A Grand Irish Variety Concert, San Francisco
Oct. 3rd, 2004

".....The evening started with a perfect 10 as Dublin born singer/songwriter Ken O'Malley belted out a couple of Ireland's favorite ballads. His rendition of Paddy's "Green Shamrock Shore" set the bar for the quality that was to come our way throughout. O'Malley, from Dublin, is a rare talent. Think Christie Moore only more approachable. He's multi-dimensional too and has used his time based in LA to good effect. He has written songs for films, including recently for "Gods and Generals", the sequel to Gettysburg, and narrated "Joyce to the World" , a documentary of Ulysses and its author James Joyce, featuring the McCourt brothers, Finoula Flanagan and Brian Dennehy. Over the years O'Malley has performed with such greats as The Chieftains, Mary Black and Paul Brady and his caliber was clear as he got the proceedings underway and acted as the unofficial anchor for the ... show"

Sean Canniffe, The Irish Herald, San Francisco, November 2004 edition

 

Ken O'Malley is the best Irish singer in America

Des Regan, Moycullen, Co. Galway to Irish film actor Pierce Brosnan

Ken O'Malley is the best Irish musician in Southern California
Terry Anderson, President,
The Greater Los Angeles Irish Fair and Heritage Foundation

Brilliant live performance by this L.A.-based quintet, powerfully fronted by vocalist/guitarist Ken O’Malley.

Dara Records - on Ken O'Malley & The Twilight Lords
latest CD, Women of Ireland

A review of 'Women of Ireland'
Irish Music News/Dara Records,
the largest distributor of Irish music in the U.S.

The sound of two drums gives a unique twist to Irish traditional music. Vocalist/guitarist, Ken O’Malley, a Dublin native now living in Los Angeles, is the driving force behind David Raven McSparran and James Cruce, percussion and fellow guitarists, Billy Watts and Tony Zamora. His versatile voice is equally at home on Mo Ghille Mear and Easy & Slow.
The use of double percussions is particularly noticeable on Oro Se Do Bheatha ‘Bhaile and a raspy voiced version of the tinkers song, Sullivan’s John. O’Malley’s version of Skibbereen perfectly captures its emotions. For this live recording the band was supplemented with whistles, accordion and uilleann pipes.

Renaissance Herald
Fall 2002

The Twilight Lords, "Women of Ireland". Ken O’Malleys band, the Twilight Lords, perform a wonderful mix of traditional Irish tunes, (and the first and last songs on the CD are in Irish Gaelic), as well as modern songs. Because the CD is recorded live at the Celtic Arts Center, in Studio City, CA and as Ken has a deep rich voice and a very sexy Irish accent, you feel like you might be in a pub in Ireland. He has brought together some of the best musical talent, Irish or otherwise, to create a very enjoyable CD. The mix of fighting songs, airs and knee slapping dance tunes makes this a must for any Irish music Collection.

The Irish Herald
by Dave Soyars
May 2002

Ken O'Malley and the Twilight Lords -
Women of Ireland

Here in Los Angeles it's demanded of Irish performers that they spend most of their sets doing familiar rock 'n' roll covers rather than traditional music.

Though Ken O'Malley does a fine job of Bob Dylan's 'Tangled Up in Blue' or Van Morrison's 'Into the Mystic' when called upon, he's much more than a mere pub singer. Blessed with a stunningly rich Irish tenor that can easily fill a room without the aid of amplification, he's also a fine mandolin player and guitarist with a large repertoire of traditional and contemporary Irish songs. This live release, recorded at L.A.'s Celtic Arts Center (where O'Malley is also musical director), contains mostly Irish and English language traditional material, including standards like 'Sally Free and Easy,' and 'I Roved Out,' contemporary Celtic Rockers like 'Sullivan's John,' a few sparkling jigs and reels, and a pounding polka. All are tastefully played by the dozen-plus musicians he's gathered here, with occasional electrification and full drum kit, and fine solo turns by various and sundry fiddlers and pipers. The star is O'Malley's voice, however, which effortlessly spans the range from sentimental ballads to aggressive Irish folk/rock and everywhere in between.

