From Ireland: tunes new and old from Caitlin Nic Gabhann

Caitlin Nic Gabhann grew up a house filled with music in County Meath in Ireland. In her album called Caitlin, you’ll hear the wisdom of tradition, compositions which take tradition onward, and the rhythm of the dance as well.

Nic Gabhann’s instrument is the concertina. The music she’s chosen for the fifteen sets on her debut album as a solo artist show that she well knows how to tell stories through melody, from the opening set which opens with a Galway tune, The Rookery, through to a version of The Flying Column which she learned from her father, fiddler Antoin Mac Gabhann which forms a set with two session tune favorites, The Eel in the Sink and The Shallow Reel. There’s a set of hornpipes, and a set of reels which begins with her own tune Elevated, which, she explains, was written while she was stuck in an elevator in Brisbane in Australia and trying to keep her calm. Nic Gabhann’s own tunes -- there are six of them on the album -- are standout tracks. The reels, waltzes, and the air of her own she offers make clear that she well knows how to create stories through music, along with having a deft hand for interpreting those others have made.


Though Caitlin is her first solo album, Nic Gabhann is no stranger to the stage or the recording studio. Her first band performed at L’Orient Interceltique festival in France, and she has toured the world as a dancer with Riverdance. She and her sister Bernadette, with accordion player Sean McComiskey of Baltimore and flute player Sean Gavin of Detroit, make up the trans Atlantic band NicGaviskey, who have released the album Home Away from Home.

This collection of tunes finds Nic Gabhann’s concertina front and center, however, and it proves a place well deserved. Caoimhin O’Fearghail offers tasteful accompaniment on guitar, and on several tracks you will hear the sound of Nic Gabhann’s dancing feet, as well. You’ll be well served by playing the whole album through and enjoying the pace of the tunes as they go. Several standout cuts, though, include that set if reels which begins with The Flying Column, the original waltz called Sunday’s Well, another original tune, the air Cill Dheaglain, and a set which begins with The Leeside Sessions and includes both original and traditional reels.



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Boston and Irish: Joe Derrane

Joe Derrane has a master’s touch and a distinctive voice through his chosen instrument, the button accordion. As the son of Irish immigrants, Irish music is and always has been his base, his source on which to draw and the river of music through which his work flows. On his latest recording, Grove Lane, you can hear that, and you can also hear other sources and other adventures. All of this, mixed and mastered through Derrane’s Irish roots, his life in Boston's Irish American community, and the rhythm of that community’s dance halls where he got his start.

That start was 1940s and 1950s (for more about that, check out Susan Gedutis Lindsay's book See You at the Hall: Boston's Golden Era of Irish Music and Dance). He made a series of popular recordings in those days. As the halls declined, he switched to other sorts of music, and other ways of making a living. Several years after he thought he’d retired from music, those early recordings were reissued, and he was invited to perform at Wolf Trap, in Virginia, for what he thought would be a one off gig celebrating his history. His music was so well received, though, that a whole new phase of his career began.

Grove Lane is a snapshot of the man well into that phase, enjoying and sharing the enjoyment of creating fresh music as he moves into his eighth decade. There’s a lively collection of reels, jigs, and hornpipes, a barn dance, a schottische, a waltz, and a tango. The music is crisp and clear and imaginative, drawing from Irish dance tradition and clearly carrying it forward as well.

Just as areas in Ireland have their own styles of music, from Donegal to west Kerry to Oriel, so do certain Irish communities in other countries. The Boston area in the United States is one such, and Joe Derrane is a musician whose music is Irish, American, and Boston. The Slate Roof set of reels, the Lost Jigs set of, yes, jigs, and Waltzing with Annie, are especially worth hearing, but odds are you’ll be drawn into listening the whole thing through (and dancing to it too, perhaps) once you start in. The recording was produced by Derrane and acoustic guitarist John McGann, who recorded the tracks over a series of sessions at Derrane’s home on Grove Lane.

side note: There will be concert in tribute to Joe Derrane on 13th November, at which he will appear along with other musicians you’ve met here along the music road including John Doyle, Billy McComiskey, Joanie Madden, and John Whelan. This will be in Fairfield, Connecticut, at the Fairfield Theatre Company, Stage One and begin at 7pm. Contact info@fairfieldtheatre.org
for ticket details. Proceeds from the concert will go to benefit the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society of Fairfield.

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-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

Lovers' Well: Matt & Shannon Heaton

Lovers' Well



Lovers’ Well is a romantic album, but perhaps not in the way you might at first expect. Matt and Shannon Heaton offer a mix of song and tune, drawn from or based in Irish tradition. The tunes, which include reels, jigs, hornpipes, and a waltz, are all made for dancing, because, as Shannon points out, “dancing together is as sweet as singing together. All the tune sets on the album have love themed titles,” she adds, “and to ensure proper tempos, we worked with dancer and choreographer Kieran Jordan on the material.” Shannon plays flutes and whistles on the tunes, and Matt plays guitar, bouzouki, and bodhran.

