One could be forgiven for thinking that, after forty years together, The Chieftains might wish to ease up on the gas pedal just a tad. Complacency, though, is not a concept with which Mr. Moloney and his confreres are familiar; rather do they still seek after the ultimate truth. This has made for many an entertaining hour on stage and on disc along the way, and their new album – subtitled The Nashville Sessions – is no exception.
Featuring, for the most part, material which was shaped in America, rather than on home soil, it invites the likes of Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury and Earl Scruggs to set, but not dominate, the tone of the proceedings. On ‘Sally Goodin’, for example, Scruggs makes his own of the piece, with one mind-blowing banjo break standing above all else, but there is much more than mere virtuosity at work here and elsewhere.
Close your eyes and listen to ‘Katie Dear’, known elsewhere as ‘Silver Dagger’, as Gillian Welch and David Rawlings take you to a place beyond the blue, or for contrast, give an ear to ‘Cindy’, as Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder take it at Formula One speed.
And there’s plenty more where they came from on an album that delights from start to finish. Another Grammy, anyone? Don’t bet against it.