We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    During the 19th Century, James “The Rooster” Corcoran emigrated from Ireland to New York City, married, became a champion of the Irish-American immigrant working class, and led an infamous gang. Now his descendent, New York City folk musician Vincent Cross, has created a new album around his life. Through narratives partly researched and partially imagined a soundscape of English concertina, bouzouki, minstrel banjo, bodhrán weave together musical elements drawn from the Irish & American folk traditions. Most of the song stories consist of newly-written original songs with nods to several public domain songs adapted for the cause. Cross took on the task of learning several new instruments (concertina, bouzouki) specifically for this project, even utilizing the talents of Irish based luthier, Brian Lofthouse to design a bouzouki used specifically for the recording.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Life & Times of James "The Rooster" Corcoran via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 4 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $30 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Ten songs (ballads) that paint a picture that is influenced by traditional Irish and American folks song motifs and melodies. You’ll hear fragments of traditional songs throughout from both sides of the pond. The narrative is not completely linear but it does begin in Corcoran’s place of birth , Balbriggan with ‘A Man After My Own Heart’ (adapted from a New York Times article of the same title), and then briefly moves to New Orleans (‘Creole Girl’), and then on to the Five Points in New York City. Corcoran soon moves up to 40th street, and is the first to settle a shanty town on a high ridge of ground known as Goat's Hill (‘King Corcoran’). This soon becomes a home for over 100 Irish families newly immigrated. It’s where the Tudor City is today, and there’s even a Gothic inscription to Corcoran that says, “Here was Corcoran’s Roost till the year 1877.”

    Instrumentation: Mandolin, bodhran, bouzouki, chromatic concertina, and dulcimer.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Life & Times of James "The Rooster" Corcoran via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 4 Vincent Cross releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Home Away From Home, The Life & Times of James "The Rooster" Corcoran, Old Songs For Modern Folk, and A Town Called Normal. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $22.10 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

about

Born in Balbriggan, Dublin in 1819, James J. Corcoran came from a long line of fishermen. However, in 1844, he set a course for America. He was 25years old, His journey is largely undocumented, and only in his 1900 obituary is there any mention of how he found his way to New York City and lived till the ripe old age of 81. "A Man After me own Heart" is an imagined first person narrative in which James tells of his fishing background and his reasoning for leaving Ireland. The title of the song comes from a New York Times of 1899, which reads," James Corcoran in Court: Ruler of Corcoran's Roost Goes Bail for a Man After His Own Heart." This phrase has been passed down to me through my own family folklore.

lyrics

A Man after My Heart ‐ (Cross)
Verse One
Oh my name is Jimmy Corcoran,
And the same I'll ne'r disown
I used to be live in happiness
Just north of Dublin
By trade I was a fisherman
And full the nets came in
We hauled them up by hand
In the town of Balbriggan.
Verse Two
We'd cast out the line
And let the small ones go
That's what my daddy taught me
It's all I really know
You can't fight the crown
So don't take the bait
Where you know you cannot live
it's better to escape.
Verse Three
It's well that I remember
The year of 44
I eloped on board the Charlotte
Out of Liverpool
As Irish you could travel free
If willing to stay below
Six weeks of darkness on route
To America- heave ho!
Verse Four
They call me a Paddy,
But I'm an Irish gentleman
A little bit of fighting
Never did no harm
My father he was hunted
Through the mountains and boreen
A rebel he was persecuted
Under the monarchy.
Verse Five
So come all you gallant Irishmen
Wherever you may be
And I hope you paid attention
And listened unto me
It's not where I'm from
But it's where I got my start
And I'll lend a hand you'll understand
To a man after my heart. x2

credits

from The Life & Times of James "The Rooster" Corcoran, released August 7, 2020

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Vincent Cross image

Vincent Cross New York, New York

Vincent Cross is an Irish song poet whose catalogue of critically-acclaimed albums draw from various traditional folk idioms and ancient myths. Born in Ireland, raised in Australia and now living in New York City, he frequently tours globally at folk clubs and festivals, and is a staple at the Brooklyn Folk Festival, and the renowned Scratcher Sessions in Manhattan. ... more

contact / help

Contact Vincent Cross

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Vincent Cross, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now