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heads here. In I Wanna Be Your Man, the best he can hope for from a joint is that it will “take the pain away”. Instead of being instantly besotted by every girl he sees in the street, the LaFarge of this album’s Far Away is ready to give up on their whole sex.

Thankfully, these darker touches in the lyrics are generally counterpointed by his splendidly sunny music, which spans a range of pre-war US styles from western swing (Bad Girl) to smoochy crooners (When Did You Leave Heaven) and Harlem jazz (Knockin’ the Dust Off the Rust Belt Tonight). The last track in particular is a belter, full of big band swag- ger and infectious optimism. “This ain’t your momma and your daddy’s midwest,” LaFarge reminds the packed dancefloor. “We have what it takes to stand the test!”

Actin’ A Fool is another highlight, dis- pensing with the thirteen guest musicians gathered for this project to return us to the core band of LaFarge and his South City Three. Adam Hoskins’ twangy guitar and Ryan Koenig’s harmonica both shine here. The augmented band pulls off such a deft ending to its duelling-solos version of Tampa Red’s All Night Long that LaFarge himself can’t resist a laugh of delight in the studio.

There’s a little electric guitar here and there, but every other instrument on the album is acoustic, giving it a warm, organic sound throughout. Despite the complex arrangements needed to accommodate as many as eight or nine musicians on some tracks, LaFarge stamps his own personality on the album just as firmly as he did on the SCT’s less crowded releases.

All in all, then, what we have here is another 41 minutes of unalloyed pleasure from your ol’ pal Pokey. If his lyrics now seem to view the world with a slightly more jaun- diced eye than they did back in 2011, then perhaps that’s just the price a maturing song- writer must pay. They grow up so fast.

www.pokeylafarge.net Jerome Clarke

RACHEL HAIR TRIO Trì March Hair Records MHRCD004

This is the welcome second album from a trio consisting of sparkling Scottish harp (Rachel Hair), guitar/vocals (Jenn Butterworth) and double bass (Cameron Maxwell). They per- form bright, rhythmic arrangements of tradi- tional tunes (Scottish, Irish, Manx and Norwe- gian) and more contemporary, jazzy material composed by members of the band. The album has a well-judged balance of sequenc- ing between old and new, gentle and lively, trad and jazz, instrumental and vocal. Of the three songs, the standout is Jenn Butter- worth’s nicely understated rendition of Allan Taylor’s fine ballad Roll On The Day, about the human cost of working with coal dust.

Of the instrumental tracks, the standouts include the traditional tune set Tobar Nan Ceann/Kitty Gordon’s, which segues with thrilling effect from brooding Scottish strath- spey to salmon-leaping Irish reel. My personal favourite track is Rachel Hair’s own Tune For Esme – an absorbing instrumental piece in memory of Esme Mcintyre (an inspiring young harp player taken from the world much too soon). Rachel’s composition is all the more moving for not sounding like a lament. With its gentle rhythmic guitar pulse, and the cradling plangent warmth of the double bass, and crystalline harp arpeggios unfurling like a delicate flower bud in spring, the composition unfolds into a soaring, yearning harp melody full of discovered beauty, like the young life it commemorates.

www.rachelhair.com Paul Matheson BARBECUE BOB

The Rough Guide To Blues Legends: Barbecue BobWorld Music Network RGNET1328CD

Robert Hicks recorded 68 sides before dying of pneumonia in 1931, at just 29 years of age. These 24 tracks, recorded for Columbia Records between 1927 and 1930, reveal a ver- satile artist with possibly the most engaging voice of all the early male blues singers.

No slouch on the twelve-string guitar, his strong, expressive Piedmont fingerpicking guitar style is embellished with bottleneck and banjo frailing techniques, with the instrument in Spanish (open G) tuning.

Opening with (John Fahey favourite) Poor Boy A Long Ways From Home, this selec- tion demonstrates the breadth of his eclectic repertoire, including pure blues of Midnight Weeping Blues and Motherless Child Blues (covered by Eric Clapton), sacred songs such as When The Saints Go Marching In and Jesus’ Blood Can Make Me Whole, and songs with unambiguous titles like She Looks So Good and She Moves It Just Right.

The omission of breakthrough, signature

song Mississippi Heavy Water Blues is inexpli- cable, but there are plenty of less familiar gems here, and the quality of the remaster- ing throughout makes this a very attractive, affordable introduction to Barbecue Bob.

www.worldmusic.net/barbecuebob Steve Hunt

KÍLA Suas Síos Kila Records KRCD015

Kíla were always an enigmatic ensemble that has operated under the commercial radar for so long their progress cannot be measured on scales other than their own. Their unique per- sonalised form of Gaelic-flavoured music is incredibly complex and angular making them among the most distinct of Celtic bands.

Recording and touring prolifically yet still retaining a distance from the main- stream, after two decades Suas Síos (Up Down), their latest album and first with Dave Hingerty and Senan Brennan on board (the latter replacing Lance Hogan) is betimes busi- ness as usual. Just listen to the frantic title track fizzing like a hand-grenade with stri-

Kila

BRIAN McNEILL & FRIENDS

The Falkirk Music Pot Greentrax CDTRAX 383D

As well as being notable recently for large structures (the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies) there’s a lot of music going on in Falkirk, of all kinds. With the help of Creative Scotland, Brian McNeill (born and brought up there) was commissioned to work with local schools, musicians and singers to pull some of these strands together in The Falkirk Music Pot project.

This double CD contains a very wide selection of music, starting with a fine record- ing of McNeill’s own hymn to Falkirk, The Lads O’The Fair, and following with The Kelpies Suite, composed by McNeill, and per- formed by local school and community choirs, orchestras and bands. The eclectic mix contin- ues with one of several songs from the pupils of Badawe Girls Secondary School in Malawi, recorded by Brian on a visit (the school has deep-rooted links with Falkirk), followed by a stirring Stirling Brig from the Bo’ness and Car- riden [Brass] Band.

dent superfast rhythms, Ronan O’Snodaigh’s tongue-twisting vocals and children’s choir in typical Kíla stomp mode.

There are some subtle enriching devel- opments particularly in the instrumental and tonal department. Mac Lir introduces soprano sax to the pipes, strings and percussion line- up, adding some subtle jazz flavours while on Jigs a brass section more akin to the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble leads to Eoin Dillon’s majestic piping and Brian Hogan’s throbbing bass over layers of violin, sax, flutes in a powerfully compelling mix. The quieter strains of Rachel Corrie create a spacey film-noir canvas with ex-Frames drummer Dave Hingerty’s kit work adding extra dramatic depth, and Abair dives into Indian rhythms. Skinheads gracefully flutes a sweet Breton-flavoured march before the all-guns-blazing finish with subtle fla- menco guitar licks between the fireworks. Suas Síos proves there is nothing quite like the emotional and propulsive whack of Kíla in full flight. They’re still out on their own, still at the cutting edge and still cutting it

www.kila.ie John O’Regan