Irish, Scottish, folk, and country music from many different neighbourhoods, and sometimes, from behind the scenes
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Winter music: the album Fine Winter's Night from Matt and Shannon Heaton
It is a season of giving, these days as one year turns to another.
Music is always a good gift. Whether enjoyed together or alone, music evokes connection, community, and reflection.
Fine Winter’s Night is a song Shannon Heaton wrote to honor both cold of winter weather outside and warmth which may be found behind lighted windows.
Shannon and her husband and musical partner Matt Heaton decided to call their seasonal album after the song. Fine Winter's Night makes a good choice as the songs and tunes they include within take note of those differing aspects of winter.
There are carols, among them the Wexford Carol from long ago in Ireland and O Little Town of Bethlehem from nineteenth century New England.
There are songs and tunes from varied sources and places with influence and origin from Shetland in Scotland’s Northern Isles to African American spiritual.
These varied sources are brought together by Matt and Shannon’s deep knowledge and love for Celtic music, their knowledge of and love for their instruments (Shannon, flute; Matt, guitar) and their grace in playing and singing together as well.
The original songs and tunes add grace notes to Fine Winter’s Night as well.
Among these are a song in which Shannon takes notice of a perhaps often overlooked part of the Christmas story.
There’s another in which Matt, looking at a house he often passed not far from his neighborhood, began imagining a story which might have taken place there back in time.
Fine Winter’s Night offers music for listening, reflecting, and sharing through the winter season and in to the new year.
If you enjoy winter music from Ireland and Scotland, you may also want to know about
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O Come O Come Emmanuel is music for the season of Advent that goes back in time. Far back, that is: it is a latin hymn thought to have first been sung in the ninth century.
Star of Wonder is a tune recetly composed by New England based musician Hanneke Cassel.
Cassel pairs the two in a thoughtful and intriguing way to open ehr album on which you will find them recorded. She chose the title from that pairing, as well: the album is called. O come Emmanuel.
With this opener, Cassel sets the tone and begins the journey on which she takes her listeners through the music on the album.
She offers creative re-imagining of winter season classics alongside thoughtful original music in a journey that becomes both timely and timeless.
Hanneke Cassel’s instrument is the fiddle (she’s ace on piano too).
Among other things, she is the former US Scottish National Fiddle Champion.
She began studying music with Texas style Western swing. When her teacher challenged her to learn the music of Scotland, she did, but was a bit impatient with it.
When she won a chance to study on the Isle of Skye, though that changed. She set her course toward what would be a musical practice rooted and grounded in the music of Scotland and of its Canadian Celtic cousin, Cape Breton.
All that said, Cassel brings her own background and interests into her exploration and creation of Celtic music.
She grew up in Oregon and came east to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, receiving a degree in violin performance, and these days. sometimes returning as a guest instructor. Though she’s brought her music across the US and across the world to places including China and Kenya, she remains based in New England.
On O come Emmanuel Hanneke does not sing herself. She does, however, invite in musical friends from differing points of the compass to add their voices to several of the tracks, and partners with them beautifully with her playing.
Musical friends joining in on instruments are Christopher Lewis, Keith Murphy, Yann Falquet, Mike Block, Jeremy Kittel, Jenna Moynihan, Casey Driessen, and Tim Downing. The really are musical friends, too: each of them have worked with Cassel in duo, trios, and other ensembles.
The music on O Come Emmanuel is a creative mix of song and tune, well known pieces and original music, all in the spirit of winter, Christmas, family , and friendship.
Tracks include See Amid the Winter Snow, O come All Ye Faithful, Dancing Among the Cloud, Eilidh’s Christmas Morning, and Silent Night withe verses sung in four languages with Hanneke’s fiddle taking a verse as well as backing the singers.
In her sleeve notes, Hanneke writes among her thanks a note to thank he mom and dad “for filling the house with Christmas music every year-- from Handel to Amy Grant to Mannheim Steamroller to Raffi to Emmylou Harros --one of my favorite parts of the season is getting outthat stack of CDs.”
Once you’ve listened to O Come Emmanuel from Hanneke Cassel. you’ll be adding this recording to your stack of well loved seasonal classics, as well.
You may also wish to see
Hanneke Cassel’s web site I’ve introduced you to several of Hanneke’s earlier recordings. Here are stories of several:
Dot the Dragon's Eyes (and several albums from others to explore
Trip to Walden Pond
For a time Hanneke toured backing up Irish American singer Cathie Ryan. You can hear Hanneke’s work especially well on Ryan’s album The Farthest Wave.
