Releases > Releases June 2025

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GERARD FAHY and the WILD ATLANTIC ORCHESTRA
Own Label, 13 Tracks, 53 Minutes
www.gerardfahymusic.com
Gerard Fahy’s work with some of the finest traditional musicians, together with the Macedonia Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Sofia Radio Orchestra, has resulted in an album of hugely expansive music. Fahy has form, having composed for Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance Dangerous Games and he is steeped in music; his grandfather Tommy Whyte was a founding member of the famous Ballinakill Céilí Band. Galway based readers will know him from the long-running live summer shows Trad on The Prom.
The catalyst for the recording came on the passing of his mother in 2016, when Gerard was moved to write a tribute piece in her honour, called Bridie’s Road Home, a thank you for all she had done to nurture his music. It is the second track on the album, heralded in with orchestral violins and a piano, setting the stage for Fahy’s emotive pipes, the chanter soaring over a lush harmonic backdrop whilst the orchestra leads the melody out on an extended chord.
If you like your pipes wild and in the spirit of Moving Hearts, then I’m sure you will love his Solas; the final section is a wild pipe-pulsing Hibernian Rock. He brings things back a notch or two on the cinematic Anam, the crescendo has his pipes at boiling point before the piece is resolved. Fahy takes up the whistle on Knockadrum, with its jazzy opening and underpinning keyboards, he is joined by Maureen Fahy on the violin. There’s more lounge-jazz to close this track.
Pipes of Peace begins as a gentle melody on low whistle, then 90 seconds in, Fahy’s pipes grab the melodic theme, and are soon joined by percussion giving a contemporary dimension to the orchestral arrangement.
The only traditional piece on the album is a very modern reworking of My Lagan Love with singer Paula Gilmer giving a performance which has shades of Sinéad O’Connor. If you buy the disc rather than the Bandcamp download, there is a bonus track. Tell Me Why, sung by Zena Donnelly, and as I said at the start, this is a big number. It is full on Celtic orchestral rock. A wild spirit befitting the thrill of living on the Atlantic edge.
Seán Laffey

DABILLA
The Hound of Boann
Own Label, 10 Tracks, 45 Minutes www.dabilla.ie
Dabilla are an emerging duo consisting of Darragh Ó Héiligh on uilleann pipes and whistles along with guitarist and singer Oisín Dillon. They describe themselves as pioneers of the emerging folktronica genre, which combines traditional forms with electronic instruments to produce innovative new soundscapes. Both of them hail from Drogheda, Co. Louth, and their album is inspired by local folklore and mythology, Boann was a local goddess according to legend, and Dabilla was her faithful hound.
The opener The Blacksmith showcases their panoramic approach, using the song as a vehicle to feature the regulators on the uilleann pipes to drive a percussive accompaniment style. It’s on the traditional tunes that the sounds get more interesting, allowing the pipes to soar, bend and sing with various digital enhancements, without ever losing sight of the underlying structure. Oisín’s guitar is also enhanced in a very studied manner, he’s a strong rhythmic player and has some nice chord choices to underpin the dreamier sequences in the music.
The album was recorded and mixed by Darragh, who has acquired the necessary skills in the past year, and the audio quality is superb throughout. All the music is played by just the core members. There are three original pieces on the album: Memories is an anthemic song written by Oisín, Chasing Chances is a co-written tune, while Darragh contributes March of Kaiser, which has lovely interplay between guitar and pipes. Innovation is at the core of Dabilla’s approach, with an amazing range of sonic textures obtained from the two players. This allows them to take a standard ballad such as Rocky Road to Dublin and transform it into another dimension. Dabilla deserve major credit for pursuing an enthralling musical path, and based on this album, it’s clear that an exciting journey is just beginning.
Mark Lysaght

CASSIE AND MAGGIE
Gold and Coal
Own Label, 11 Tracks, 35 Minutes www.cassieandmaggie.com
Two sisters from Nova Scotia, Cassie and Maggie MacDonald might have made my album of the month. What makes this so special apart from the playing, the production and the care and detail in the presentation, is its juxtaposition of the old with the new. That duality is inherent in its title, Gold and Coal. Gold pointing to hope for the future, coal looking back to a time when the Province’s prosperity was tied to the rich seams of coal suited to making steel, the best seams of which were near New Waterford in Cape Breton.
The sisters avoid a simple historical telling of the time and legacy of mining but focus, for example on Bow Down, on the human condition. Here it is a warning about safe working, the fiddle adding a menacing dread, it’s deliciously dark. There’s hope in Nancy, a traditional song that tells us the Nightingale and Larks are symbols of resilience - no matter how hard things may seem, one chirps in the dark, the other on the wing. The girls give us a Gaelic song with Cape Breton fiddle and step dancing on I Long To Return (Bu Deonach Leam Tilleadh). They follow this with Robert Frost; their new melody wedded to his poem Peck of Gold makes this as relevant today as it was when it was a comment on the disappointment of the California Gold Rush. They also found another 19th century song Dear Imogene by Pluck Marriot that they transform into Celtic Rock, adding some extra lines such as: “We’re living fast but it’s going by slow.” A favourite of mine is The Old Miner, its melody would make an earworm of a slow air.
Every track here is a gem, from the scratchy LP evoked on Blue Monday, to Ewan MacColl’s The Big Hewer with fiddle and banjo shifting the action from one side of the Atlantic to the other. They finish the album with some pure Americana: The Gold Rush is Over and I’m Moving On, I’m sure this makes the best song to end their live set.
They make great music in Canada and Cassie and Maggie are up there with the best of them. This is an album with the lustre and untarnished longevity of gold and the pent up heat of ancient coal.
Seán Laffey

