Ink (2017) by Anthony Toner

Anthony Toner's 2017 album remains a career landmark, a point at which his writing became intensely personal - and as a result connected with audiences in a powerful way.
For the first time, Anthony had access to his own home recording set-up, and the foundations of this album were laid in a series of home sessions through 2016 and 2017. All of the guitars, lap steel, banjo and percussion were recorded at his house, with drums, bass and keyboards added afterwards.
Lyrically, the album is steeped in loss - by the time the album was released, his mother Eileen had died in 2014, and his father Leo had gone into care with a rapidly-advancing Alzheimer's condition. The album credits also mention the loss of some highly-prized friends: singer songwriter Bap Kennedy (the loss of Bap inspired the song 'Light from the Stars', bassist Alan Hunter and the great Henry McCullough, who had shown Anthony much encouragement when he started to perform his solo material on the north coast.
Alongside the reflective material were lighter shades - gems like 'Let the River' and 'The Candidate', and three beautiful guitar instrumentals. But it was the personal songs that touched listeners the most - particularly 'An Alphabet', 'The Night Prayer of Saint Augustine' and 'Exit Wounds'. These songs remain fan favourites, and are still in Anthony's live repertoire.
To find out more about the inspirations behing the album, the writing and recording, read Anthony's blog post here: https://bit.ly/3IENZvq

Tracklist

1.	Let the River	3:38

2.	An Alphabet	3:29

3.	The Shepherd's Daughter	1:57

4.	Sleep Like a Soldier	3:08

5.	The Night Prayer of Saint Augustine	2:45

6.	Square Eyed Boy	2:11

7.	The Candidate	2:17

8.	All the Winds	3:22

9.	Still Your Man	2:55

10.	Cotton Anniversary	2:18

11.	Light From the Stars	2:43

12.	Exit Wounds	2:47

13.	Sometimes the Night	3:29

14.	The River Road	2:15

15.	The Pictures	1:10

Credits

released March 2, 2023

All music and lyrics by Anthony Toner
Produced by Clive Culbertson at No Sweat Recording Studios in Coleraine

Anthony Toner: vocals, guitars, dobro, banjo and percussion
Clive Culbertson - bass and harmony vocals
Peter McKinney - drums
John McCullough - piano and Hammond organ

Cover concept by Anthony Toner, Design by Damian Smyth at DFined

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