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Christmas eve and the coming days: music as companion
Christmas eve, Christmas day, the days leading up to the turning of the year: they often make for a time of reflection.
All things happening in the world, alongside what challenges and changes may be arising with each of us in our personal circumstances, at times make the quiet and the mindset for such reflection seem hard to come by.
As you’ll know if you’ve been following my work here and in other publications I find music to be a gateway and a good companion to such reflection.
Two recordings to consider
If you may be looking for an especially lively and seasonal recording with singing you will want to join along with, then have a listen to Glad Christmas Comes. from Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden.
The English duo offer a mix of Victorian carols -- such as the title song-- and other favorites and originals. Even if you’ve not heard familiar song done quite the way they offer, or the songs are new to you, the creativity and energy of their singing will engage you.
Tracks to note: Shepherds Arise, Glad Christmas Comes
With her recording O Come Emmanuel Hanneke Cassel offers a more contemplative take on the season.
Cassel’s main instrurment is the fiddle, with which she draws on Scottish, Cape Breton, and Americana flavors to frame her interpretations and create her original music, For this album she has also invited along several of her musical friends to add their voices to different tracks, All the the music is well worth your listening, at the winter season and at other times.
Standout tracks: Silent Night, O Come Emmanuel/Star of Wonder
Wishing you a reflective, peaceful time, whatever way you may be marking this season.
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Whether this season is part of your faith calendar or not, this time at turning of season and turning of year is a good time to reflect.
It may be challenging to pause, perhaps even more so to find interior silence in which to do that reflection.
Music makes a good gateway into reflection.
Though there’s plenty of great seasonal music about, if that’s not what engages you, there are other possibilities too.
Several ideas to consider
Lauren MacColl is a fiddle player and composer based in the north of Scotland. Her album Haar is not seasonal music. It is. however, a collection of thoughtful pieces which make good companions for quiet thinking.
MacColl is joined by musical friends including Rachel Newton on harp and spoken word, Anna Massie on guitar, James Lindsay on double bass, Mairearad Green on accordion, Jennifer Austin on pianos, and Alice Allen on cello. Their collaboration gives added interest and depth, which along with MacColl’s stellar playing, invites repeated listening.
The Lonesome Chronicles from The Kathy Kallick Band takes things in a bit of a different direction. Kallick is an award winning singer, songwriter and guitarist based in northern California; her band memebrs are based all across the US west.
When they get together, it is powerful music they make. For The Lonesome Chronicles, as the title suggests there are songs that consider being lonely and ways of living through that and learning from it.
The album takes listeners on a journey, really, from those considerations of coping with being lonely to celebrating coming out of it ). There are both songs and tunes, a well rounded collection with original music from Kallick and her band members along side well chosen covers of music from William Golden, Earl Scruggs, and John Prine.
For seasonal music, as Advent begins take time to explore three winter seasonal albums from the top Irish American band Cherish the Ladies.
On Christmas Night, Star in the East, and Christmas in Ireland find the group offering varying modds in song and tune, from traditional to original pieces. Heidi Talbot is lead singer for On Christmas Night, Michelle Lee Burke has that role for Star in the East, and Hannah Rarity is lead singer for Christmas in Ireland.
Flute and whistles from band leader and founding member Joanie Madden and guitar from founding member Mary Coogan are creative presences on all the albums, with keys from Kathleen Boyle, accordion from Mirella Murray, and fiddle from Nollaig Casey making part of the mix too.
Each of these albums is well worth taking time with at the winter holidays.
Also to explore: Cherish have put together a digital holiday album with tracks from these albums and other sources featuring Cherish the Ladies with guest singers Heidi Talbot, Hannah Rarity, Don Stiffe, Kate Purcell, Michelle Burke, Bruce Foley, and Seámus Ó'Flatharta. It is called Ultimate Christmas Mix and you can find it on Bandcamp.
...and look for the album Christmas, from Cherish the Ladies founding member and guitarist Mary Coogan.
More to come on music to listen to during Advent as the season unfolds...
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December 2024 update-->
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As you find moments to pause, to reflect, to celebrate even through dark times. here are songs to explore.
“...A planet dancing slow, a tree upon a hill.
Star upon the snow, straw against the chill...”
Words which recur in Straw against the Chill. You will find its story sung by Kathy Mattea, on her album Joy for Christmas Day. Among those who join in is Joanie Madden, whose whistle and flute playing you have met along the music road here before, as she is a founding member of the band of Cherish the Ladies.
