CD Review

Ifacably Irish
Colin Worley (2008)
The subtitle of this wonderful album is “Fun for the Practice Run” and it lives up to its name!  Colin Worley plays keyboard with a bright and brassy tone, accompanied by a well-integrated drum track.  He also composed or arranged all the tracks except the six trad sets, and his tunes are as excellent as his playing.  The two arranged tracks show his imagination and versatility.  One, a treble jig, starts with Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and progresses to an adaptation of Pachebel’s “Canon”.  The other, a hornpipe, starts with a hint of “Waltzing Matilda” and trips on down the yellow brick road with the song from “Wizard of Oz.”  If you’re looking for music that’s fun as well as strict in its timing, you’ve found it.
Colin Worley says on the cover that this music is for advanced dancers and the track list bears him out.  There are two reels, two slip jigs, a single jig, two slow treble jigs and three hornpipes as well as the set dances, “St. Patrick’s Day,” “Blackbird,” “Garden of Daisies,” “Job of Journeywork,” “Three Sea Captains” and “King of the Fairies.”  It’s a pleasure to find a single jig on this and other new albums (they were often omitted from the oldest albums) especially one as enjoyable as the cascading notes of this one make it.  Highly recommended!

Feisworld Volume 2
Stephen Walker (2008)
This fine album is a worthy continuation of the well-regarded first volume.  Walker plays keyboard with a bright, brassy sound accompanied by a significant drum track.  Although some dancers compare this style to the calliope used for circus music, many appreciate the freshness of this treatment.  Many of the tunes, including a complete track of reels and another of slip jigs, are his own compositions and very fine.  Walker has expanded his musical offerings on this album to include a single jig (mistakenly labeled as the fourth slip jig track) and a light jig.  The light jig track takes some listening to: although it’s unmistakably in double jig format, his style mellows it and smooths out the bounce which is characteristic of light jigs.  Great for when you want something different but unexpected in what may be the most traditional of the dances.
Feisworld V2 includes four tracks of reels, three of slip jigs, three of slow heavy jigs and three of slow hornpipes, confirming its aim at the advanced dancer.

Catriona McKay STARFISH
Compass Records
Contemporary Scottish harp with fiddle, guitar, bass and strings.
Starfish is a gorgeous and mesmerizing album of adventurous and mysterious contemporary Scottish music that features the harp on noticeable lead. Catriona’s music blends elements of folk, jazz, classical music and Scottish tradition and presents a delightfully sexy exploration of the limits of the Celtic harp. On Starfish, Catriona is backed by solid guitar, fiddle, bass, and string work, as well as subtle electronic treatments.
Well known on the Scottish music scene as a member of the leading Shetland band Fiddlers’ Bid, Catriona McKay has recently began touring in the US and has been featured at several key festivals including Boston’s Irish Connections and Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. She is a fearless contemporary explorer on the Scottish harp, having collaborated with a wide array of folk, jazz, classical and experimental artists, as well as co-designing the new Starfish McKay harp, featuring an alternative tuning pattern and featured extensively on Starfish.
Featuring: Donald Grant, Fionan “Fionomenal” De Barra, Matt Baker, Alistair MacDonald, Seamus Egan and Red Skies.

THE CELTIC TENORS
HARD TIMES
Tayberry Records
Release Date:  June, 2009
Reminiscent of parlor music and family gatherings before the electronic explosion, the Celtic Tenors, embark on an American expression of folk music. Listening to this music never gets old.
The Celtic Tenors (Matthew Gilsenan, James Nelson, Daryl Simpson) have established themselves as the most successful classic crossover artists ever to emerge from Ireland.  Their new release, Hard Times, continues to break down common perceptions of Irish tenors with a collection of roots-based harmony-driven songs by writers such as Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.
The Celtic Tenors have consistently thrilled fans with an eclectic mix of classical, folk, Celtic, and pop.  Their new foray into Americana will be no different.

The Connemara Suite
Tayberry Records
Composed by Bill Whelan
Irish traditional music has no bounds. As free as the wind the indigenous sound transcends into the classical world providing a surreal music sequence that is magic. Whelan teases the listener with classical forms that include distinctly Irish styles as well as a dance percussion presence.
Composer Bill Whelan’s name may be synonymous with Riverdance—the seven-minute composition that went on, as a full-length production, to take over the world of musical theatre—but his wide-ranging career has been him play as a member of famed Irish group Planxty, produce artists ranging from U2 and Kate Bush to Patrick Street, and compose award-winning theatrical, film, and television scores, as well as many highly acclaimed orchestral works.
The Connemara Suite, performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by David Jones, features Zoe Conway (solo fiddle), Morgan Crowley (vocal and lilting), Colin Dunne (dance percussion), Fionnuala Hunt (solo violin), and Michele Mulcahy (harp) met Whelan’s personal challenge to “write for traditional musicians within the framework of a chamber orchestra.”  The result is neither strictly traditional nor strictly classical yet uniquely blends the best of both.

The Greenfields of America
Released January, 2009
Mick Moloney: tenor banjo,
mandolin, guitar, vocals
John Doyle: guitar, bouzouki, vocals
Athena Tergis: four and
five string fiddles
Robbie O’Connell: guitar, vocals
Billy McComiskey: button accordion
Legends gather to record iconic set. Formed in 1978 by musician and musicologist Mick Moloney, THE GREEN FIELDS OF AMERICA were the first group on either side of the Atlantic to bring together Irish vocal, instrumental, and dance traditions to the concert and festival stage. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts a record five times, the group has performed at a variety of leading venues and events including Carnegie Hall, Wolf Trap, The Smithsonian Institution, The Festival of American Folklife, Milwaukee Irish Fest, and The National Folk Festival. They have been featured on the soundtrack of PBS’ Out of Ireland as well as on the American Public Television production Absolutely Irish.
The current line-up of Moloney, John Doyle (Solas, Eileen Ivers, Tim O’Brien), Athena Tergis (Broadway’s Riverdance), Robbie O’Connell (Aengus,The Clancy Legacy), and All-Ireland Champion Billy McComiskey promises to maintain the “supergroup” status.

Hush
Pauline Scanlon
Compass Records
Released: August 2009
As the vocalist with the Sharon Shannon Band, Pauline Scanlon has entranced audiences the world over with her distinctly delicate intensity. She also contributed a song to Sharon’s 2003, platinum selling (Ireland) album Libertango, Pauline’s vocals sitting comfortably alongside those of Sinead O’Connor and Kirsty MacColl.
On Hush, Pauline Scanlon is joined by former Lúnasa guitar force, Donogh Hennessy, John R. Burr, Stuart Duncan, Kenny Malone, Darrell Scott, Danny Thompson and Garry West as she performs a collection of traditional Irish songs destined to become new classics.

Track listing
1    Wearin’ The Britches
2    The Lambs On The Green Hills
3    The Demon Lover
4     Farewell My Love, Remember Me
5     In Shame Love, In Shame
6     Dearthearín ó mo Chroí
7     Rain And Snow
8    When You And I Were True
9    The Green Fields Of Canada
10     The Flower Of Magherally-O
11     The Boys Of Barr Na Sraide