A surprising and darkly revealing portrait of Liam Clancy, the man Bob Dylan called “the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life”. This intimate, confessional and highly cinematic film charts the remarkable rise to fame of the Clancy Brother and Tommy Makem, from their small town beginnings in County Tipperary in Ireland to the folk hey-day of Greenwich Village in the Sixties were they absorbed black musical influences, played for JFK and out-sold The Beatles. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem would go on to influence a host of popular artists from Bob Dylan and Pete Seegar to The Pogues and become a powerful iconic presence on the Irish Cultural map.

Drawing on extraordinary unseen (and behind the scenes) footage of the band their height as well as the Clancy’s own personal archive. The Yellow Bittern goes behind the mask of the performer and delves into the psyche of Liam Clancy and his troubled personal life where the excesses or rock-and-roll found their way into the world of folk. This is a truly compelling look as the iconic and influential life lived to the full.

Disc One
The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy. Run time 110 minutes.

Disc Two: Extra
Film Trailer, interviews, Liam at home with friends, Additional performance including “Those were The Days” from the White Horse Tavern, New York and “Brennan On The Moor”