Had you noticed that there’s not a mention of a cat at the stable in Bethlehem? Odds there was at laast one, though. Shannon Heaton imagined a story of the cat’s part in Christmas eve, which she recorded with her husnad Matt on their winter themed album Fine Winter’s Night,
Emily Smith braids the challelges and uplighting aspects of Christmas in her song Find Hope. It is recrded on her album Songs for Christmas. On this video Emily’s husband and musical partner Jamie McClennan joins her, as does guitarist Anna Massie, and a baby who would not sleep. At this Christmas, that baby is now a happy primary school student.
Wishing you peace at this season.
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and/or...
There is anticipation -- and thoughts of all must be done, that is still undone, before we make it to Christmas eve and Christmas day arise. So do thoughts what or who we will miss, and what might not go at all as planned.
The fourth week in Advent is a good time for reset and reflection, even through all those sorts of thoughts, and all the activities that come up planned and unplanned.
May the creativity of these musicians help you keep stillness and hope at this time, whatever your situation may be.
From Cherish the Ladies, the song The Castle of Dromore, with Heidi Talbot singing lead. You will find it on their first holiday album On Christmas Night.
Cherish have two more Christmas albums out now. Their guitarist Mary Coogan ahs one of her own as well.
Side note: there are at least two castles of Dromore in Ireland that I know of, maybe more...I think this song refers to the castle in Clare.
A vintage recording of Kathy Mattea with the contemporary Christmas song Mary Did You Know?
You will find it on her album Good News, and she has another fine album for the season as well, called Joy for Christmas Day.
This video has visible captions of the lyrics, in case that’s of use to know
From Carrie Newcomer comes the song The Season of Mercy. It’s not a winter holiday song, but then again, it is. You will find it on her album The Beautiful Not Yet.
Whether Christmas is your holiday or not, give a listen to the song Waitin’ on Mary, from Gretchen Peters. You will find it on her album Northern Lights.
May the creativity of these artist be good companion to your reflections in the fourth week of Advent this year, and beyond.
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Third week in Advent: Music, friendship, connection
Winter can be a season for connection of many sorts.
There could be gathering with friends and family we see often, and with those with whom we visit just a few times in a year, or do not see for several years.
It can be a time for thinking of an connecting with freieds at distance, too, those we may not see in person but whose love and connection yet is a vital presence in our lives.
Whatever form connection may take, the winter season is a good time -- a good excuse, if one is needed -- to connect, to reconnect, to reach out to people you’ve not seen in some time, or that you see of and say: I was just thinking of you.
Music to go along with these ideas
Carrie Newcomer’s song Gathering of Spirits is an honoring of friendship, of lasting love and respect.
Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh wrote a song in Irish (she is from Donegal and a native Irish speaker) for her daughter called Mo Nion O. Cathie Ryan, who is also a mother, translated the words into English and uses both languages in her version of the song.
In both languages, it is a blessing for the present and an idea of hope for the future.
In Shannon Heaton’s song Fine Winter’s Night, she contrasts the cold bright of stars and snow with warmth and connection beckoning within. Shannon and her husband Matt, who joins her in the song. chose the song for title of their winter themed album.
On her album Songs of Christmas. Scotland based musician Emily Smith brings in a lively version of a contemporary carol you may or may not know. It is sure to bring a smile though, and perhaps you will join in singing it with thosoe near and far. It is called Little Road to Bethlehem.
While you are thinking of gifts, if you enjoy what you are finding here, consider -->
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It is a season of preparation and celebration, of quiet reflection and gathering.
Gathering presents and decorations, gathering together with friends and family, gathering of experiences.
It is a time of change of season, too, autumn to winter up here in the northern hemisphere.
The quality of light changes especially across thos time of seasonal change.
All those things are -- or can be-- catalyst for reflection on community, or change, on connection.
Many faith based holidays this time of year include stories of and invitation to thinking about these things.
One good way in to, and companion for such reflection, is music.
As Advent begins, have a listen to these pieces of music. Allow the creativity fo these artists to inspire your reflections in this season.
The Point of Arrival, which you will find recorded on Carrie Newcomer’s album of that same name. Newcomer is based in the US state of Indiana.
The set called The Old Collection, a set of tunes members of the Scotland based band Breabach found in 18th century collections along with an original peice by band member Calum macCrimmon. You will find it recorded on Breabach’s album Fas.
