Seeking music suggestions

[Loretta Callahan]

Due to being triple booked with work, my right arm is all but shot ~ keeping me off the mandolin all but a few hours a week.

What I've been doing to fill the gap is listening to some of my favorite ITM/Celtic/St. Breton …. whatever it's called … music.

Any suggestions for folks you all enjoy?

Here's my current playlist to give you all an idea what floats my canoe:

Marla Fibish's 2 CDs
Shooglenifty
Solas
Teada
Sharon Shannon
Patrick Street
Paul Brady
Mary Jane Lamond
Martin Hayes/Dennis Cahill
Johnny B. Connolly
Lunasa
Liz Carroll and John Doyle
Kane, Welch, Kaplin
Kevin Burke & Cal Scott
Joanie Madden
Eileen Ivers
Altan
DeDannan
Coila

[Beanzy]

My current crop of favourites filling up the iPod are;
http://www.juliefowlis.com/
http://thecarrivicksisters.wordpress.com/
http://www.danu.net/
http://muireann.ie/index.html
http://www.andyirvine.com/albums/abocurragh.html
http://www.mandolin.co.uk/alb_nccd.html

good luck getting some practice in too, but hope you enjoy the music even if you don't get to practice much.

[Charlieshafer]

All I can add is Dervish, and one of my all-time favorites, Grada. The Endeavor cd is one of my favs.

[Wolfboy]

Well, you've got excellent taste - you must, since it's pretty much the same as mine...

Here are a couple of indie releases by friends of mine that you might miss, that I think are every bit the equal of anything on that list:

Liz Knowles: Making Time (former fiddler with Riverdance and Cherish the Ladies)

Andrew Magill: Drive and Lift - wait till you hear this guy, and he was about eighteen when he made this album

And of course your CD collection is incomplete without the complete works of the Bothy Band - three studio CDs and two live CDs. (Track down the two duo CDs by Kevin Burke and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill too, while you're at it. Trust me, you'll thank me for this.)

[Paul Busman]

If you don't mind branching out a bit into a bit more of a Rock style, but definitely Celtic influenced, check out Enter The Haggis-- any and all albums:

http://www.enterthehaggis.com/home.cfm

[Jill McAuley]

-anything by Angelina Carberry
-anything by John Carty
-The Bothy Band

[Galimando]

Máirtín de Cógáin/Fuscia Band
The Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra has a nice CD.
Caoimhin O Raghallaigh/Mick O'Brien

[foldedpath]

That's a great list, especially if you've gone deep into the discography of all those players (Kevin Burke especially, being a personal favorite). A few of my own other favorites that aren't on that list:

Aly Bain & Ale Möller -- Fully Rigged
Aly Bain & Ale Möller -- Beyond the Stacks
Jerry Holland and John Doyle -- Helping Hands
John Cunningham -- Fair Warning
Matt Molloy -- Matt Molloy
Mike Rafferty -- The New Broom

For something on the wilder side, check out a band called "Lau" and the album Lightweights and Gentlemen. Crazy stuff, I like it.

[Galimando]

Any Mike Rafferty album is a gem.

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

Deanta is a great but often overlooked band. Also check out Liadan.

As suggested, you will really like Dervish, Grada, and Bothy Band

Some more good ones (sorry for any repeat suggestions):

Alasdair Fraser & Tony McManus
Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham
The Border Collies
Cathal Hayden
Cherish the Ladies
Danu
Gerry O'Connor & Eithne Ni Uallachain
James Kelly
Jodys' Heaven
Kevin Crawford
Luke Plumb
Maeve Donnelly
Marie & Martin Reilly
Matt Molloy & Sean Keane
Michael Rooney & June McCormack
Oisin Mac Diarmada, Brian Fitzgerald & Michael Rooney
Randal Bays
Roger Landes
Session A9
Seamus Egan

A little off the traditional path at times, perhaps, but the Poozies have some great albums.

Enjoy!
Cheers
Mark R-T

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

Andrew Magill: Drive and Lift - wait till you hear this guy, and he was about eighteen when he made this album

Thanks, hadn't come across that one yet!

Cheers
Mark R-T

[steve V. johnson]

There is very little mandolin content here...

The Kelly Band from Kansas City has a really nice CD that I just recently got and am enjoying very much.

There's a new Teada CD. They're just so consistently deep and playful...

Mairtin O'Cogan &/or the Fuschia Band make great recordings. Mairtin has some hilarious stuff. Madnesses from the Kingdom of Kerry... ;-) (I think there's some nice mandolin on the Fuschia band's recordings.)