Locally, pub stalwart Ken O'Malley has independently released his live album, Women of Ireland (!), recorded at the Celtic Arts Center. It features a stellar cast of about a dozen musicians and singers, an enthusiastic audience, and of course O'Malley himself, with the strongest tenor ever to fill a smoky LA pub. Though his live set features lots of Van Morrison and Bob Dylan covers, as has become de rigueur on the pub scene these days, hearing him do mostly traditional songs is a rare treat, and the arrangements are often brilliant.

~ Dave's Corner, Folkworks May/June 2002 ~
Dave Soyars is the bass player for LA Celtic band Craicmore

Another show review by Sunset Strip Radio
- from Irelands 32, August 2001

Music Connection
January 29 2001

Ken O'MalIey and The Twilight Lords
O'Brien's
Venice

The Players:
Ken O'Malley, lead vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin;
Tony Zamora, bass, vocals;
Billy Watts, electric guitar, vocals;
David Raven, drums, vocals.


Material:
Ken O'Malley belts out a feisty blend of traditional and new Irish folk music, both lyrical and instrumental. He sings about every-thing from the subtleties of true love, to the struggle of the working class, to the joy of a pint of beer at the end of a long, hard ,journey. OMalley's original songs fit seamlessly alongside traditional melodies (She Moves Through the Fair") and contemporary gems (Van Morrison's 'Into the Mystic'). Everything is played with style and flair.

Musicianship:
This performer is equally talented with a guitar or mandolin and his singing is strong and passionate, making up in power what may be lacking in finesse.
The Twilight Lords are a stellar supporting band. Watts rocks on guitar, weaving an electric landscape around O'Malley's vocals and acoustic rhythms while Raven and Zamora lock down the rhythm with feeling and precision. Small when they need to be, huge when they want to be, this band effortlessly renders each song with grace and power.

Performance:
O'Malley and the Twilight Lords don't move around much onstage and they don't need to, since they keep the audience engaged by the impressive ways in which they play their instruments. Their level of play - both as individual players and as a unit is nothing short of admirable and inspiring. Fortunately nothing was lost on the audience who gleefully sang, cheered, clapped and danced along throughout the show.

Summary:
Ken O'Malley is a talented musician and showman surrounded by a top-notch band and adoring fans. Being a traditionally flavored Irish folk band, however, there may be a limit as to how far past their audience they can go.
Nevertheless, these musicians have an entertaining appeal that is certainly worth experiencing.

-Robert Norman

October 2000

KEN OMALLEY: 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF LA IRISH MUSIC AT MOLLY MALONES

by Ric Gentry

"I was a bit apprehensive," he says, thinking back to his Los Angeles musical debut in 1974. "I'd only been in town for two weeks and it was my first appearance, a ten song audition on a Sunday night at Molly Malone's, which was the hub of the Irish community at the time. I didn't know what to expect."

The Fairfax district pub was filled with virtually nothing but Irish immigrants that Sunday night, a good 35 to 40 of them, an implicitly discriminate gathering whose traditional musical standards were of course very high and curious at least about the reputed talents of this 20 year old Dublin newcomer.

But Ken O'Malley not only prevailed over his audience with songs that he remembers to this day that included "Whiskey in the Jar," "John Barleycorn," "The Streets of London" and "Peggy Cordon" but proprietor Angela and son Demian Hannon as well.

"It was immediately obvious what a gifted musician and singer he was," Demian recalls. "He played guitar and the most beautiful mandolin you ever heard. He had a wonderful, very distinctive tenor voice and, as I came to realize, an Irish musical repertoire that was encyclopedic. He knew every Irish song in existence. And of course he really knew how to create a rapport with the audience. They just loved him.

O'Malley promptly became a performance fixture at Molly Malone's, playing solo or with a newly formed band of two other musicians he called The Molly Maquires.

"That was the beginning of my musical career in Los Angeles," O'Malley comments. "I had no idea where it would go from there."

In the intervening years, Ken O'Malley has emerged, without question, as the single most enduring, influential and proficient of all Irish musicians in Southern California.

"Ken paved the way for Irish music and Irish musicians to come out and work here," remarks Keith Roberts of The Young Dubliners. "There just weren't too many around at the time. He established the standards of quality and remained the nexus of the entire musical community."