Singing in the Land, from the recording Wintersong by Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem-- an album which remains one of my favourite evocations of winter. Members of the band are based in New England in the US
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Reflection and creativity are both part of winter, and of the Advent season.
With those two things in mind, here is a bit about several long time favorite recordings which go along with winter time.
Seasonal music not your thing? No worries, there will be more to come of non seasonal new releases and old favorites, good for holiday gift lists as well. Also check out the links toward the end of this piece...
The title track of Cara Dillon’s album Upon a Winter’s Night was written by Cara’s musical partner and husband, Sam Lakeman, and their son Noah. It’s a piece which evokes, among other things, the ideas of changes and celebration which go along with the Christmas story. It has a lively chorus to which you may find yourself singing along, as well. There is also outstanding uillean pipe contribution from Jarlath Henderson.
There are two more original tracks along with a selection of well known and perhaps lesser known songs on the recording. There is one piece in Irish, Rug Muire Mhac Do Dhia, and a fine take on O Holy Night for which Cara is joined by her sister Mary Dillon. Sam plays guitar or piano or bodhran on most tracks and several other musical friends sit in, including Niall Murphy on fiddle and James Fagan on bouzouki. Cara Dillon brings to this music a bit of the stillness and the joy of winter in her native Northern Ireland.
Matt and Shannon Heaton make their music at places where the music of Ireland and the folk traditions of North American music intersect.
On their album Fine Winter’s Night this is well in evidence with song and tune both reflective and upbeat. Both Heatons song and both write songs; hearing them trade lead and harmony on songs both traditional and original is one of the things to enjoy about this recording. Each is a fine player and a composer of tunes as well, which you will hear, for example, on Dust of Snow, and in their version of the Shetland tune Da Day Dawn. Shannon’s principal instrument is the flute, Matt’s are guitar and bouzouki.
You hear those on the tunes of course, and they well know how to weave their gifts on their instruments into songs as well. Shannon’s title track Fine Winter’s Night is a fine recognition of the brilliance of cold winter nights and the welcome of warmth within. In First Snowfall of December Matt draws listeners in to a tale of Victorian era New England Christmas time. The duo offer well known songs too. While keeping to the spirit of the season, they give carols including O Little Town of Bethlehem and It Came Upon the Midnight Clear a fresh dusting of creative ideas.
Kathy Mattea has two wintery albums out. Good News and Joy for Christmas Day.
On Good News, there are two songs form the tradition, Christ Child Lullabye from Scotland (with Scottish troubadour Dougie Maclean joining in) and and Brightest and Best. The eight contemporary cuts include Mattea’s own memorable Somebody Talkin’ About Jesus, along with the haunting title track written by Ron Mahes. and perhaps the best known songs from the album: Mary Did You Know? and New Kid in Town.
On Joy for Christmas Day, Mattea puts her own thoughtful stamp on O Come O Come Emmanuel, and offers a Christmas Collage of carols, featuring the guitar and arranging skill of her longtime guitarist, Bill Cooley. The eleven tracks are a mix of traditional and contemporary music for Advent and Christmas time. Among them are When the Baby Grew Up, O Come, All Ye Faithful, and the reflective Straw Against the Chill
Emily Smith chose a mix of traditional and contemporary music for her album Songs for Christmas, too. Smith comes from Scotland and is a fine songwriter as well as a singer and player of accordion, piano, and guitar. She’s joined by her musical partner and husband Jamie McClennan who plays guitar, fiddle, and is a singer and songwriter as well. Their musical journey winds from historic carols to contemporary Americana to Scotland based stories. All are well worth repeated listening. That said, listen out especially for Little Road to Bethlehem, Christ Has My Hairt, Ay, and Smith’s originals Find Hope and Winter Song.
Each of these albums is a winter season classic, well worth your listening for musicianship, creativity and, indeed, grace of the season.
In times when you are able to listen to much music at no cost, take this as a gentle reminder that if you enjoy this music, help support the work of these artists and the cause of good, thoughtful music everywhere by purchasing their music and merch. Direct purchase from an artist’s site is one way. Bandcamp is also a platform which supports artists’ work.
Speaking of support, if you’re in a position to do so this holiday season (and beyond), your support for Music Road is most welcome. Here’s one way:
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Holiday gift ideas: 3 Albums for the Winter Season
Winter: it is a season of celebration and quiet, of gathering and solitude.
