Whirring Wings from Matt and Shannon Heaton
Musicians use all sorts of tools with which to tell their stories.
At times those tools include words. Other times, they do not.
There are always stories in the music, though.
Matt and Shannon Heaton are songwriters, singers, instrumentalists and composers. They most often draw in the music of Ireland for traditional music to play and as inspiration for their original music.
The husband and wife duo are based in the Boston area.
Though they often choose a mix of elements for their recordings, for their album Whirring Wings, they’ve decided to place focus mainly on tunes, that is, instrumental pieces without words,
It makes a lively storytelling journey they invite listeners to join.
Matt’s main instrument is guitar, Shannon’s is flute.
For this album they take journeys through original and traditional tunes in thoughtful combinations and sequencing.
The title for the album, Shannon explains, comes from the one song they have chosen to include, a piece by Scottish poet Robert Burns.
Shannon sings lead. It is called Westlin Winfs (the song is known by several other names too). The story it tells has to do with autumn, hunting, a lovers walk, and other things, including the whirring wings of birds.
Matt and Shannon took that reference to whirring wings, Shannon explains, “as an invitation to find some lift and freedom in some of our very favorite old and new tunes, and to try our best to convey the way these tunes make us feel by arranging them with sparkle and space.”
Among the stories the tunes and sets tell are a waltz to recall their son’s last days of fourth grade, a march to remeber and honor a musician who had passed away and her twin sister, inspired by a visit of two cardinals to their backyard, and a set that starts with a tune Matt and Shannon were inspired to learn by requests from members of the the community which has developed around the couple’s onine Virtual Guided Session (known as VGS for short).
There’s a full slate more, both original and traditional tunes in jig, reel, walyz, and march time. There are slips jgs and an hornpipe in the mix, too, alongside that song from Robert Burns.
Whirring Wings is a project well worth your repeated listening. Whetjer you listen to learn the tunes, to appreciate the musician ship, or to explore great flute and guitar work, you will find much to enjoy.
There’s a tune book available also, with notation, guitar chord ideas, and short essays about the songs. Both album and tune book include an intriguing and thoughtful cover painting by artist Vincent Crotty.
You may also wish to see
A bit of backstory on Two Cardinals as part of the Sunday Sessiosn series
Matt and Shannon Heaton offer quite a bit of instructional and educational Irish music content on line - including archives and live broadcasts of that Virtual Guided Session, on Shannon’s YouTube Channel
This is the sixth album Matt and Shannon have released as a duo. Tell You In Earnest is another; so is Fine Winter's Night You can hear each of them sing, too, on these albums...
They each have other projects on the go, too. Matt has several albums focused on younger listeners; Shannon has a solo album and [ast episodes of her podcast Irish Music Stories. More about all this at Matt and Shannon Heaton's web site
Another Irish American musician whose work you may enjoy: learn about the album Through Wind and Rain from Cathie Ryan
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Labels: boston, creativity, flute, guitar, ireland
