The Road From Ballybrack

The booklet notes to Antrim luthier and fiddler Jim McKillop’s latest album could have been researched a tad more thoroughly: American old-time fiddler Jay Ungar’s beautiful ‘Ashokan Farewell’ is here credited as ‘Ashokan’s Farewell’ by one ‘J. Younger’. As for McKillop’s rendition of the tune, it’s appropriately sentimental, but could have done without the mellifluous keyboard backing. Like many Northern fiddlers, he tends to favour showmanship and flash over subtlety, and his own compositions lean heavily on such tricksy elements as the pizzicato flourishes that anchor ‘Full Moon Waltz’. Despite the string of awards (All-Ireland Champion, Fiddler of Oriel, Fiddler of Aileach), McKillop’s over-the-top styling is best suited to the US/Canadian side of his repertoire – particularly when Paul Gurney chimes in with his honky-tonk electric guitar.