I don't know if the Drowsy Lads of Columbus, Ohio, have a CD, but if they do, it will probably be great. They were wonderful live at the Dublin, Ohio, festival.

Karan Casey & John Doyle have a great new CD. John plays some on a lovely Bob Abrams/Trillium octave mandolin. Casey's voice is just sublime, and she seems tremendously comfortable with using it.

Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh has some super recordings in duets with other great artists. One with Brendan Begley, "A Moment of Madness"; one with Mick O'Brien, "Deadly Buzz"; and this one, Peadar Ó Riada, Martin Hayes & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, "Triúr Sa Draighean."

Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch have a recent record of Sliabh Luachra music that's a gem, "The Living Stream." OMG.

An older CD that I like a lot is flutist Paul playing with guitarist Ged Foley (and produced by Foley). This is a great favorite of mine, a clean, mature presentation of the tunes as stories in their own rights.

Also a Ged Foley production is "Bridgetown" by box player Johnny B. Connolly. That one has been around for a few years, too. Including a bunch of great players.

And a great, great favorite of mine is the eponymous CD by the N.Carolina trio, The Red Wellies. Tremendous fiddle music with Vincent Fogarty's fascinating 5-course bouzouki playing. (Tuning ADADA!)

Kitty Hayes & Peter Laban, "They'll be good yet..." A kitchen recording, concertina & pipes, that I find essential to my musical well-being.

I'm glad you like that Marla Fibish stuff. Three Mile Stone is a real joy for me.

I hope that's a bit interesting for you...

stv

[Loretta Callahan]

Thank you everyone! Finally have a chance to catch my breath this weekend .... and I'll be happily listening to lots of ITM/Celtic music ... thanks to you all.

[hhold]

if you want to get away from the turbo trad bands and get into something more traditional I highly recommend Breda Keville's the Hop Down. She plays on our own on most of the tracks and not many players can do that (they need backing and studio production to carry a tune). A happy middle of the road album is Kevin Griffin's across the Pond.

[JeffD]

--The Bothy Band

Amen and amen. The Bothy Band and then The Bothy Band again.

[JeffD]

John Cunningham -- Fair Warning
.

Yes sir. I have loved and still love that album. On LP, on cassette, on CD, and now on my mp3. Every cut on that album feels like my own skin I am so familiar with it.

[JeffD]

Seamus Egan

Without doubt.

[JeffD]

Anything you can find by Liam O'Flynn.

Most especially his take on Limericks Lamentation, which is on my desert island list of recorded tunes. Nobody does it better.

[Wolfboy]

Anything you can find by Liam O'Flynn.

Which brings up another of my favorite Irish trad albums, After the Break by Planxty. (How is it possible that Planxty haven't been mentioned yet?) I believe it's the only album they did with this exact five-piece lineup: the original four (Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, Christy Moore and Donal Lunny) plus Matt Molloy on flute. Lunny and Molloy had just come from the Bothy Band and Molloy joined the Chieftains immediately thereafter, which should give you some idea of the quality of the music on this album! Two great extra tracks on the CD too, that weren't on the vinyl version.

[catmandu2]

Planxty. (How is it possible that Planxty haven't been mentioned yet?)

I didn't see Solas mentioned--collectively. I find myself going back to Bothy Band, and Planxty

[JeffD]

Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, Christy Moore and Donal Lunny plus Matt Molloy

The dream team.

[Charlieshafer]

Just remembered one: as the Bothy Band was mentioned several times (hardly as much as they deserve) one of my all-time faves is a duo album by Paddy Keenan and Tommy Sullivan. Paddy is a remarkable piper, one of the last true travelers, or gypsies. The album is Long Grazing Acre, and on it, Paddy's piping is almost a religious experience, as pure and sweet as anyone can play any instrument.

[CelticDude]

I would add Flook to the list. Brian Finnegan is one of the best whistle/flute players you'd ever hope to find, and with a 2nd flute (an alto) the arrangements are amazing. Round it out with a rather good bodhran player, and a fine guitarist. Not always purely traditional, but that add to the fun.

[Loretta Callahan]

This thread just keeps getting better! Finally getting some time off to actually focus on music a bit! Amazon music downloads, here I come ....

Discovered a great DVD I found on Netflix ... maybe some of you have heard of it: Come West Along the Road. A young Paul Brady; Paddy Maloney and others. Totally blew my skirt up. http://www.amazon.com/Come-West-Alon.../dp/B000KN7BYA

The step dancing to Kid on the Mountain to the fiddle: just wow!

[Jill McAuley]

They have that on Netflix? I bought the DVD meself, great stuff, I know they've put out another one as well - I must check and see if it's available on Netflix too..

Cheers,
Jill