It’s just terrible! I’m very late with my next instalment of my ten favourite musician’s posts. Unfortunately things have been really busy since Thursday. My sincerest apologies. I’d say it won’t happen again but it probably will.

Anyway, let’s get to my next musician. I couldn’t do this without mentioning the wonderful, the amazing, the inspirational, the sensational the angelic Cara Dillon! Ok. Angelic is a bit weird but hey. You know what I mean I’m sure. Cara Dillon is by far my favourite Irish singer. Friends have accused her of being too practised and over arranged but I love it! Every album has just got better and better but no album can be considered bad or even less than brilliant. They’ve all had something to make me stop and pause for a second. The latest album, Hill of thieves had me addicted for a week! The DVD that came out from a gig she did in Belfast had me equally transfixed. In fact, I think I liked the DVD even more than the CD. I was completely amazed by the accuracy, the musicianship and the skill of all of the musicians in her band. I also really enjoyed her interaction with them between songs. The extra clips of what happened before the concert were also very informative and gave a glimpse into Cara’s personality and the preparation that was undertaken.
Because I like songs from all of Cara’s albums, here’s a few of my favourites: Here’s a health from the album after the morning. I love the combination of piano in guitar in this. In the album Cara Dillon I like the song I am a youth inclined to ramble. It’s nice and quiet and as with a lot of the songs Cara Dillon sings, there’s a story in the words. In the album Sweet liberty, I love the song there were roses. This tells of a story of two friends. One Protestant and one catholic and how they were needlessly killed. One was killed probably because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the other was killed in retaliation. Like all of the violence relating to the troubles in the occupied six counties it could have been avoided. It’s a lovely tribute and she sings it very well. Finally, to my favourite album from Cara Dillon, Hill of thieves. I could list off all of the songs I love in this album but it would take too long. Equally picking just one song that really stands out is just as difficult. I’ll pick two of them. Firstly, track one on the album is called Hill of thieves. It’s a brilliant song. I love the arrangement and all of the backing instruments jell really well. I love the pipes in this as well. The arrangement is very simple but hugely effective One of the flute players from the Infamous bands Flook features heavily on this track with a theme that’s actually a tune that was on a very old Lunasa album if I’m not mistaken. Brilliant stuff! The next track that stands out is called Spencer the rover. Again, as is prominent on most of her albums but especially on this one, the instrumental backing is just brilliant. The combination of the Piano and guitar is incredible. I want to hear more of it. I love the way she sings this though. I don’t really like the male vocalist or more accurately, I don’t like the way he pronounces some of the words. It irritates me more than it logically should so if he ever reads this, I’m very sorry. It does however add a really nice level to it. Especially where the song tells of his great confusion, sighing and lamenting. It’s probably more emphasized and forceful than if Cara had sang it alone.

There’s just no disputing it. Cara has one of the best voices in the country. Her musical arrangements and her choice of songs definitely earn her a place on my favourites list. I’d love to play music in a group like that. I love tunes a lot more than songs but to be part of that kind of unified playing is exhilarating. It’s almost symbiotic for me. I get incredible thrills from playing with good musicians. Especially when we’re well practised. When you know the arrangement well you can play so much better than when you are in a session or something else like that because you know exactly where you stand in the sound.

Could I really write these posts without mentioning the man who originally taught me? Of course not! He’s a musician that few outside the traditional music scene would recognise easily but he’s a man who has been one of my main influences even though the last time he taught me must have been fifteen years ago. Hopefully he doesn’t read that as I’m sure he’d rather not remember how long ago that was.

I’m talking about Mick O’Brian in this post. Not because he taught me but because he was one of the reasons I fell in love with the sound of the pipes. I heard his amazing skill echoing around the corridors of the school and the infectious and full sound of the full set always made me stop for a moment in admiration even from a very early age.

Mick O’Brian is from a very musical family and in fact I’ve had the pleasure of playing music with his brother John recently in a small pub on the quay in Dublin called the Ferryman on a Saturday night. Like Maurice Lennon who featured in Tuesdays post, Mick has music in his blood and it really shows.

Mick has recorded four albums that I’m aware of. The first one has to be my favourite though. Called the May morning Dew it actually features a slow air by the same name that is still my favourite air of all and it’s one I continue to play more than any other at gigs. I love this album because it has a nice variation of whistle and pipes. It also benefits from backing by a very nice guitar player and the selection of tunes is brilliant.

