Album Review: American Band, Drive-By Truckers

Featuring a cast of well over a dozen musical luminaries – including of some of the best-known and respected players in the folk/trad world – piper Eoin Dillon certainly hasn’t cut any corners here. A founding member of Kila, Dillon needs no introduction as a master of the uileann pipes, but he aims to stretch out the possibilities of traditional forms on what is an ambitious collection.
Acoustic guitars and harp are just some of the instruments adorning the opening track ‘Dancing on The Radio (In Off The Road)’, an uplifting tune that brings to mind the atmosphere of early Planxty. The more intimate ‘Marina’s Kitchen’ features Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s deft harpsichord playing, while the remarkably complex arrangement of ‘Christchurch Bells’ is buoyed by driving acoustic guitars, whistles and sundry other textural flavourings. More folk than trad, the melody of ‘Cock Of The Walk’ faintly recalls Midnight Well’s classic ‘Saw You Running’ (also performed by Mary Black).
Meanwhile, ‘Ubiquitous Donkey’ is inspired by the unlikely tale of an ass that, legend has it, frequented the dancehalls of Donegal, refusing to leave the floor until a certain tune was played! A lovely mid-tempo tune, it features whistle and saxophone, lending it a sort of a showband touch. Elsewhere, the appropriately titled closer, ‘Swan Song’, blends trombone with Dillon’s peerless uileann pipes, bringing a jazzy element to this hugely engaging album.