WILLOWGREEN
Sheila’s Brush
Own Label, 13 Tracks, 48 Minutes www.willowgreenmusic.com
This is Duluth based Willowgreen’s 6th album, and it’s been 26 years since their 5th recording. Their music draws on the traditions of Ireland, Newfoundland, Scotland, Canada, Wales, and the USA. There are deep Newfoundland Connections too, with three members of the band having roots in one of Canada’s most musical provinces.
Their signature sound evocatively echoes through many of the tracks, courtesy of Wendy Nelson’s hammered dulcimer and Georganne Hunter’s harp. It is this shared resonance that gives a special character to the ensemble’s music.
The group consists of Sue Spencer (six & twelve-string guitars, vocals, button accordion), Georganne Hunter (Gaelic harp, whistle), Jim Ofsthun (bodhrán, vocals, whistles, mandolin, button accordion), Mary Lou Williams (vocals, bodhrán), Wendy Nelson (hammered dulcimer). Their newest members are Liesel Wilson (fiddle, vocals) and Bridget Spencer (fiddle and octave fiddle).
Phil Cunningham’s The Monday Morning Reel segues into The Star of the County Down. The opening reel is taken as awakening to a new week, the vocals perfectly articulate Cathal MacGarvey’s timeless folk song.
They visit the new Scottish song tradition with Karine Polwart’s Follow The Heron Home about a dawn journey after a late night session, and go back in time for The Broom of the Cowdenknowes. Dougie MacLean’s The Storm, is sung by Mary Lou Williams, her alto perfectly matched to the message of the song, which incidentally links to the album’s title, Sheila’s Brush, a Newfoundland phrase naming a seasonal storm that occurs on or close to St. Patrick’s Day.
They revive the song The Half Door, which was popular in Ireland 50 years ago, mashing it up with an unnamed Shetland Reel and a Quebecois tune Le Reel Du Fogeron. Two of Georganne Hunter’s compositions Solstice Fire and North Craig put the harp centre stage. The former has a Breton flavour, the latter is a free form tone poem. The album closes with an a-cappella Lowlands Away in the same vein as She Moved Through the Fair, a dream of a revenant dead lover. It’s a strong ending to a quality robust and satisfying album. Sheila’s Brush will sweep up its fans for sure.
Seán Laffey

ON THE LASH
Fireside
Own Label, 5 Tracks, 19 Minutes
www.onthelashband.com
On The Lash write on their Bandcamp page, “Every tune on the album is an adaptation from a band, writer, or player who has, in some way or another, shaped our musical direction and development.”
They all began as classical players but as you’ll discover here they are more than comfortable in a Celtic alt-folk genre, that sits somewhere between Solas and Runa, and that is a good comparison. The members are: Elizabeth June LaPeer on lead vocals and flute, Joel Tyrone Myers on octave mandolin & backing vocals. John Robey plays fiddle /and joins in on backing vocals with Patrick Hartson on guitar and backing vocals.
Their first track is John Riley, composed by Tim O’Brien and Guy Clark, in which they introduce a very lively mid-section, their take on a reel by the Paul McKenna Band. The music shifts to Ireland on two dance tunes: Timmy Clifford’s and Rookery, the latter written by Vincent Broderick. The set opens with an octave mandolin riff and closes with a crescendo on the same instrument as a fluttering strum.
The fiddle provides eery screeching notes on the old Silly Wizard song Donald McGillavry, named for a Jacobite leader in one or the other of the Scottish 18^th century risings. They go all Alpine and revisit their classical roots on Verändler, a modern appropriation of traditional Swiss dance music; listen carefully and you can hear the band emulate mountain yodelling.
Dog in The Distance closes the album. It’s a new song by Joel Tyrone Myers. They weave it together with two of Mike McGoldrick’s tunes, Farewell to Whalley Range, a slip jig that is increasing in popularity these days and the Freefalling reel.
There might be only 5 tracks here - fear not, On The Lash have put down a marker. It’s exciting, intelligent and driven music, and it’s crackling by the fireside. What’s not to like?
Seán Laffey

