It tells the story of an Irish family whose son emigrated to America, via a series of letters sent from the father back in Kilkelly.
In the late 1970s or early 1980s, Peter Jones discovered a collection of century-old letters in his parents' attic in Bethesda, Maryland.
[3] Covering the years 1858 to 1892, the Hunt letters shared family news of births, deaths, and marriages, and reports of the annual harvest.
[5] John Hunt was never far from his father's thoughts and the letters expressed the love and affection his family in Ireland still held for him.
[2][8][9] "Kilkelly, Ireland" was first recorded on Fast Folk Musical Magazine (FF 207, September 1983) by Laura Burns and Roger Rosen in New York; a live version performed by an ensemble including Nikki Matheson, Jack Hardy, Robin Batteau and Richard Meyer at The Bottom Line in Greenwich Village was also released on Fast Folk in 1986 (FF 306 Live from the Bottom Line).