The Blue Idol

Last summer, Altan took the time-honoured step of isolating themselves for a few months of recording in a grand country manse – in this case Clonmannon House in County Wicklow. The result is this superb CD, which is every bit as fine as one would expect of a band that’s been occupying the top rung of the trad ladder for a long time now.

Produced by Nashville bigwig Gary Paczosa, the album features guest vocals from no less a personage than Dolly Parton (who invited Altan to play on her recent recording Little Sparrrow). Parton’s high piping voice turns out to be remarkably similar to Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s, and the two harmonise beautifully on ‘The Pretty Young Girl’, a translation by Mairéad’s father Francie of the sweetly yearning love song ‘An Cailín Deas Óg’. Elsewhere on the album, Ní Mhaonaigh sings the original Irish-language version.

Paul Brady swaps verses on the great old Scots ballad ‘Daily Growing’ with Ní Mhaonaigh to spine-chilling effect, and Liam O’Flynn contributes uilleann pipes to ‘Roaring Water’, a pleasantly rolling jig composed by the band’s Ciaran Tourish and Mark Kelly .

Other standouts include a lovely slow air composed by Ní Mhaonaigh for box player Dermot Byrne (the two married a while back) and the Tory Island song ‘Cuach Mo Lon Dubh Buí’, which swings along nicely and has a bluesy sax solo from Richie Buckley in the middle.

Overall, there’s not a dud track in the lot... but there’s no surprise in that.