The Lonesome Touch

The quote below is from the liner notes to Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill's album entitledThe Lonesome Touch. Here, Hayes explains what exactly "the lonesome touch" is. I think it's something all musicians aspire to, but I've never seen it put so succinctly and articulately before.

The Lonesome Touch is a phrase I have heard in my native County Clare all my life. It is used to describe a person's music. It is the intangible aspect of music that is both elusive and essential. The word lonesome expresses a sadness, a blue note, a sour note. Even though the music bares the trace of struggle and of pain, it is also the means of uplift, transcendence to joy and celebration. The lonesome touch is something that is difficult to achieve. One is forced to put the requirements of the music before all personal considerations, to play honestly from the heart with no motive other than the selfless expression of joy and beauty for their own sake. For the most part it remains the unobtainable horizon, the object of inspiration and motivation.