Altan

The news that Altan was working on a recording of symphonic arrangements was met with some trepidation by Fiddlefreak. After all, traditional Irish music always seems to sound best in its native habitat… a pub, a kitchen, or a dance hall. Singer/fiddler Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh admits, “Ireland isn’t known for its opera or classical music. What we are known for is our traditional music, our language, our culture. That’s what we can give the world.” That and U2.

25th Anniversary Celebration

But my fears were ungrounded, as my ears met with pleasant surprise on “Altan: 25th Anniversary Celebration” (Compass Records). This is a sampling of 15 best-of songs and tunes from their previous releases, with orchestral arrangements by Fiachara Trench and performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra, conducted by David Brophy. As always, Altan owns equally the tender Celtic ballads and the ripping sets of twin-fiddle Donegal joy, underpinned by precision backing and sparkling counterpoint. It’s just that now, they play them in the grand concert halls of the world for an elite, well-heeled fan base. That ain’t bad for folk music!

LISTEN: Molly na gCuach Ni Chuilleannain (MP3)

LISTEN: The Roseville (MP3)

VIDEO: Altan who plays a set from the balcony of the James Joyce Room of Bewley’s Cafe, on Grafton Street in Dublin.

Altan Website

Preview/Order from Compass Records

Float Downstream

On February 25, Evie Ladin will release her solo record titled Float Downstream. Produced by mando wizard  Mike Marshall, this is a lovely collection of mostly original songs that feature her distinctive drop-thumb clawhammer banjo style. Evie is known in the trad music community as a dancer and member of the all-girl Stairwell Sisters (featured previously here). She grew up in a family that listened to the iconic New Lost City Ramblers, and she has done her homework. Check out this clip she recorded of a Nigerian man playing an African banjo-like thing made from a plastic jug!

Evie gathered a talented team of musicians to play on Float Downstream, including Mike Marshall, Todd Phillips, Matt Knoth (Black Crown Stringband), Suzy Thompson, Caleb Klauder (Foghorn), and Lloyd Maines (who produced the last Stairwells record). This project positions her music right between old-time Americana and contemporary folk—a land that is being explored by others these days, but Evie leads the pack. If you’ve ever wondered where American country music might have led if it hadn’t been hijacked by Nashville and bluegrass, check out Float Downstream.

LISTEN: Mistreated Mama/Yew Piney Mountain

LISTEN: Float Downstream

EVIE LADIN WEBSITE

LISTEN/BUY

MYSPACE

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Yesterday, Nonesuch Records released Genuine Negro Jig, the second record from acoustic trio the Carolina Chocoate Drops. Singlehandedly, these young upstarts are breathing new life into an extinct tradition: the black Southern string band. Back in the day, when record companies came to control the distribution of popular music, executives decided that white boys would play old-time string band music and blacks would release “race records” — or blues and jazz. This was an artifical division. In fact there was a thriving tradition of black fiddle and banjo music. Hello! The banjo is traceable to Africa, and today’s American fiddle styles owe much to the rhythmic syncopation of early black fiddlers. Not to mention the profound influence of country blues on today’s highly stylized bluegrass music.

Genuine Negro Jig

Band member Rhiannon Giddens: “It seems that two things get left out of the history books. One, that there was string band music in the Piedmont, period. And that . . . black folk was such a huge part of string tradition.” The Drops trained under the tutelage of Joe Thompson, who at the age of 90 is believed to be the last living performer from the Piedmont string band heyday. But their repertoire goes way beyond old-time fiddle tunes, incorporating joyful jug-jazz, soulful blues, Anglo-Celtic ballads, and modern works as well. Listen close, and you can hear the lonely wail of a wayfaring stranger, traveling though a wearisome land, so far from home.

LISTEN: Peace Behind the Bridge

LISTEN: Snowden’s Jig (Genuine Negro Jig)

Nonesuch Records

Band Website

Solas

The Turning Tide

“The Turning Tide” (Compass 4530) from Irish-American supergroup Solas will be released on February 16, 2010. For readers who are already Solas fans, this release will be a familiar listen. It fits like a comfy, well-worn glove: one part exciting tune sets, brilliantly  arranged and impeccaby performed; one part gorgeous, ethereal songs from vocalist Mairead Phelan; and one part lush, cinematic landscapes. This is Mairead’s second album with Solas, and she seems to have hit her stride. Whether she is singing a traditional ballad or a modern composition, hers is the call of a siren, even if her breathy whisper is a bit distracting at times.  From unrequited love to contemporary social commentary, Mairead delivers the goods on “The Turning Tide.” Solas band members Seamus Egan, Winifred Horan, Mick McAuley, Eamon McElholm and Mairead Phelan have again reset the bar for exuberance and beauty in modernized traditional Irish music. Fiddlefreak recommended!

LISTEN: A Sailor’s Life

LISTEN: The Crows of Killimer/Box Reel #2/Boys Of Malin/The Opera House

Solas Website

Solas MySpace

Mairead Phelan Interview

Pre-Order “The Turning Tide”

EXILES RETURN

Finally, the much-anticipated duo project from Karan Casey and John Doyle, “Exiles Return” on Compass Records, will be released on Feb. 16, 2010. If you’ve never heard of these two founding members of Irish supergroup Solas, crawl out of your cave and check this out. If you have heard their previous work, you know why Fiddlefreak is excited about this release.

With guest appearances from producer Dirk Powell (banjo, couble bass) and Michael McGoldrick (flute, whistle), Casey and Doyle forge an Irish-American folk music that transcends its genre to become great. Karan Casey’s little-girl vocals float like a seagull above Doyle’s guitar, which dances upon the surface of the sea, both stormy and serene. His oft-imitated trademark strummage and fingerstyle remain, as always, unnassailable; likewise his voice both strong and smooth. The mostly-traditional material is lively and bittersweet, as good  Irish music should be, and one of the songs (Exiles Return) is a rare John Doyle original. Arguably the top Irish vocalist and the top Irish guitarist offer here a poignant collection of songs that is already garnering airplay from folk DJs. Fiddlefreak recommended!

LISTEN: The False Lady (MP3)

LISTEN: Sailing Off to the Yankee Land (MP3)

Karan Casey Website

John Doyle Website