Music goes along with all of those things. One of the great things about music is that it may be enjoyed alone and in company.
With those thoughts in mind, here are further ideas of music for your holiday gft list, for yourself or others.
For the album A Fiddler’s Holiday, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Ruth Ungar, and Michael Merenda join up with the Orchestra of the University of Mary Washington in Virginia for a seasonal and holiday themed excursion.
There are songs quiet and fast paced, about a snowstorm, the harvest, a silent night in a famialr way snd as a two step, a Quebecois medley about children’s toys, Jay’s classic tune Ashokan Farewell, and more. If you or or someone you know is celebrating Chanukah, the song in this could be a great song for to share. If that holiday is not in your tradition or if the days of celebrating it are past when you read this, I think you will still enjoy this lively song.
The recording on which you will find it is called A Fiddler’s Holiday. There is a dvd available of the live concert, too.
Hanneke Cassel offers a reflective look at Advent and the winter season as she pairs O Come O Come Emmanuel with her original tune Star of Wonder.This is the title track from her new Christmas album O Come Emmanuel.
The music is a selection of original, traditional, and contemporary tunes and songs of faith and of the winter season, led by Hanneke’s fiddle, with contributions from musical friends including Christopher Lewis, Keith Murphy, Yann Falquet, Mike Block, Jeremy Kittel, Jenna Moynihan, Casey Driessen, and Tim Downing and selection of guest singers including Helene Blum, Luke Bulla, Jennifer KImball, and Aoife O’Donovan.
It is Cassel’s fiddle which illuminates each track, however whether leading tunes such as The Snow March or surrounding and supporting singers such as on a thoughtful and creative arrangement of Silent Night, with words sung in several languages.
Cassel is an award winning player, composer, and educator, a past US Scottish National Fiddle Champion who has taken her Celtic rooted music across the world. She is also a woman of strong faith. It’s been a longtime dream of hers to create a Christmas album. She felt this year was the right moment. Take a listen, takee several, in fact, to each of the ten tracks on O Come Emmanuel, to hear why she is right about that. Uplifting, reflective, creative, hopeful, O Come Emmanuel is a Christmas classic, and a fiddle classic, in the making.
April Verch and Joe Newberry decided this was the right year for a holiday album too, and they were alos right about that. Verch, who comes from the Ottawa Valley in the Canadian province of Ontario, and Newberry, who draws on Ozark and Appalachian roots, intertwine those musical sources to great effect on their album On This Christmas Day.
Joe Newberry plays banjo, guitar, and fiddle; April Verch plays fiddle and stepdances. They both sing, and they both write songs. Most of the songs on this album are originals, in fact, joined by a few well chosen covers.
It might be a bit of a challenge to write a Christmas song, given all the seasonal music already in existence. It’s a challenge each artist meets well though, creating music that explores by turns the joy and mystery of the holiday season.
Though they come from different geographic areas, both Joe and April grew up with Christmas traditions celebrating home and hearth, traditions they continue to celebrate and enjoy. For several years they’ve been doing holiday season tours together. On This Christmas Day is the first time they have put the seasonal music on record, though.
Warm and welcoming, with top class musicianship and songwriting, the album will make a great choice for your own music library and as a lasting gift for friends who enjoy bluegrass and old time music along with excellent singing and playing.
Here is the title track from On This Christmas Day. Joe wrote it after soundcheck in a restored church in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There’s more to come here along the music road, both gift ideas and seasonal favorites old and new to enjoy. Stay with us as the season unfolds.
In times when you are able to listen to much music at no cost, take this as a gentle reminder that if you enjoy this music, help support the work of these artists and the cause of good, thoughtful music everywhere by purchasing their music. Direct purchase from an artist’s site is one way. Bandcamp is also a platform which supports artists’ work.
Speaking of support, if you’re in a position to do so this holiday season, your support for Music Road is most welcome. Here’s one way:
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Event if the liturgical season of Advent is not part of your faith calendar. it’s likely you’ve felt some of those things in the weeks and days leading up to Christendom’s major holiday.
Music is a good doorway, and makes a good companion, as you experience such things.
Several ideas to go along, and links to stories you may wish to explore, too
Three albums for the winter season: a longtime favoorite from The Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Family Band, along with new (winter 2021) releases from April Verch and Joe Newbery, and Hanneke Cassel
An excellent Christmas album from Scotland and an album from an Indiana based artist that isn’t seasonal, but has songs which value hope, faith, and community: music from Emily Smith and Carrie Newcomer
May these stories and the music and ideas in them be good comanions to you this winter season.
