Music from the Atlantic Fringe

by The Unwanted

Overview

Siglo, Ireland, seems an unlikely home for a trio that plays American roots music, but as everyone knows, the music of Ireland and Scotland is the backbone of a lot of mountain music from bluegrass to the droning Appalachian laments of Jean Ritchie and Dock Boggs. The Unwanted -- Cathy Jordan and Seamus O'Dowd, both formerly of Dervish, and American pal Rick Epping -- are all avid song collectors and folklorists as well as performers, and are familiar with the ways music from Ireland and America has crisscrossed the Atlantic, transforming itself from jig and reels to cowboy songs and blues. Like all folk musicians, they continue to reshape and transform the songs themselves. "The Morning Blues," a ragtime tune popularized by the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, gets a jaunty treatment with O'Dowd's slide guitar shooting off sparks and Epping singing an insouciant lead. "Angelina Baker" combines a traditional tune with a melody by Stephen Foster, to tell the tale of a poor boy driven mad by love. O'Dowd's fiddle, Epping's banjo, and Jordan's bodhran lend the tune a Celtic flavor. "Sadly Grows the Rose" sounds ancient, but was written by Nashville songwriter Sharon Vaughn. Jordan's fragile vocal gives the song a suitably hopeless feel. "Sweet Becky at the Loom," another song of hopeless love, dates from the American Civil War, with a melancholy tune that echoes the green hills of Ireland. Jordan sings it with a perfect air of hopeless desperation. The Rolling Stones' "No Expectations" is performed with the trio's aching three-part harmonies complementing O'Dowd's sparse, slithering Dobro work, while "It's Cool to Be Green" shows their lighthearted side, with an ironic ragtime take on ecological disaster. ~ j. poet

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2009
Label:	COMPASS RECORDS
UPC:	0766397452623

Tracks

1. Out on the Western Plains
2. Sweet Becky at the Loom
3. The Morning Blues
4. The Duke of Leinster Set
5. It's Cool to Be Green
6. The Diamantina Drover
7. Angelina Baker
8. Shove the Pig's Foot Set
9. Turn the Corner
10. Sadly Grows the Rose
11. No Expectations
12. An Phis Fliuch
13. Eileen a Ruin

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Unwanted   Primary Artist,Primary Artist
Rick Epping   Vocals,Jaw Harp,Mandolin,Harmonica,Concertina,5-string Banjo
Seamie O'Dowd   Drums (Snare),Mandolin,Darbouka,Vocals,Guitar,Fiddle,Dobro
Cathy Jordan   Trombone,Bouzouki,Autoharp,Vocals,Guitar,Bodhran

Technical Credits

Rick Epping   Producer,Liner Notes,Cover Design,Mixing,Graphic Design
Cathal McDonagh   Assistant Engineer
Ray Duffy   Engineer
Seamie O'Dowd   Cover Design,Liner Notes,Producer,Mixing
Cathy Jordan   Cover Design,Liner Notes,Producer,Mixing
Brian McDonagh   Producer,Mixing