The songs all concern love, and as that emotion embraces all shades of dark at light at times, so do the songs. There’s Lily of the West, with Shannon taking the lead on a song where jealousy and murder play a part, while Matt sings lead on Lady Fair, a version of the broken token song in which two lovers reunite after a long separation and the woman does not at first recognize her man. Where Moorcocks Crow is an enigmatic song of love at first sight, and in Botany Bay a husband bids farewell to his wife and children. Golden Glove finds the bride to be falling for the best man, and Lao Dueng Duen, a Thai song honoring Shannon’s time in Thailand and with a bit of an Irish arrangement is a piece from the tenth century in which a lover serenades his young woman -- and the way the Heatons do it, it both respects the song's origins and fits right in with the rest of the music on the album. Through all the songs, the Heatons’stellar harmonies add depth and beauty to the songs, as well.

“We dug deep to find material which explored both the highs of being in love and some of the darker aspects,” Shannon says. For the song Golden Glove -- that’s the one where the bride falls for the best man-- Shannon added a chorus which brings a touch of realism to the otherwise giddy story of courtship in the song--and which also, she points out, “sums up the different parts of the album: 'Deep is the lover's well, Higher than Heaven and Darker than Hell.'"

That might lead you to think things get rather grim in the music, but that’s not the case at all. Straightforward, rather, and endlessly intriguing. Much love went into the creation of the recording, too, as Shannon explains. “This project had a clearly defined mission statement from the beginning: to represent different aspects of love.

“Because Matt and I really worked together on the initial concept, and then brought in a team of people to help us bring it to life... people we love and trust, musically and personally --it was very much a labor of love for us, from the rehearsal and recording process to the material itself. We worked with our friend and producer/engineer Eric Merrill, dancer and choreographer Kieran Jordan, Keith Murphy on mandolin, guitar, and piano, and Dan Gurney on accordion.

“A friend offered us a cottage in Wellfleet on Cape Cod for the recording. Before heading down to record, we spent weeks with Eric to prepare material. From initial rehearsals through the week of recording, Eric’s holistic musicianship, beautiful engineering, humor and love guided us through the project.

“The result of our rich traditional material -- much adapted, but hopefully still intact in its musical and emotional intent -- our loving creative team of Eric and Kieran, and the forest home in which we recorded was a thoughtful, natural, and sweet working process. Because some of the tracking was done at night and even outside on the porch, the tracks have an organic nature about them — cricket chirps, bird calls, rain on the roof all made their way into the microphones.” That care and connection, and the deep well of musical experience and respect for both tradition and innovation which the Heatons and their musical friends bring to the work, create an experience which both honors Irish tradition and extends it in a natural and graceful way.

And if Irish tradition isn’t your thing, you really don’t have to know anything about it to enjoy and appreciate this music. If you and your valentine have a taste for fine singing, excellent flute and guitar playing, creative approaches to acoustic music, and thoughtful choice of material, Lovers’ Well could be the perfect soundtrack to your Valentine’s Day celebration.

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Another Fine Winter's Night: Matt & Shannon Heaton

Matt & Shannon Heaton: Blue Skies Above

Shannon Heaton: Oil for the Chain

by Kerry Dexter

Ellery Klein & Ryan Lacey: Kick into the Beat

Kick Into the Beat: modern Irish dance music, volume 2.


Loads of irish music is, or was originally, written for dancing. Today, there is a whole Irish dance music scene, with its own competitions, awards, magazines, and festivals. People doing a range of Irish dance styles often take part in less formal sessions and gigs around the world, too. There are also the immensely popular stage shows, Riverdance and Lord of the Dance.

With these things in mind, fiddle player Ellery Klein and percussionist Ryan Lacey have come out with Kick to the Beat, their second collection of material designed for Irish dancers, a selection of mainly original tunes in the proper style and beat for competition Irish dance. While the dancers among you will be delighted with new music with which to practice and prepare programs, in the main it’s just as good a listen for those who don’t dance at all. If you enjoy the music as a player, this crisp and clear recording, which focuses on fiddle and percussion with just a touch of backing from bass and guitar, could be a creative practice and learning situation for you as well --and especially so if you play for dancers. For listening, the performance set Step Into Christmas, is a lot of fun, with among other things, a Jingle Bell Polka. The Bloomin’ Hornpipes set and The Starry Slip Jigs are also especially nice for listening -- but watch out. Klein and Lacey, who met when they were both in the band Gaelic Storm (think the steerage band in the movie Titanic) may have you trying out dance steps yourself.


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