A Mary Immaculate College (MIC) academic has teamed up with The Cranberries drummer, Fergal Lawler, and acclaimed musician and producer Bernard Butler to release a new single rooted in the history of the Irish diaspora.
Dr Richard McMahon, Lecturer in History at MIC and currently a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge, is part of Bring Your Own Hammer, a collaborative music and history project that brings historians and composers together to create original songs based on archival sources.
The latest release, From the Tombs, draws on Dr McMahon’s research into crime and law in the 19th century, particularly among Irish migrants in the United States and Britain. Using a short historical source—in this case, New York District Attorney indictment papers—the project transforms fragments of the past into a contemporary song.
From the Tombs tells the story of an Irish servant in New York City in 1881 who was imprisoned in the notorious “Tombs” (New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention) before being convicted of manslaughter and later released. Beyond this, little is known about her life, and the song reimagines her experience through music.
Dr McMahon co-wrote the track with musician Mike Smalle, with contributions from a range of internationally recognised artists. Alongside Lawler and Butler, the recording features performers including June Miles-Kingston, Marcus Holdaway, Ian Catt and Terry Edwards.
The single is the first release from an upcoming double album, also titled From the Tombs, due for release in autumn 2026. The album will explore themes of crime, justice and migration in Ireland and across the Irish diaspora during the 19th century.
Speaking about the project, Dr McMahon said the collaboration offers a different way of engaging with history:
“There’s something very powerful about taking a short historical source and opening it up through music. These are often voices that are only briefly recorded in history, and this approach allows us to discover those stories anew and re-imagine those lives more sympathetically.”
The Bring Your Own Hammer project continues to develop new work at the intersection of history and music, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration while bringing historical research to wider audiences.
