Appalachian Once Again

So you thought there could only ever be one Baggot Inn?

Well, I guess there’s nothing unique in the world anymore. There’s a Baggot Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village and it was at its weekly Bluegrass jam sessions that Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile realized how much bluegrass was in his blood. Living temporarily in New York while going through a divorce, he needed to re-connect with the style of music he had grown up with and was soon playing a weekly residency at the Living Room where he gradually built the set that would be laid down as his new solo record How To Build A Woman From The Ground. When the time came to record the album, he called on a number of friends and they wrote and rehearsed the album in a one-bedroom apartment before decamping to Sear Sound Recording Studios to put down the live takes old-style, grouped around two microphones. The resulting tracks are less polished, you could say less ‘beautiful’, than you might expect from a Nickel Creek record but they make up for that with a gutsy energy and freshness. His show in the Sugar Club on November 9 will be a completely solo affair with a chance to see the songs stripped back to the bare minimum.
It’s the season of CD launches and one of the most intriguing new albums has to be Edel Sullivan’s solo debut ‘In The Time Of’ which got a good send off into the big bad world in her native Cork. Anyone who was impressed by the quality of her string arrangements for Ger Wolfe’s The Velvet Earth album is going to be equally impressed here. Playing professionally since her teens – she was in Hank Wedel’s Prince’s Street – she has never shied away from experimentation and has played with everything from rock bands to Lord Of The Dance – all that wealth of experience is beautifully fused in the record.
There are very few more experienced musicians than Moya Brennan, but amazingly her bash in Solas to launch her new solo album Signature was the first time she has had a formal album launch. The place was packed to the gills with A-listers but it was no po-faced affair, as almost everyone on hand knew the lady well enough to call her a friend and in launching the album Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh went for the belly laughs and got them too. There is a one-off gig at the Arts Theatre in London on November 13 following the end of her current Dutch tour. A full UK tour has been confirmed starting March 18 next year and there are unconfirmed reports that we’ll be seeing Moya return to the fray in Ireland before next summer.
Bailing out of Moya’s launch I went up the street to catch Eoin Dillon at Whelan’s. On a grim night of lashing rain, the small crowd that huddled in front of the stage when I got there might have been all you might expect, but as the support act played a steady trickle of people filed in and before you knew it the place was packed. It must be odd to come from a band like Kila where you have one of the most charismatic frontmen in music and try and find your own take on how to engage an audience but Eoin Dillon seems to be getting used to being the focus of attention rather than the still point on stage around which the madness that is Kila revolves. He has an engagingly wry wit and a good fund of stories to accompany the tunes and songs.
The set largely consisted of tracks from his Third Twin album and were delivered with verve and gusto. Although the album does manage to pin down much more of the energy of the music than a lot of traditional recordings manage, there’s still no substitute for seeing them played live.
Continuing their programme of selective re-releases from their back catalogue, Gael Linn have just re-issued A.J. Potter’s 1973 album ‘Ceol Potter’ (what is it with the punning names?) on CD for the first time. At the time these light orchestral versions of traditional tunes were interesting in that they took traditional music out of the bar and into the parlour. An innovator in his time, Potter’s work paved the way for the likes of Phil Coulter and created a style that still underpins projects like Celtic Woman.
Looking back at the record now it has a certain ‘lounge’ appeal that may find a whole generation of new fans.
Having just completed a string of dates round the country Kieran Goss has announced his now customary slew of gigs between Christmas and the New Year which this year will see him playing the Mill Theatre, Dundrum on December 27, Dunamaise Theatre, Port Laoise on December 28 and the Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen on December 29. He’ll not be lonely this Christmas however as he’s being joined on stage by the redoubtable Gareth Hughes on standup bass and Ann Kinsella on backing vocals.
With an extensive tour around Holland and Germany to pack in between now and then I guess the Goss will be eating Lieberkuchen instead of Christmas cake this year. Despite the extensive touring he has also been finding time to co-write once more with fellow Newryman Brendan Murphy of the Four Of Us.
Their previous work together yielded some of the best tracks either man has ever written so there should be some great new songs to look forward to.
Mary Greene’s vocals have featured on records by Christy Moore, John Spillane, Frances Black and a horde of others, but over the last few years she has become increasingly well known as a performer in her own right.
She has just released her third album (with husband Noel Shine) Sea Of Hearts and she’ll be doing a number of gigs to promote it culminating in a show at the Cobblestone on December 8.
Her previous two albums have established her as a writer with a reputation for delivering open-heartedd songs with a direct emotional honesty and her debut made the number three spot on the Irish Times end of year list.
And speaking of John Spillane, EMI have just released Gaelic Hit Factory, an album of songs written with longtime collaborator Louis de Paor. This is a brave step for a major label given that the songs are in Irish but the same magic and fire are there and producer John Reynolds is very effusive in his praise for the record, which is the second they’ve made together. Given the hold that Hey Dreamer took on the Irish imagination there’s hope yet that this could be the country’s first multi-platinum album in Irish.
As usual there’s a flurry of live activity and shows are dotted around the country between now and Christmas. Amongst these, November 9 sees him in Dolan’s Warehouse in Limerick, he’s in the Linenhall Theatre Castlebar on November 15, the Derry Playhouse on December 1, Belfast’s John Hewitt on December 3, a Dublin date at Christchurch in aid of Amnesty International on December 9 and a home town gig at the Everyman Palace on December 17.