Kevin Boyle follows up his cult classic of 1997 Bon Cabbage with his latest statement of intent, Palestine Grove named after the recording studio of master producer and multi instrumentalist, Gerry Diver.

For many years the Boyle family have been the mainstay of the brilliant London Irish music scene. Driven on by their father Paddy they studied the traditional music of his native Donegal. Kevin became a multi instrumentalist, his sister Maggie the flute and bodrhan and using her brilliant voice to adorn many's a great song. Younger brother Paul was a brilliant young fiddler until his very sad passing. Kevin carved a great reputation as a musical accompanist firstly on piano and then guitar. He started at the top by accompanying the fiddle maestro Sean Maguire on piano when 16 years old. Kevin has mastered this art and is most sought after accompanist in London, bringing comparisons with the mighty Paul Brady.

He became a regular at The Favourite and The legendary White Hart, Fulham Broadway playing with Raymond Roland and Liam Farrell and seat once filled by the ample rear of Christy Moore. He was the driving force behind the super group Le Cheile which featured several musical heavies who regularly played in The White Hart . They released two classic & much sought after LPs, Lord Mayo and Aris. They built up a mercurial reputation for fiery Irish music. Later Kevin was a founder member of Carrig, an outfit which produced one LP. Kev has recorded with Maguire, Seamus Tansey and Ralph McTell who much admires Kev's work. The Boyel family Kev also did some playing for The Ballet Rambert's production of Sergeant Early's Dream.

For while The Boyle Family were residents at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios where they made many friends among the artistic community including on one memorable occasion Irish playwright and whistle player, Samuel Beckett.

As one who has played a lot with Kevin, he has a priceless ability to make everybody sound good.

This pervades his music and now his songwriting, his love of his fellow man and his care for the future as the father of daughters. In recent years he has thrown himself into the current affairs and delved deeply into the shadowy parts of politics and their masters. This surfaces on many of the songs on Palestine Grove which attacks the trivia obsessed press of 2009. His Randy Newmansque Death of Martin Isreal. Kevin also has a whimsical side, which we enjoy greatly at Coppeprlate ably demonstrated on Blue Sky Blue and Sunny Little Avenue his take on domestic utopia in Norwood. And Bon Cabbage in Catford.

These days Kev plays regularly with fiddle master and composer, Brendan McGlinchey, also a regular member of Give Me Your Hand a loose collection of session players much favoured by Guy Ritchie and his ex! But he is just as likely to turn up at your local session with guitars and banjo and quietly sit in.

Press Reviews

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Palestine Grove BLUE SKY MUSIC

His gruff voice can make Tom Waits sound like a choirboy and his maverick songs dart erratically between the anger of the title track, moving narratives, charged anthems, adapted traditional tunes and a knockabout return to one of his best-loved songs Bon Cabbage, but this London Irish stalwart could be the British Isles' answer to Tom Russell. Outstanding multi-instrumentalist Gerry Diver helps smooth the edges on an album brimming with character. Colin Irwin

R2 Rock 'n' Reel * * * Sept/Oct.09

When someone of Ralph McTell's stature tells you that Kev Boyle's songs deserve your attention, you listen. A kingpin of the London Irish music scene, Boyle's been a little slow in following his cult 1997 classic, Bon Cabbage, but it's been worth the wait.

Palestine Grove is a model of perceptive songwriting that radiates compassion for humanity and shimmers with a pure spirituality, nowhere more so than on The Walls Of Eden' where'... earth is just and man is free/And every living soul can see/There are no walls in Eden'.

And then there's lines On The Death Of Martin Israel', a paen to the pathologist, former lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons and a priest in the Church of England who passed away

in 2007. Or 'Big Blue Train', a contemporary take on 'This Train Is Bound For Glory' where'... the age that is awaiting/Might not be the one you see/For when Jesus comes the demon runs/And from the body flees'.

Boyle is a throwback to when the song offered hope in a cruel world. The same crusade indeed that McTell's been on for close on five decades. David Burke

Fatea Magazine

Kev Boyle strikes me as a complex man with a raging spirit. I get the feeling that had he been born to another generation he would have become a renown poet or author, but he was born to a generation where music joined those words and his muse delivers songs. It's a muse with a wicked sense of the world, because whilst all the words come from within, some of the tunes are borrowed, but you can't fault the genius of doing a song called "Liar" to the tune of "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic". "Palestine Grove" can be gritty, spiritual, emotional, it can't be ignored.

The Irish World

London-Irishman Kev Boyle was the man behind Bon Cabbage, a cult classic of 1997 vintage, and now he's back to make another statement with new release 'Palestine Grove'.

Music, as the man says, is a great form of therapy. Surrounded by the sounds of traditional music from children, he has been a mainstay in the London Irish traditional scene for many years and was a founding member of the legendary Le Cheile.

Boyle began recording 'Palestine Grove' at weekends in 2008, in 'The Tunehouse', studio of talented multi-instrumentalist Gerry Diver. As a result, Drever can be heard on nearly every track on the album. Martin O'Leary's bass makes an appearance in a few tracks, and Boyle's daughter Lucy was roped into contributing harmonies to four songs.

The gravely, well-travelled and atmospheric voice that fans of Boyle will be all to familiar with is one that brings real tangibility and passion to each song, and also lends them a rough, Dylan-esque quality that works on both traditional and non-traditional tracks

Boyle also plays guitar and piano, and his fine group of fellow-musicians add faultless layers to a smoothly produced and eclectic set of songs, ranging from the light and upbeat ('Sunny Little Avenue' and 'So Summertime') to the slow and rousing. Boyle's voice, of course, is not the only striking about this album, it's the lyrics too.

'Palestine Grove' is the loving work of a man with a talent, not only for music but songwriting. He writes about the search for our soul, how we should treat our fellow humans. Each song is a little source of joy on this album, but Lines on The Death of Martin Israel' took me to a special place; beautiful tune, beautiful lyrics.

'Come All You', a paean to youth and avoiding its trap-falls, is another quietly gorgeous track urging us to never stop dreaming; 'Liar' takes the listener into bluesy territory as we are drawn into the lonely world of an alcoholic, while the title track is a traditional number whose lethargic pace belies the unflinching message of the lyrics: ''We keep our peace and get on with our little lives/Abd close our minds and hide our eyes..'

From toe-tapping fun to heart-wrenching message, this album has all the hues of an album that grows on you the more you hear it, and which the listener will go back to time and time again; full of strong yet well-balanced musicianship and, often, moments of pure poetry. Shelley Marsden

WWW.NETRHYTHMS.COM

The Boyle family from Donegal have for many years been mainstays of the London-Irish folk music scene, latterly embracing residencies at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios and even playing for

Ballet Rambert's production Sergeant Early's Dream. Throughout the 60s and 70s, father figure Paddy had inspired and encouraged his three children Kevin, Maggie and Paul, nurturing their undoubted musical talents. Paul (who sadly was to die young) was by all accounts a brilliant fiddler, and Maggie, whom we know from her many wonderful ventures including harmony trio Grace Notes, is one of the country's finest singers and a flautist and bodhrán player of no mean stature.

Kevin, on the other hand, is a multi-instrumentalist who carved an early reputation as skilled (piano) accompanist for fiddle maestro Sean Maguire, moving on to become the driving force behind the fiery supergroup Le Cheile which was built around the talented musical regulars at Fulham's White Hart. But I first encountered Kev's music over ten years ago in quite another context, on his very unusual CD Bon Cabbage, which was (less than helpfully) credited to Movies CB (the initials somewhat perversely standing for Ceili Band, which the contents of the CD itself most definitely did not reflect