Tipperary jockey Rachael Blackmore among celebrities recorded reciting Patrick Kavanagh poems for new album

Killenaule champion jockey Rachael Blackmore is among a star-studded line-up of celebrities ranging from President Michael D Higgins to Bono who recite Patrick Kavanagh’s poems on a new album celebrating the work of the great Monaghan poet.

The Aintree Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup winning jockey aptly recites the beautiful poem Pegasus on the Patrick Kavanagh - Almost Everything album celebrating the Monaghan poet’s great work that Claddagh Records will release on sale on September 24.

Pegasus is about an old horse at the end of its days that has been “offered for sale in 20 fairs”. The horse is also a metaphor for the poet’s soul offered for sale to “Church and State and the meanest trade” but in the last stanza the horse grows wings and transforms into the mythical Pegasus and departs this world.

President Michael D Higgins, U2 frontman Bono, Hollywood action man Liam Neeson, Oscar nominated actress Jessie Buckley, Kathleen Watkins, singer Imelda May,Jessie Buckley, Kathleen Watkins, Imelda May, Christy Moore, Hozier, Aidan Gillen, Lisa McGee, Lisa Hannigan, Sharon Corr, Aisling Bea and Evanna Lynch are the other famous figures who have recorded Kavanagh poems for the album.

Neeson, for example, recites Kavanagh’s elegiac In Memory of My Father on Almost Everything while Bono reads On Raglan Road and President Higgins recites Stony Grey Soil.

Almost Everything is actually a double album.

The celebrity recitals of Kavanagh’s poetry are accompanied by a re-release of the only recording of Patrick Kavanagh reciting his own poems.

This album was originally recorded in 1964 by Claddagh Records just three years before the poet’s death. It has been remastered for its re-release.

Almost Everything will be available on vinyl, CD and other formats on its release on September 23. It will include a booklet containing all the poetry heard on the album.