Irish landscape: Davy Spillane's A Place Among the Stones

Darklight, Western Whisper, Always Travellin, Near the Horizon - titles on Davy Spillane’s album A Place Among The Stones hint at the landscapes of an older Ireland that lie within the tunes. Tunes, though, that are contemporary compositions, and though Spillane himself plays pipes and low whistles, sometimes include electric guitar, flugelhorn, cymbals, and other perhaps not so ancient and not so irish instruments.

Spillane has a varied background in music. He was, for one thing, one of the founding members of the adventurous Irish group Moving Hearts, and he’s worked in many genres. Whether it was his intention or not, A Place Among The Stones comes across as a meditation on the quiet places and older times of Eire. Standout tracks include the instrumental Darklight, the song Starry Night, with Sean Tyrell sitting in on voice, and the title track, a co write with Moya Brennan, on which she sings and plays the harp.

a side note: This is an older recording of Davy Spillane’s, and well worth your attention, as is the work he has done before and since. It had gotten to the back of a shelf at my house and I came across it recently, still with the sticker on the front from the shop in Letterkenny, Donegal, where I bought it all those years ago. Still just as good as it was then, too, maybe even better with passage of years. Have some gems lurking in the back of your music shelves? take a look....

you may also wish to see
Music Road: from Donegal: T with the Maggies
Moya Brennan’s current group

Music Road: Galway Afternoon
Music Road: Scotland's Highlands in music: Duncan Chisholm

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