by John OBrien

I was raised on songs and stories; the hardships of my people are ingrained in my armor, and in my writing. When I was 14, I went to Ireland for the 1st time. Sitting in the back seat of a little car, knees sideways, yet still jammed into the seat in front of me, I sat stunned as I watched tanks roll, five-year olds throw rocks at them, and barbed wire fences two stories high cut through, and wrap around neighborhoods; the criteria for cages was religion. The Lyrics of Irish Freedom tells the story and the history behind rebellious bard and ballad, from the beginning of Irish time. The songs linger in our psyche, not just across generations, but across centuries. Who took the battlefields of 1798, 1803, 1916, 1981, and why? Who wrote their song, and why? Tall tales, truth stranger than fiction; the days, demons and dreams, the Lyrics of Irish Freedom, are within.