This is the lyrical narrative of a gifted and animated storyteller. With humour and charm, Watkins blends history, song and Celtic identity into a wonderful tale of misadventure and merriment.
Watkins vividly portrays his eccentric and richly colloquial family; his vibrant Irish mam; his principled but stout-loving Welsh dad, who dances a jig to escape from the fairies; an uncle who gets the heebie-jeebies from round food; and his lovely Grandda, who has a generous supply of Celtic songs and tall stories for all occasions. The fleadh nights with his family are filled with poetry, music and storytelling that bring forth a rich understanding of young Bill's place in history.
Watkins' boyhood as a good-natured miscreant finds him disrupting a wedding while dressed as a gangster, illegally operating a ham radio and getting kicked out of Ireland for vagrancy while on a minstrel trail in search of his Celtic spirit and manhood.