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Christmas music: it comes in forms and styles and ways to lsiten that are as many and varied as the ornaments on your tree. Christmas music, like those ornaments, can be old or recent, familer or waiting for new memories to be made, sparkling or quiet, funny or serious.
This Christmas, here are several suggestions that bring in aspects of all this:
Andrew Finn Magill chose pre-twentieth century music for his instrumental album Christmas Carols for Violin & Guitar. He plays both the violin and the guitar on the ten tracks, which come from well know pieces including Deck the Halls and Silent Night as well as less widely known ones such as Pois que dos Reys Nostro Sennor. Magill has backgrounds in Celtic and Appalachian music, as well as in jazz and in the musics of his adopted home of Brazil. This music well suited for both reflection and inspiration.
Reflection and inspiration make part of each of the recordings here. Humor often comes along too, gentle humor of the sort that opens connections, that is.
Some years back, Tish Hinojosa released a Christmas album that’s long gone out of print. A song she wrote for it, two songs really, as there are versions in both English and Spanish, have remained most requested parts of her holiday season shows, as they have to do with her annual conversations with her Christmas Tree. When Hinjosa decided to make a new holiday album, she knew those had to be included, along with new material and several other favorites from the past. She chose the title from one of the newly included songs, From Texas for a Christmas Night. Through the music on it, Hinojosa readily evokes not often heard aspects of Lone Star State Christmas time.
Emily Smith’s home ground is the southwest too -- the southwest of Scotland in her case. Her album Songs for Christmas s comprises well known carols, less widely known songs from Scotland, several contemporary songs and fine originals. There’s her quiet Winter Song and thoighful Find Hope, along with Little Road to Bethlehem, Silent Night, and other songs. Smith and her musical partner and husband Jamie McClennan have devised creative and fresh arrangements that serve the spirit and stories of the songs.
That is also true of Matt and Shannon Heaton’s recording Fine Winter’s Night . On it they offer song and tune in service of the season, original and traditional music based in Irish tradition, respecting its past while making music that speaks to present day listeners. Matt’s original story fo a Victorian Christmas, First Snowfall of December, stnads well beside O Little Town of Bethlehem. Shannon’s title track, Fine Winter’s Night, gracefully speaks of contrasts of the season; there’s also a piece about an unsung (until Shannon wrote the song, anyway) hero of Christmas; I’ll let you listen to the album to learn more about that. Then there’s this, in which the duo re imagined an African American song with an Irish touch. The chorus seems especially appropriate for this Christmas. Take a listen.
There are many more fine Christmas albums, of course -- I’d point you to Joy for Christmas Day by Kathy Mattea, Cara Dillon, Cherish the Ladies, and Tim Edey just for starters.
May this music be good companion to you as the festive season unfolds.
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Winter season’s closing in brings with it both many things to do, and time to rest. It brings fast paced activities, and it can bring slowing down and time to reflect. Winter brings gathering; it brings solitude.
Each of these is an aspect of Advent, of preparation, of contemplation.
Music is a fine companion to all these things.
The Sleeping Tunes, Vol 2: Christmas and Celtic Music played on Guitar may have a rather long title, but it gets its point across. It comes from Tim Edey, and it is a recording which should certainly join your holiday plans for listening.
Though Tim Edey can play many instruments, guitar is perhaps his favoured one, and, as the album title says, his choice for this recording. In performance, Tim comes across as a gifted and versatile player, a man who holds these talents with humility, and an artist who loves to share his joy in the varied aspects of music.
Those things come across clearly in this recording, as well.
On it, you will find eighteen tracks of Christmas and Celtic music, thoughtfully and engagingly presented. Edey offer a journey which begins with I Saw Three Ships paired with a slide from County Kerry. There’s also Irish tune Coinnle an Linbh Íosa, a title in Irish which translates as The Lights or Candles of the Child Jesus. In the Bleak Midwinter leads into the Scottish tune Annie Laurie, there are stops along the way at O Little Town of Bethlehem, an O’Carolan tune, Silent Night, The First Noel, and several others. before closing with Griogar’s Tune, a song written by Enda McCabe for Tim’s young son.
It’s true that many of these pieces will call up memories of their words; that is part of their charm. It’s fine to hear them as instrumental pieces, though. It makes the depth of melody and the grace of Edey’s playing all the more evident. If you’ve guitar player on your holiday gift list, too, this could be just the thing.