Some of my favourite tunes are definitely Bumper Squire Jones-An Sean Duine-O’Sullivan’s March. These start off with lovely basy guitar playing and drones but with the second tune the lack of the guitar and the extensive use of the regulators providing chordal accompaniment really lightens the tone. The technique could be more complicated in these tunes but it doesn’t need to be. If you listen carefully you’ll notice that he uses grace notes sparingly but there’s a pattern to them. For example, sometimes there at the start of a note and other times they help to break a note in two for effect. Sometimes he only does it every second note or sometimes he’ll put the grace note exactly in the same place as the tune comes back around again. I wonder at times if he realises he’s doing it. It’s something I’ve tried to aspire to occasionally but I find it takes a lot of concentration. It’s often easier to spoil a tune with over complication than it is to break it down to that level of sophistication while keeping it that light and simple. Sorry. I’m probably making no sense at all. Ok. I’ll try to explain this once more. In these tunes Mick could have put in triplets and crans all over the place but although these feature in certain parts, their underutilized and instead more subtle forms of ornamentation can be heard. Even when you don’t recognise the piping skill demonstrated in his playing you’ll still appreciate the flow of the tune as a result of his style.

I’d like to mention one more of my favourites from the same album. It’s a set called Micko Russel’s-Moneymusk. I just love the piano that’s backing these tunes. Seriously, if you have never heard this CD, please go buy it today and listen to that track. Its number 7. You’ll love the piano on it.

One of his later CD’s was the ancient voice of Ireland. This was done for RTE I think and from what I gather; Mick may not have had as much input into the resulting arrangements however I have to say that it’s one of my favourite albums to listen to when I just want to relax for a while. One of the tracks is a bit strange but I like listening to the instrumental versions of these commonly known Irish songs. For example, I love the sound of the pipes in She moved through the fair. I also love the melody of The Coolin but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like that tune.

I have to admit, I have something bad to say. I’m sorry but I’m not a huge fan of the CD’s that Mick O’Brien has done in collaboration with Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. Musically, their very good and for purist Irish traditional musicians their brilliant. However, and I have to be very clear here, In my opinion as someone who likes nice backing by other instruments such as the guitar, I find the two albums Kitty Lie Over and Deadly Buzz just a little dead for my taste. I listen to them, their lovely tunes and both musicians are brilliant, and they just don’t rank up there in my favourites.

Finally, it’s only fair that I show a video of both Mick O’Brien & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh as well.

We’re on day three now. Sorry to those who have been checking for these posts in the mornings. I don’t get time to adequately research each musician until late in the evenings and I’d hate to write a post without trying to give you as much information as I can as I wouldn’t be doing the musicians justice if I was only writing a quick note about each one.

Tonight, I’ve decided to tell you about another singer. People who know me very well will be surprised I think at the number of singers I plan to cover in this top ten as my main love in music is instrumentals. I prefer tunes to songs any day but the singers I’ve been introduced to especially over the past six years have really changed my perspective and opinions.

One such singer that really opened my ears was Julie Fowlis. As soon as I heard her I was instantly attracted to the recognisable Scottish rhythms and melodies. I also love that she doesn’t ever sing in English but instead sings in her native language Scots Gaelic. Unfortunately this is very different to Irish Gaelic therefore I’m unable to understand anything she sings but that really doesn’t matter. I can sit and listen for hours to her voice, the melodies, the musical arrangements of the backing instruments and as I said earlier, the very obvious Scottish rhythms. It’s said that Scottish tunes and songs are more rhythmic and less melodic than Irish equivalents however Julie’s choice of music blows this notion out of the water. Take for example the song Hug Air A Bhonald Mhoir from the album Cuilidh. This is upbeat but has a really lovely tune behind it. It would be in 4 4 time but it isn’t strictly. I have absolutely no idea what she’s singing about. All her songs might be about the joys of milking cows but it really doesn’t matter.

Julie is also a very nice whistle player. Track 6 on the same album Cuilidh and track 3 on the album Mar a tha mo chridhe feature her on the whistle however it’s very funny to look through the album listing as I write this as on each CD she just calls them jigs and reels or set of jigs. She seems to be like most of us traditional musicians. She doesn’t know the names of the tunes!

One of my favourite songs by Julie Fowlis has to be on her latest CD Uam. It’s called Thig Am Bàta. I have to admit, the main reason I like it so much is because of the arrangement. It just has Julie singing and a bodhran player backing. The rhythm makes the bodhran player’s job a little difficult but he really excels. I don’t think I’ve heard many bodhran players that could have pulled that off. Of course, dragging myself away from the Bodhran for a moment, another one of my favourites has to be Puirt from the album Mar a tha mo chridhe. I love the way this song changes beat three times and the tunes at each change always sound refreshing. I’d love to know what those pipes are accompanying her. I know I should instantly recognise them but I can’t for some reason. However, the below video shows her playing the pipes. Tony Byrne is listed as an accompanist? That’s cool. I haven’t seen him in about a year. I played a few sessions with him not so long ago around Dublin. He’s a hell of a guitar player.

Ok. I think I’ve said about enough in this post. Let me leave you with the last video of Julie. Listen to how fast she’s singing and the skill of staying in tune at that speed! It has to be very difficult.