"Every traditional Irish musician in town has played or worked with Ken in some way during his time here," comments celebrated button accordion player and Galway native Des Regan. "They know Ken is the real thing, an authentic traditional Irish musician from the heart of Ireland. For them, it's like encountering the very root of what they aspire to do."

"There isn't a single soul as generous with sharing the tradition and seeing that it was passed along properly as
Ken O'Malley," remarks spirited Irish performer Garrison White. "I was a novice Irish musician from Pittsburgh throwing quarters into the jukebox at Molly Malone's to learn the chords and lyrics of the songs when Ken would step up to say, Here, let me show you how that goes. My own development as an Irish musician is inconceivable without him."

"To put it simply," grins mandolinist Terry Casey of The Fenians, another musician who feels emphatically indebted to him, "and taking a cue from something once said about another noted musical virtuoso, Ken O'Malley is God."

While continuing as a solo performer, O'Malley's ensembles have also included The Mulligan's, the predominant local Irish band for most of the 80s, Blended Spirits and the present Twilight Lords.

For his 25th anniversary in LA, it was only fitting that a commemoration for O'Malley should convene at Molly Malone's. "Ken also worked here as a bartender in the early days," Hannon comments. "He had an efficiency apartment not too far away, but it's almost safe to say that Ken really lived here more than anywhere else."

It was a standing room only crowd of cheerful, dedicated O'Malley aficionados and well-wishers at the pub on October 8th, not to mention a virtual Who's Who of the most prominent Irish musicians in Southern California, most of whom shared the stage with O'Malley at one point or another to provide a night of exquisite music and dance that didn't end until nearly 2 AM.

"This is the place to be in Los Angeles tonight if you're Irish or love Irish music," commented Yvonne Reynolds of Irish heritage via Leicester, England (and whose non-profit "Free Arts for Abused Children" fund raiser on November 13th at The Four Seasons hotel will feature a donated performance by Ken and The Twilight Lords).

O'Malley first took the stage with Thorn Mooney on percussion, Katie Salvage on fiddle and John Breen on mandolin and whistle, an extraordinary ensemble performing traditional songs and tunes that reached something of an apex with "Drowsy Maggie" and "Morrison's Jig.'

Garrison White followed, saying "This is for Kenny O'Malley. Founder of the Feast, right here tonight." White's robust set included "I Wish I was Back in Derry" and "The Rambling pitchfork" before calling out to O'Malley from the stage, "I know you're out there busking the ladies and downing another cold pint of Guinness, but I'm going to propose that you step up here a little while and play with me like we used to." O'Malley took the stage again and White asked, just out of earshot, if Ken remembered a White original. Ever the czar of musical retention, O'Malley nodded and remarked, "Of course," as the band soon broke into a soaring version of "Love is a Shot in the Dark."

Then came The Mulligan's in their fabled original incarnation, with O'Malley on guitar and mandolin, Terry McCartan on guitar and Dennis Murray on bass, who together must sound as entrancing as they ever did, for the trio remains unsurpassed as balladeers with such signature numbers as "Lark of the Morning" and "Star of County Down. The Mulligans were soon joined by Thorn Mooney again on drums. Katie Salvage on fiddle, Terry Casey on mandolin and vocals and Dillon O'Brien on accordion, a band of local Irish all-stars if there ever was one.

Last but not least was O'Malley and the Twilight Lords, his band for the last six and a half years, with the ever reliable Tony Zamora on bass and any number of a select list of alternate musicians which this night included Mooney again on drums, O'Brien on several instruments, Brian O'Daugherty on accordion and relative Lord newcomer Andy George on lead guitar.

Mused Jimmy "Sax" Vermolya from the audience as the band played "The Hills of Donegal" and "Ordinary Man" before later strutting his own blistering horn with the Lords: "Ken's guitarists for this band just never cease to amaze me. It's like he just dials up somewhere and goes, 'Send me the best guitar guy available in town,' and he comes right over. I mean, where does he get those guys?'

"Ken just attracts so many fabulous musicians," Tony Zamora later said. "It's like a running joke, that all these great local musicians are always knocking on Ken's door to get involved with him. And it's not about the money. It's because they want to play with Ken as one of the Twilight Lords. Fabulous guitarists are just standing in line to get a call from Ken.