In addition to his own solo albums, Edey is in demand to work with other artists. If you’d like to hear a different aspect of Edey’s work, you may find him in collaboration with top Cape Breton fiddle player Natalie MacMaster on her recent release called Sketches. There will be more to come about that recording here along the music road in future, too. If you are attending Celtic Connections in Glasgow, you will find Edey as part of collaborations at two concerts, as well.
Tim Edey is grew up in a musical family in Broadstairs, in Kent, in England. He has lived in Ireland and is now based in Perthshire n Scotland. Those places and experiences find their way way into his understanding of music, and his presentation of them on this recording.
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Winter. Whether Christmas is your holiday or not, it is a time which invites connection and reflection, solitude and community. Here is music to go along with those ideas... take a listen.
Here’s a song in Irish -- it is called Don oíche úd i mBeithil/That Night in Bethlehem. Perhaps you will not understand the words, but you will get the idea of reflection and hope. It is performed here by Altan, whose most recent album is The Gap of Dreams.
To pick up the pace a bit, here is Emily Smith with the lively Little Road to Bethlehem. You may find on her album Songs for Christmas.
The song Fine Winter’s Night draws on the idea of cold nights which yet hold bright stars, and darkness which draws us in to gather and connect. You may find it recorded on the album called Fine Winter’s Night, by Matt and Shannon Heaton.
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Listening to Winter: Aine Minogue, Cara Dillon, Matt Heaton
Winter. It’s a time of gathering in, of reflection, a time for preparation and anticipation, a time for solitude and for community.
Music goes well with all these things.
Aine Minogue gathered musical friends to help with her new single, Winter, Fire, and Snow. The Tipperary born artist draws on her deep connection to the mystical aspects of Ireland, and of music, in her work. She has visited winter before in her work, in albums and dvds including Winter: A Meditation.. This, however is a new offering for this season, a song written by Brendan Graham. Minogue's instruments are harp and voice. Seamus Egan of Solas and Eugene Friesen of the Paul Winter Consort are among those who join Minogue on this mediation on the changes of
winter.
Cara Dillon’s album Upon a Winter’s Night began with an idea that she and her husband and musical partner Sam Lakeman had to make a gift for their children. “As musicians and singers we thought it was important that our kids grow up knowing isn’t all about Santa,” Dillon told Belfast Live. When the couple first released the album, they booked a small Christmas tour – which has now become a well loved tradition, for their own family and for others. When people have spoken to Dillon after these shows many of them “have said it brings the magic back into Christmas a wee bit because it’s the more traditional reverent songs,” Dillon says. Those songs include O Come O Come Emmanuel, The Holly and the Ivy, The Darkest Midnight, and Infant Holy Infant Lowly.
On his recording Snow Day , Matt Heaton mixes songs that share the joy, the connection, and the fun of the holiday season, There are songs kids will enjoy and songs parents and other adults will like too. There’s a really good answer to that question of when you should say Happy Holidays, in the song with that name. Have you met The Sneak? Always good to know about during the holidays… There’s a song for Hanukkah, one that celebrates Christmas Movies, a funny and gentle lesson in Can’t Judge a Gift. There’s warmth and connection in Christmas Eve With You. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is around and so is Winter Wonderland. Original songs and traditional ones, Heaton has created a collection of music which should become a well loved part of the winter season.
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Music of Winter: Hope, Faith, and Frames -- Songs from Emily Smith and Carrie Newcomer
Advent: it is a time of preparation, reflection, of turning of season. At times those things -- the silence, the stillness, the preparing of hearts and souls and minds for the miracle of Christmas -- is lost or at least pushed aside by the rush of day to day life and concerns.
Yet, one of the big lessons of Advent, and of winter, for that matter, is the persistence of hope. Faith and hope at times seem at odds. At other times it is clear they are interwoven. Whatever your faith, whether Advent on the calendar forms part of it or not, this is a season for seeing beyond the tinsel and the lights -- and for seeing the lights and the tinsel as pointers to and reminders of hope.
That is an idea Emily Smith explores in her song Find Hope. You may find it, and other excellent songs, on her album Songs for Christmas.
It is an opportunity to consider how we frame things, at Christmas and through the year, too. That is an idea Carrie Newcomer muses on in her song A Shovel is a Prayer.