Today I wasn’t really sure who to pick. There are just so many musicians that really stand out but I really want to tell you about a musician I have had the fortune to play music with a lot up until he moved to America about two years ago.

He is acknowledged as being one of the most talented fiddle players in Ireland and stands among the greats such as Eileen Ivers, Cathal Hayden and Gerry O’Connor.

He was a founding member of the legendary Stockton’s Wing and has toured the world playing for dignitaries in some of the nicest venues a musician could ever dream about.

He’s the kind of person that composes successful tunes played by hundreds of musicians while putting his shoes on in the morning. I kid you not! He’s just that good.

I’m of course talking about Maurice Lennon. Originally from Leitrim he is a master of the Fiddle and one of the most gifted composers I think I’ll ever have the fortune to meet. I am absolutely serious about that. Some people write tunes but Maurice seems to just know the way the notes want to be played. I’ll give you an example so you don’t think I’m talking rubbish. One Sunday I turned up to a session in the Rathmines Innin Dublin. Maurice was playing there as usual. When things started to quieten down a bit he took out the viola and began playing a tune on his own. The tune was called Master Shanleys and from what I gather, he wrote it that day. The tune was written in memory of Michael Shanley, a teacher and later the head master in his local school in Kiltyclogher. I could be wrong because Maurice told me about this about three years ago but Maurice walked miles to this man’s house to play music with his family. To again show that his tunes become widely appreciated this tune featured on the latest Lunasa CD the Leitrim Equasian. Sorry, I cant find a recording at the moment.

Two of my favourite tunes ever have to be two composed by Maurice lennon. The first is called If ever you were mine and the second is called Maeves dance. Like almost all of the tunes composed by Maurice Lennon there is meaning behind these tunes. Maeves dance for example was composed after Maurice watched a documentary that told of an Irish family who emigrated to Australia when their Daughter, Maeve was only six. After a short time passed, she was tragically hit by a car and was killed instantly. However, this is not what the documentary focused on. Instead, it focused on an imaginary world that Maeve created and wrote about in great detail in her diary. Maurice was captivated by this world and the second tune, recognised by its waltz tempo was the result of the inspiration he got from this world.

A few years ago I recorded both of these tuens and posted them to my website. Their not half as good as when Maurice plays them but hopefully they’ll be ok. Use this link to listen to the recording.

For the next two weeks I will focus on my ten favourite Irish traditional or folk musicians. Of course, with music tastes change and the musician I loved listening to last month might be the one I only listen to in passing this month. That’s simply the nature of music I think. However, the musicians that really earn a place in my top ten are the ones that I go back to time and time again either because I love their arrangements or I continue to be inspired by their style of playing. Inspired is not used lightly. Musicians have inspired my playing from the first day I picked up an instrument. Some musicians that I listened and learn from for example use a technique called tight piping. It’s where notes are not played in legato, their more staccato. In non-musical terms that mean that instead of flowing notes one after another you might hear a tiny pause or small popping sound between each note. That’s not an entirely accurate description but it will hopefully be adequate for this post. Sometimes, in my opinion, a musician’s style of playing is the culmination of the musicians that have inspired him or her. This leads to what is hopefully an entirely unique style that becomes like a signature for that person.

The first musician I would like to introduce you to is Kate Rusby. This woman is an English folk singer who gave me a new appreciation for singing and the instrumental arrangements that accompany it. From the first time I listened to her I really liked the way she portrayed feeling and a sense of the meaning behind each song she sang. For example, in the album underneath the stars in the song Sweet Williams ghost, she sings of how a woman is called to her lovers grave by his ghost only to be told that they must part for the last time. The woman overcome with grief lies down on the grave, stretches out her limbs and cries. The way Kate sings this by elongating the word cries by subtly dragging out the r adds power and meaning to the words.

Kate Rusby seems to be as comfortable with fast songs as she is with portraying feeling in the slower songs she sings. With accompaniment by infamous musicians such as John McKusker and Michael McGoldrick she is one of the only singers I know who can add jazzy rhythms into folk songs. A song that really explains this better than I can with words is Sir Eglamore from the albums Hour glass and again on Ten.

Before I get to my favourite songs by Kate Rusby, I’d just like to say that one of my all time hates has to be Drowned lovers from the album Hour glass. I have to write one song that I don’t like to just be fair about the whole thing. When a musician brings out 8 or more albums then I think their doing really well if there’s just one that I don’t really like.

A few of Kate Rusbies songs really stand out for me as favourites. Mary Blaize from the album The girl who couldn’t fly, The blind harper from the album Underneith the stars and last but certainly not least because I love her voice in it and the powerful drums in the background, I am stretched out on your grave from the album Hour glass.

Listen to Sir Eglamore sung by Kate Rusby on Youtube: