O'hAnleigh Places For Songwriting Award

NASHVILLE, TN. (Top40 Charts/ www.sonicbids.com/ohanleigh) - O'hAnleigh's ballad 'In the Town of Strabane,' featured on their premier CD 'Of Irish Crossings Told' received the first Honorable Mention in the International Narrative Songwriting Competition in the category of children's/fantasy/novelty songs. The Competition awards one first place and four honorable mentions in each of six categories. https://www.narrativemusic.ca/insc.html

This song, chosen from among hundreds of entries in this category, tells the tale of three girls dancing around a 'faery tree' – a hawthorne tree growing in the midst of a field in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. When the girls spy their landlord's son riding towards them, they hide, thinking he's come for the rent money. The girls discover his more amorous intentions too late; the object of his affections, young Colleen, has been stolen away by the faeries.

The images of the story – a faery tree, an oppressive landlord, three maidens dancing in a field – reflect classic Irish folktale and historical iconography, and the song is set in the town where O'hAnleigh's lyrics composer and fiddler Cindy Hill's ancestors lived before emigrating to America. The band's music arranger Tom Hanley elevated the tune out of its simplicity with a complex chord arrangement, and singer Becca Hanley gives the lyrics a beautiful haunting quality.

"Our original pieces have received kudos from our fans and in reviews since our CD's release ten months ago," said lyricist Cindy Hill. "But we are thrilled that a track from our first CD placed in our first songwriting competition. For a small folk band from rural Vermont to gain this kind of international recognition is a wonderful accomplishment. We're just pleased that people enjoy our music."