Irish vocalist Karan Casey and guitar virtuoso John Doyle were founding members of traditional supergroup Solas, a band known for rousing, furious tunes and striking renditions of traditional songs. On their recent Album 'Exile's Return', the two former bandmates reunite to create a stripped-down CD that…

We have just updated our Top Ten Traditional Albums for May and there is a new entrant in the top ten.  Its an accordion album by Johnny McCarthy and Alph Duggan called Steele's Rock.  Tony McMahon on the liner notes states that "I really enjoyed listening to Johnny's new album, Steele's Rock. The slow, lyrical pace is…

We are giving this week's track of the week to a quirky little number that we came across from Tradconnect member Danny Deepo who describes himself as a "Turntablist, producer, DJ and music enthusiast from Ireland.

Check out his …

Audience participation and engagement with traditional Irish music concerts is a critical part of the the overall experience. When you look at Brendan Begley or Paddy Keenan or people from the folk tradition like Christy Moore you know that the stories and tales are as much a part of the show as the songs and music. Polished musicianship can at best only…

The Celtic Fiddle Festival are celebrating their 20th anniversary with tours on both sides of the Atlantic accompanied by the release of a new CD, “Live in Brittany” this week. …

Find detailed below the London Trad Scene Roundup as prepared and issued by Karen Ryan as part of her email newsletter.  This is a general update of lots of different things that are happening in and around the London…

Frankie Gavin and De Danann will be the big concert at this years Skerries Traditional Irish music festival which takes place this weekend. Their concert takes place on Saturday 18th May. This wonderful event has established itself as the signature Trad Music Festival of Ireland’s East Coast. The picturesque seaside town of Skerries plays host to a…

Here is an interesting little jazzy track that we came across recently.  Echoes of Cormac Breatnach and other modern and contemporary bands in it.  Must look out for more of their tracks.

'Deis' are a Modern Irish Traditional Folk band that began life in late 2011 after…

When it comes to Australian trad bands there are not that many that spring to mind. Sásta seem to be correcting that situation.  We have just recently come across their debut album, also called Sásta and the strong background to their members shows why the quality of their music is so high. The band …

Beoga songstress/violinist Niamh Dunne has just launched her first solo album entitled “Portraits”. With master guitar player and producer Seán Óg Graham, Niamh’s first song album is a mix of traditional songs and folk material,…

Following the phenomenal success of their Voices & Harps album which we reviewed last year Moya…

Its nice to revisit some albums that we have reviewed over the last while and watch as they progress through launches, audio files becoming available etc.  One album from last year that was interesting and different was Nights in Shanaglish 

The idea…

Tradconnect member Aoife Scott has just announced that she will be joining up with The Outside Track this year commencing with a tour in Australia.…

This is a group worth checking out, especially for those of you living in Belfast.  Scottish group Rura play there on 17th May 2013. Rura ( Not to be confused with Runa from the States )  are being described as one of the best acts to emerge from the Scottish music scene in the last number of years. They were the winners of the prestigious Danny…

Our track of the week comes from Irish group Goitse and their second album called Transformed.  They are on tour in Ireland at the moment and will play The Mill Theatre in Dundrum, Dublin on 7th June, a concert we might try and get along to. They have received a lot of good press lately especially for this album which was produced and…

The fiddler Ronan O'Flaherty's final program will present this episode from The Crane in Galway city. Brendan Browne, Damien Stenson, We Banjo 3  and the singer Paul Canavan among his guests. 

Here are the musicians…

Our track of the week this week is taken from the new Banjo album by Colm Naughton that will be launched on 29th May at The Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, Co. Mayo.  We have the album and will follow up with a review shortly.

This track features and set of Barndances called…

For our Album of the month for May 2013 we are crossing the atlantic to New York for a great release by a group that call themselves The Yanks. A great name and a great album. The Yanks are Dan Gurney on accordion,…