Recommendation: Things That Go [Poof!] Overnight

[nebroadwe]

I'm always falling in love with obscure Celtic bands that scream across my radar and then vanish. Like Halali --

three fiddlers (each with her own solo career) and a guitarist (ditto). I heard them live before they'd ever released an album and I still think the all-fiddle rendition of "Escape From Alvie" beats the piano-based version on their debut CD. They still seem to be performing, but haven't published a follow-up album yet and I'm beginning to think they never will. Sigh.

-- or Déanta --

a group from Northern Ireland that included the stellar soprano Mary Dillon, whose version of "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" bowled me over when first I heard it (it's the way she sings the word "alligators," mostly), but which broke up in 1997 after three albums. Sigh.

-- or Seven Nations --

who still exist, still tour, and still release new music, but began losing me when piper Neil Anderson moved on after Big Dog (a darn fine album) and the band moved away from rock adaptations of traditional music I enjoyed to original compositions which I didn't, despite their acquisition a fiddler who talks like Bob (or Doug) MacKenzie and plays like a refugee from a Charles de Lint novel. Sigh.

-- or Clandestine --

a Texas-based group that had the whole package: songs to break your heart by or kick your heels up to; stellar instrumental work and lovely vocals. And then it all went poof in 2003 after four CDs (if you want an introduction, try their last, live album Music From Home, which is exactly what a best-of compilation ought to be). Sigh.

-- except ...
they're back!
Oh, frabjous day! They've lost vocalist Jen Hamel to scholarship, but gained Al Cofrin of the many instruments (everything from the krummhorn to the lute to the shawm to the upright bass) to complement Emily Dugas (drums/seriously good vocals), E.J. Jones (excellent pipes/vocals), and Gregory McQueen (fiddler extraordinaire). And it looks like they're eventually going to play my neck of the woods again, which will be an occasion for me to drag half my acquaintance along to hear something they'd otherwise not. Whee!

Comments

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Uh, late September? [checks] The 28th through the 30th, and it looks like they've got Halali, Solas and Old Blind Dogs too. Hmm.

[nateprentice.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a better idea--we wouldn't need to take vacation time and can go for a day (Saturday would be best--that's when the bands will be there). Wanna go?

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Tentatively, sure. Let's start planning.