The Well Below the Valley is an old Irish ballad about a priest who confronts a young woman with vile charges of incest and infanticide. However, what is equally shocking is that the priest, with true patriarchal religious zeal, condemns only the young woman to fiery hell without believing it necessary to condemn the crimes of the perpetrators (the woman’s father, uncle and brother). Ballads such as this may be distasteful in their subject matter, but far better to call out such crimes rather than being silent about the darker aspects of humanity. This recording was multi-tracked at home with braguesa (a 10 stringed Portuguese type cittern), two mandolins, a tagelharpa bastarda, ritual frame drums and voice.
