eDog” src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HeiroftheDog.jpg” alt=”” width=”600″ height=”400″ /> James Keane’s “Heir of the Dog” gets the most play in my house.
Music
Irish Christmas Gift Ideas: Denise’s CD Picks
Just a warning: I have eclectic (read: quirky) taste. Though I love Irish traditional music, I’m not a strict traditionalist. MY ears don’t catch on fire if someone adds a little jazz percussion or an electric guitar to anything but an Ed Reavy tune (I do hold some things sacred). So, if you have an open-minded Irish music lover (read: oddball) on your list, here are some ideas for their Christmas stocking.
Heir of the Dog
James Keane
Stellar button accordion player James Keane—the Italian Castagnari accordion company created its signature keanebox in his honor–in a recent interview said that he’d dialed back the speed in places on his latest CD, “Heir of the Dog” to a “kitchen-style tempo.” You couldn’t tell by me. I was sure that he went through boxes like ballerinas go through toe shoes—once and done. In Keane’s case, I was sure they just spontaneously combusted. Dang, he’s fast. This is the CD that I’m most likely to carry with my in the car, though listening to the foot-tapping tempo on the road may be more dangerous than texting. Playing with Keane on this CD is Kathleen Boyle of Cherish the Ladies on piano, Eamon O’Leary on guitar and bouzouki, and Tom English on bodhran. You gain great appreciation for them—and for Keane—on the smooth and ethereal “O’Carolan’s Dream.” But what I love most about this CD, my pick for trad CD of the year, is that it immediately transports me to a carefree night at a session, with a beer in front of me, and a feeling that’s there no other place that I’d rather be. (Keane will be performing with nephew, Paraic Keane, and singer/multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Donohue at the Irish Center on Saturday, December 22!) www.cdbaby.com/cd/jameskeane
December Moon
The Henry Girls
I first heard The Henry Girls at my favorite pub in all of Ireland, McGrory’s of Culdaff, in Inishowen, County Donegal, in 2010. My husband and I went in for the session—no Irish music, unless you include Van Morrison, but plenty of contemporary classics—anchored by the McGrory brothers and by the three McLaughlin sisters (they’re the Henry McLaughlins—the nickname is an Inishowen thing). They covered everything from The Band to Richard Thompson and the aforementioned Morrison. When we got home, I looked up The Henry Girls and downloaded their CD of largely Irish traditional tunes, “Dawn.” Their sisterly harmonies and exquisite playing brings a newness to some old favorites, like Early in the Morning, O’Neill’s Lament, Glashedy Boat Song, and some newer tunes, like Thompson’s “Dimming of the Day,” and “Morning Has Broken.” Their virtuosity is on the march in “December Moon,” a total and delightful surprise. Most of the tracks were written by the band, and their Irish influences meld well with the international flavors they’ve absorbed. The first track on the CD, “Sing My Sister Down,” owes its roots to spiritual music, while “December Moon” has a decidedly Cajun feel. They also bring magic to Elvis Costello’s quirky, “Watching the Detectives,” my new favorite song. I’ve read that they’ve performed with one of my other favorite Donegal groups, the Inishowen Gospel Choir. I would kill for a recording of that. The girls have toured the US but have been skirting Philadelphia, largely, I think, because no one has invited them here. Can someone please reach out? www.thehenrygirls.com/wordpress/
Another Side of Town
Seamus Kelleher
I’ve already said I loved this CD. This local boy—Doylestown, via Galway—is making good as a solo act after many years with the Irish Band that-could-fill-a-football stadium, Blackthorn. This is his second solo CD turn, and I’m thrilled that a guy who is my demographic (a Boomer) can get better all the time. (That means there’s hope for me.) Kelleher shines here, not only on instrumentals (his forte), but on the ballads like “Reno’s Winter Sky,” a story song about an encounter with a soldier at a baggage claim in Reno, and the eponymous track, “Another Side of Town,” which I nearly wore out hitting the back button. His remake of his earlier tune, “Four Cups of Coffee,” with Philadelphia R&B singer Charlene Holloway, is risky, earthy, and worth the price of admission. Nice, nice CD. Good on ya, Seamus! http://www.seamusk.com/
Somewhere Along the Road
RUNA
Someone once said that Richard Burton was such an accomplished actor that he could read the phone book and make it sound like a Shakespearean play. I feel similarly about Shannon Lambert-Ryan’s singing. She could warble 10 pages of Smiths and it would sound like the angels singing to me. And when she performs duets with her husband, Dublin-born Fionan de Barra, as she does on the familiar A Stor, A Stor A Chra, we’re talking heavenly host here. The rest of the angels are Cheryl Prasker who brings a little folk and a little jazz in equal measure to percussion and fiddler Tomoko Omuro of Japan whose first few notes on the opening track, The Dreadful End of Marianna for Sorcery, will pierce your heart. I didn’t think anyone could do a better version of Farewell to Tarwathie than Judy Collins, but sweet Judy Blue Eyes, RUNA brings more life and poignancy to this paean to whalers than you do, sorry. Likewise, they take a song, like The Foggy Dew, that we’ve all heard a million times and make it something new, sweet, and wonderful, like the best Christmas present. www.runamusic.com/wordpress/