O'Malley and The Twilight Lords summoned much of the set from their brilliant new CD "The White Sea Horse," with numbers such as 'Carrick Fergus," Black is the Color," "The Old Triangle" and the wonderful title track, an O'Malley original that invokes his fabled ancestor, Grace O'Malley, also known as Granuaile, a 16th century sea-faring woman from the West of Ireland who crusaded with the clan for Irish independence.

It's with such numbers that, while always musically intricate and authoritative, O'Malley and the Lords invoke such powerful lyricism and tenderness. The Lords rock, with such vigorous renditions of "The Sky is Crying," "Wild Night," "Angel of Harlem," "Tangled Up in Blue" or "You Can't Always get What You Want," but few bands also graze the heart with such delectable sensitivity.

"Ken's a guy with a lot of emotion and depth," commented Eileen Aldridge, a fan nursing a pint at the bar while glancing at the stage. "It's all there in the music, the broad spectrum of it all and how he delivers it. And he works with musicians who can keep pace with him. There's a reason why Ken O'Malley is a living legend among us here in LA."

Jack McGee took the mic for a funky, impassioned, soul busting "Mustang Sally" that had everyone shimmying in place when they couldn't get to the overflowing dance area beneath the stage before the set concluded. The Lords returned later with Jimmy "Sax" and Katie Salvage.

Remarks Salvage, who relocated to LA from Bristol, England less than two years ago, and whose work includes motion picture sound tracks on "Good Will Hunting" and "One Man's Hero:" "Like he did for so many other musicians, Ken got me started here. I've played with him and Craicmore, a lot of times with The Lads and a few others.
"But he's a fantastic singer and a fantastic musician who's also very passionate about the songs. When he plays the Irish music, you know it's coming from his heart. Other people can do it without the steep Irish background but there's something missing. With Ken it's part of him. It's authentic and convincing. Everything he does is convincing.

"I haven't come across anyone yet who compares to Ken. There's no one here like him. There's no one else doing the kinds of things he's doing. His reputation is wholly justified and more.

Said Keith Roberts: "There is no finer Irish musician than Ken O'Malley. There is no finer Irish vocalist. There is no finer entertainer. He's come into his own as a songwriter. Beyond that, had circumstances been a little different, Ken O'Malley would already be a national star, not just a local one. At the same time, I think he's better than he's ever been. I think he's in his prime right now."

Molly's was still jumping when last call was announced. "No one wants to go home," commented one O'Malley reveler with a smile. "In the nights I've worked here," said Tracy-Lee Taylor, a resettled photographer from British Columbia who moonlights as a waitress at the pub, "this has been the best by far."

"I want to thank you all for being here," O'Malley later remarked from the stage. "What happens in the next 25 years is anyone's guess.

CHAOS REALM is a page dedicated to obscure and unheralded music, ranging from metal to hard rock to Celtic folk to heavy progressive to...we'll see what happens! Primarily featured will be bands from the present and past
who are Obscure, unknown, under-appreciated, etc., particularly those who release (have released)their own material or are on small, Indie labels.

TWILIGHT LORDS - The White Seahorse CD 00 (Private, US) - I love when stuff like this just comes completely out of nowhere to blow me away! TWILIGHT LORDS are a Celtic rock band from California and on this private release; they show themselves to be among the best in the field. Its a joy to listen to a song like "Carrick Fergus and see the scope of their abilities. One minute, they are giving the listener a traditional-sounding, folk-like reading of a number, the next minute the rock instrumentation kicks in and searing electric guitar is cutting through the mix, along with powerful drums. Unlike some cases, wherein this kind of mixture sounds forced or trendy, with these guys it's seamless and puts them in the elite. Its like a master-chef. Anyone can take a bunch of ingredients, stick 'em in a bowl and stir 'em up. The real deal, however, is the one who can meld them into something more than the parts and this is it. The other measure of the albums greatness to me, is its consistency. From the aforementioned cut to the edgy, modern take on "She Moves Through The Fair that ends proceedings, there Is not a speck of filler here. Add to it the top-level guitar playing of Billy Watts, the captivating vocals of Ken O'Malley, the other band members sterling input and you have nothing short of a massive CD, surely in retrospect, one of last years best. I await the next offering by TWILIGHT LORDS with great anticipation! http://www.twilightlords.com