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Late winter, leading up to Christmas, is a time that calls to flurries of activity and travel, preparation and celebration, even as it calls equally to reflection and quiet. Music, specifically of the season and otherwise, is always a good companion and a fine gateway to all these things. For a moment in the midst of hurry or for a longer time in the silence of night and morning, let the work of these musicians be you companion and guide.
Allow this music to renew your hope and peace and joy...
Wintersong, from New England based quartet Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem offers joy, sadness, reflection, exuberance, and good questions. All of this is framed in great harmony, fine lead singing, and top class playing on fiddle, bass, guitar, and percussion. There’s a lively treatment of Jesse Winchester’s Let’s Make a Baby King, a gospel infused spiritual from the African American tradition with Children Go Where I Send Thee. Christmas Bells finds guitarist Anand Nayak setting Longfellow’s words to a new, reflective melody. The four (Arbo on fiddle, Scott Kessel on percussion, Andrew Kinsey on bass, and Nayak on guitar; they all sing) interweave voices on a song Kinsey grew up with called Julian of Norwich. Arbo’s haunting lead well suits her original music framing words by Alfred Lord Tennyson in Ring Out Wild Bells. There’s a lifting of hope in the closing song, Singing in the Land. That’s just a hint of the music, which will make a fine companion for winter’s celebrations and questions.
The title of Heidi Talbot’s newest recording, Here We Go 1,2,3 suggests change. That is an idea that pulls through the songs, the ones she writes, and the ones she chooses from contemporary writers and from traditional sources. Talbot is Irish, living now in Scotland and married to fiddle player and composer John McCusker, who worked with her to produce this project. They’ve created a musical journey that references tradition and yet is contemporary. A clear eyed facing of shifting ground and a thread of resilience to learn from whatever comes are threads that pull through as well. These are stories, too, that leave any certain conclusion open to the hearer’s reflections. Talbot’s fine soprano and thoughtful phrasing illuminate these ideas in songs including the title track, Chelsea Piers, Song for Rose (will you remember me), and The Year That I Was Born.
...and if you happen to be looking for Christmas music, Talbot worked for some years with the band Cherish the Ladies. She is the voice on their fine seasonal album called On Christmas Night on songs including Silent NIght, The Holly and the Berry (all the women trade verses on this one), and The Castle of Dromore.
For her album Songs for Christmas, Emily Smith has chosen traditional and contemporary songs along with carols that have become favorites over the years as she done festive season concerts in her home region of Dumfries and Galloway in the southwest of Scotland. This year she’s expanded her holiday tour across Scotland, sharing such favorite carols as God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen and Silent Night along with the gentle contemporary piece Santa Will Find You, the American spiritual Heard from Heaven Today and the Scots song Christ Has My Hairt Aye. Her clear voice and thoughtful phrasing imbue the songs with holiday grace and make the collection work well together. Smith’s own songwriting shines too on Find Hope and on Winter Song.
This is Cara Dillon’s first year to offer a Christmas album. Her choices for the album, which is called Upon a Winter’s Night, are in keeping with the path she’s been following in her non seasonal work, With husband and musical partner Sam Lakeman, Dillon has created a seasonal outing that shares several original songs from the couple, a piece in Irish, a reach back in time to the twelfth century for the Wexford Carol and even further back for the Advent hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Dillon, who grew up in Northern Ireland, infuses the songs with a haunting grace and touches of Celtic connection along the way.
Carrie Newcomer’s recording The Beautiful Not Yet is not filled with carols -- it is not a seasonal album -- but the ideas of connection, of questions, of thoughtful reflection, and of staying in touch across time and miles work well with the holiday season. New comer has a gorgeous alto voice on which to tell the stories in this collection of original songs, too. It is an album that works well across the seasons -- as indeed all the recordings here do. During the winter holidays you might find Lean in Toward the Light, The Season Of Mercy, Sanctuary, and The Slender Thread especially worth hearing.
Bringing us back to Advent and Christmas, Matt and Shannon Heaton offer Fine Winter’s Night, which moves from contemplating how the cold dark skies of winter connect to warmth inside our homes and lives, to lively jigs and reels, both original and from Irish tradition. There’s a vignette of a Christmas love story set in Victorian era winter, and a story about a cat and Christmas, too, along with thoughtful presentations of carols including O Little Own of Bethlehem and It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. Shannon plays the flute, Matt plays the guitar, and they both sing, trading leads, joining in duets, and adding graceful harmonies as festive songs mix in with seasonal tunes.
Photograph at top by Jude Beck, other photographs by Kerry Dexter. Thank you for respecting copyright.
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