79 f
2 Maja & David Nord (GO’ Danish GO1013). Nifty duetting from Danish fiddler and singer Maja Kjær Jensen and Québécois fiddler and foot-tapper David Boulanger, in nicely integrated material from each of their traditions and their own compositions.
www.gofolk.dk
1 Gordie McKeeman & His Rhythm Boys Pickin’-n-Clickin’ (Own label GM 002). Fiddle-led outfit from Prince Edward Island, in a style that has elements of Western Swing and their own tradition. Let down by uncon- vincing singing.
www.gordiemackeeman.com
2 Amazing Blondel Songs For Faithful Admirers (Secret Records SECDD071). Dou- ble CD of demos, radio performances and live cuts from the utterly unique, preposterously hirsute1970s baroque ’n’ roll, Renaissance- loving psychsters who probably invented Cir- culus. Terrific players and much more fun than than most of their prog peers.
www.gaudela.net/blondel/
2 Growling Old Men Chicken Feed & Bal- ing Twine (Snake River SRR-125). Ben Win- ship and John Lowell (with David Thompson) aren’t old men and they don’t growl here. The name informs us, though, that they know their way around old-time American music. Here, the bluegrass and ragtime accented tra- ditionals, originals, and covers (Norman Blake, Jeffrey Foucault), picked and sung to perfection, offer up 40 minutes of full satis- faction.
www.growlingoldmen.com
1Phil MacLennan Smillie Sound Of Taransay (Hedera Records, HRCD106). Debut solo album from the Tannahill Weavers’ flute and whistle player. Accompanied by piano, accordeon, fiddle, pipes, percussion, bouzou- ki and harp, Phil plays Scottish traditional tunes and his own compositions in a sweet and gentle, lilting style.
www.philsmilliemusic.com
1Erwan Keravec Nu Piping (Buda Musique 860 235). The prominent Breton musician produces the most extraordinary range of sounds on the Scottish bagpipes, straying into areas that the pipes were never designed for. The eight compositions by mod- ern classical composers are far from the gen- res usually considered in this publication.
www.budamusique.com
@ Christopher Dean Shenandoah (Cair- ney Hill Music CHM 006). How to make a 43- minute CD last for hours. Play well-known songs on acoustic guitar, as simply as possible, add your own keyboard and percussion back- ing and boy does it drag on, and on, and on…
www.CairneyHill.com
2 David Francey So Say We All (Green- trax CDTRAX377). Another instantly appeal- ing set (the tenth) from ex-pat folk troubadour, springing no surprises perhaps but still replete with enduring, well-crafted songs spanning ten years of creative endeav- our yet entirely consistent in style and quality, with attractively sparse acoustic settings employing a small handful of musical friends.
www.davidfrancey.com
2 Gren Morris & Sam Stephens Hums Ancient And Modern (Own Label SAM 0011). Immediate, live-mode recordings from East-Midlands-based act of established pedi- gree. Their stock-in-trade is cultured, likeably unselfconscious, if sometimes quite arty- sounding, mostly guitar-and-vox renditions, interspersing trad with contemporary and some delicious connoisseurs’ rarities. Impec- cable quality is assured and the duo’s accom- plishment and commitment are in no doubt.
www.grenmorrisandsamstephens.com
1 J Tex & The Volunteers House On The Hill (Heptown 63). Detroit-born singer/writer leading trio in Copenhagen playing music that will be conveniently labelled Americana. Tidy, all in tune, but one in a very full market.
www.heptownrecords.com
1 The Duncan McFarlane Band Poachers Bold (Dunx Music DUNXCD028). Hobbit-like cover masks a commendable opening stab at The Blacksmith complete with clanking ham- mer and anvil. Elsewhere better production values than when last heard mean the mix of their own and trad electric folk is more of a whole. An improving scenario.
www.duncanmcfarlane.co.uk
1Rydvall Mjelva Isbrytaren (Heilo HCD7279). Swedish nyckelharpa player Erik Rydvall, of the trio Nordic, and Norwegian hardanger fiddler Olav Luksengård Mjelva of SVER, the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc et al, with cre- ative arrangements of trad and original Swedish and Norwegian tunes, Ål church’s reverb enriching the ring of both instru- ments’ sympathetic strings. UK distributor Proper.
www.propermusic.com
2 Algot Inom (Algot Algot001). Swedish fiddle and cittern duo Magdalena Eriksson and Mattias Mårtensson, JMI Imagine prize winners, with an appealing set of inventive, memorable tunes, all but one their own, played with great musical communication and freshness. A good listen in its own right, and their tunes deserve to catch on with other players.
www.facebook.com/algotfolk
@ The John Wesley Stone Shirabu (Twist Big 34). I had never heard music from Guernsey before, and if this is a sample I am so pleased. Raucous and tuneless original songs claimed to be mix of country, rockabil- ly, blues and bluegrass. Don’t kid yourselves.
twist@cionle.com
1 Lucy Wise & The B’Gollies When We Wander Far From Home(Own Label LW003). Fresh from supporting The Spooky Men’s Chorale on their UK tour, Australian singer/songwriter unleashes her second album of whimsical self-penned material inspired by people and places encountered on her travels as a full-time musician. Melodic and accessible, if perhaps not entirely addic- tive.
www.lucywise.com.au
2 Old Buck Old Buck (Tin Halo Music THMCD-1013). Blue Ridge Mountain-bred Riley Baugus, in his forties, is the senior play- er (banjo) in this string band, otherwise occu- pied by three women close to half his age. Together, they deal in old-time music at its most gritty, arcane, and exhilarating. There’s a party in the holler inside these grooves.
www.oldbuckmusic.com
2 Canongate Cadjers Ceilidh Band Open With Care (Brechin All Records CDBAR021). Varied and witty ceilidh-band music that’s dif- ferent from the crowd. Big warm accordeons, piano, fiddle, mandolin, bass and drums per- form an unusual repertoire that includes graceful French café accordeon/mandolin duets and Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Music For A Found Harmonium.
www.canongatecadjers.com
2 James Duncan MacKenzie James Dun- can MacKenzie (James MacKenzie Music JMMCD001). Debut from Breabach’s piper/ flautist, accompanied by guitars, fiddle, piano, button-accordeon, double-bass. Some lovely slow airs, but the jigs and reels steal the show. The pipes double alternately with fiddle, rhythmic guitars and reverberant piano to create a big, driving sound.
www.jamesduncanmackenzie.com
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