Rarely has a songwriter who is so familiar with the darker recesses of the human condition been so comfortable with the intimate live setting afforded by a small room, a guitar and a microphone. Jackie Leven is a master of such situations, creating a fireside ambience as he plies his wares – which are frequently wrought from the festering underbelly of life.

Both of these albums were recorded in front of friends in small venues and both feature an excellent range of material interspersed with Leven’s laugh-out-loud anecdotes and whimsical meanderings, be it a tale about his late pal and drug buddy Scots John; or how he lost himself by the river in Kilkenny.

Musical highlights include the remarkable Exit Wounds and a haunting Rain of Kathleen.