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Music Reviews
By Ian Worpole
 On
the CD front, there are two new offerings from great young Irish-American
women this month. First up: Heidi Talbot. A recent alumna of Cherish the
Ladies, this is her second solo album on the Compass label, titled In
Love and Light.
Talbot, born in Kill, Co. Kildare, grew up singing in the church choir
and studied at Dublin’s Bel Canto singing school. After relocating
to New York she began to tour with The Ladies but, with a five-year stint
under her belt, she has now struck out on her own and this new CD contains
a wonderful range of Irish- tinged folk, jazz, and even gospel.
Guest singers and musicians abound, with the likes of Eddi Reader and
Kris Drever on duets, John McCusker on fiddle, Mike McGoldrick’s
inimitable flute, and John Doyle, the ubiquitous guitar virtuoso (does
that man ever sleep?). Talbot has a fabulously rich, honeyed voice that
recalls the great Sandy Denny; indeed one of my favorite tracks is “Whispering
Grass,” the Inkspots classic that Sandy also did.
A remarkable version of Tom Waits’ classic “Time” is
given a rousing interpretation (Waits is quite possibly second only to
Bob Dylan in having his works covered these days). A couple of great new
Boo Hewerdine songs are in the mix, and the whole thing is rounded out
by an old-time hymn, “When They Ring the Golden Bells.” A
truly great, uplifting album, with a release party at this year’s
Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, where our good friend Allison
Barber and Talbot performed; both to great acclaim, I hear!
 In a rather
more introspective vein, Ashley Davis’ new CD, Closer to You, is
a lush mix of original Celtic-mythic love songs sung with an ethereal,
dreamlike quality. Indeed, Davis credits Loreena McKennitt as a primary
influence, and that Celtic-Eastern quality is all-pervasive throughout
the album, to great effect.
A Kansas native, Ashley was raised on bluegrass before heading to Limerick
to earn a master’s degree in Traditional Irish Singing at the Irish
World Music Centre and at the same time to become totally immersed in
all things Celtic.
Philip Glass is a fan; indeed, when I caught Ashley at Joe’s Pub
in NYC this past January the man himself was seated at the next table,
enjoying every moment. Her sold-out show that night was a warm, witty
masterpiece, with Dan Lowery, a good friend of mine, playing some sizzling
flute solos and the five-piece band as a whole adding many layers of intricate
sound to her songs, some of which are apparently entering the “traditional”
canon back in Ireland, according to one of her many hilarious introductions,
for indeed, Davis has also become something of a master storyteller. You
can purchase her CD at: www.daisyrings.com.
 Every traditional
Irish musician I know, myself included, speaks in awe of Martin Hayes,
particularly in tandem with Dennis Cahill, his soul-mate guitar accompanist.
Their output is slender by some measures, each offering a sheer gem, and
the release of a new CD by them is a rare and special treat, eagerly awaited
by all lovers of the pure sound. Their new release, Welcome Here Again,
on Compass Records was well worth the wait, marking an interesting development
in that 14 of the 18 tracks are single tunes, rather than the more usual
sets of tunes.
Hayes, ever striving for that “Lonesome Touch,” presents
each tune as a masterwork in its own right, with the fiddle tuned down
a step on most tracks, with spare guitar or mandolin accompaniment creating
a haunting, timeless quality, as though each song has existed forever
somewhere in our unconscious Celtic spirit. Indeed, there is much of the
quality of The Kronos Quartet’s classic “Ancient Music”
to this whole album. Much like a perfume, hints of winter, spring, fall,
and okay, occasionally summer, but an Irish summer, drift in and out.
I’ve been playing this CD constantly while I work, drive, read;
all I can say is it is essential listening. I hope to write much more
about Martin Hayes in a future issue.
 One of my
favorite young bands, Gráda, has a new release, Cloudy Day Navigation,
and it is a gem. Here is a hard-working band touring the world, endlessly
performing a mix of tunes and songs and presumably having a great time,
or else what would be the point? Now, lately, I’ve been pondering
this song/tune mix, quite a standard format for Irish bands.
Gráda’s new album features a relative newcomer on vocals,
Nicola Joyce, and the harmonies she works up with the guys is a true delight,
so much so that, however wonderful the instrumental works are, one would
love to hear a complete album of these quirky songs. And I say that as
a dedicated tune player myself. But I’ll take what I get; this is
a fabulous album, with a DVD concert thrown in as an increasingly common
bonus feature.
So much great new music out there; the last, but not least, I can squeeze in this
column is Changing Trains by Supergroup Mozaik, with Irish giants Andy
Irvine and Donal Lunny joining forces with Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov
and Rens van der Zalm. Virtuoso multi-instrumentalists all on every manner
of stringed instrument known to man, this is a heady mix of Celtic/Eastern/American
tunes and songs that boggle the mind with their complexity.
For example the sleevenote to “Humors of Parov” reads: “Donal
wrote this tune to celebrate the distinction between Bulgarian daichevo
horo time, in 9/8, and the Irish slip jig which is also in 9/8 time.”
Okay lads, I’ll try that one at the local session . . . exhilarating
stuff, with some fine singing from American Bruce Molsky and, of course,
Andy Irvine, my only caveat being that Andy’s songs are so personal,
so uniquely him that they almost belong on one of his own albums. But
another way of looking at that is that one gets not only a superlative
band effort, but some great Irvine songs as well. So in fact, the glass
is neither half empty nor half full, it runneth over.
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