DON BANJO SMITH and FRIENDS
Own Label, Double album, 25 Tracks, 96 Minutes
www.donbanjosmith.com
A veteran folk singer from the North East of the USA, tenor banjo player Don ‘Banjo’ Smith has gathered a bunch of friends to create music that has the feel of a legacy recording, highlighting both the breadth and longevity of Smith’s music.
The album cover presents a baker’s dozen of snap shots of folks who have played on the album, all of them obviously having a great time. And why not. There are tracks here that would grace any ballad session from Ballymun to Boston and many a pub in between: The Rare Old Mountain Dew, The Ballad of St, Anne’s Reel, the dance tune retaining its DNA of  Nova Scotian country-swing. There are American songs too, such as Johnny Cash’s Big River and Eldorado, an Edgar Allen Poe poem set to music and sung by Rockin’ Randy Shenise.
Kevin Behan plays low whistle on The Lonesome Boatman with Don’s banjo trailing the shapes of Finbar Furey. Terry Kane (a lady) sings Colleen Rua in Irish, some double tracking here, Terry playing mandolin and guitar and Don on banjo and concertina. The first disc ends with a rousing chorus song Whiskey Right Now, which puts us in the mood for the second helping, where Don’s friends get their chance to shine. Such as a set of banjo tunes attributed to the playing of Peter Seeger, here in the very agile hands of Greg Jowaisas. Another friend Jack Driscoll sings On Raglan Road; take time out to appreciate the short guitar break before the concertina takes on the melody. Ronan Smith tips a hat to the great Stan Rogers, firstly with a quick version of the Mary Ellen Carter. He also sings Fogerty’s Cove, another Rogers’ classic. The second disc ends with a version of Tommy Sands’ When The Boys Come Rolling Home, here sung by Don, Marty “Moonshine” McKernan and Mike Griffin.
There is a generosity of spirit in this album, clearly displaying the joy Don ‘Banjo’ Smith has had over many years making music with his friends. If you are looking for songs for your ballad session, this is a handy port of call, tell your friends about it.
Seán Laffey

STEVE KNIGHTLEY
Positively Folk Street - Dylan, Carthy and Me
Hands On Music HMCD55, 12 Tracks, 44 Minutes
www.steveknightley.com
This album hangs on two folk singers and Knightley’s response to them. Foremost is a Mr Bob Dylan. From an Irish perspective we view him as the magpie mind that adopted and remodelled Irish folk songs he had learnt from the Clancys in Greenwich Village. There is also an equally important English dimension to Dylan’s early oeuvre, from the winter of 1962 when he visited London and met a young Martin Carthy.
Carthy has been active for over 60 years in the folk genre. His guitar was groundbreaking and his re-working of old English folk song, its punchy rhythms and its imagery, a revelation to an audience that was embroiled in the leftist theatrical folk dogma of MacColl of the time.
Knightley, an accomplished songwriter himself cites his epiphany on hearing Dylan sing about ordinary every day; this album is his way of paying back that creative debt. There is a hint of fragility in Knightley’s vocal on Forever Young as if the singer knows his wish cannot, sadly, be fulfilled. The title track is one of Dylan’s most enigmatic songs, written shortly after his iconic Like a Rolling Stone. It is bitter to the core. Much has been written about it, mostly speculation and conjecture, its title not even appearing in its lyrics. The jury is out, but the word on the street is, it was a reaction to a musical rift between himself and the folky community of the Village.
Knightley brings us into Carthy’s 1960’s orbit on Polly On The Shore, Bruton Town, Just as The Tide Was Flowing and Lord Franklin, pairing the songs here with either a guitar or cuatro, a contrast to his previous release The Winter Yards. The most accessible song to ears trained on traditional music is Boots of Spanish Leather, Knightley playing a running fingerpicked melody throughout. His accompaniment on Broomfield Hill and Seven Yellow Gypsies is reminiscent of Donal Lunny in his pomp. He puts down the guitar and is backed by sparse accordion on Lord Franklin, leaving emotional space to tell of the tragic loss of the famous explorer.
Although this could have been a cover version of when Bob met Marty, Knightley brings himself to the work, avoiding the simplicity of a Dylan lick or Carthy’s complex percussive odd-tuned guitar. The nearest Knightley comes to a pastiche of Dylan is The Girl From The North County with an additional harmonica. Positively 4th Street is not a middle road, but a new vantage point, 60 odd years on, looking back at a crossroads, not with hindsight, but with grateful inspiration.
Seán Laffey

MARK LYNDON
Buckley’s Folly
Own Label, Single, 4 Minutes, 38 Seconds
www.facebook.com/MarkLyndonMusic
Originally from Birr, County Offaly, Mark Lyndon is a singer/songwriter and guitarist based in Cork, and has been building a solid reputation across Ireland recently. His music is firmly rooted in the Irish folk tradition, with echoes of the greats such as Planxty and Paul Brady.
However, he also paints from a wider palette, and there are echoes of other influences from American rock and world music in his work.
Buckley’s Folly is his third single release, an engaging composition about a real-life cairn erected by Eoin Buckley from the Blackwater Valley in Cork, who volunteered as a soldier in World War I. Buckley’s idea was that the cairn would act as a memorial to him, especially if he didn’t return. Having survived the conflict, on his return he was shunned by the locals.
Mark relates the story as an endearing ballad, with guitar and bouzouki embellished by Maria Ryan’s baroque-tinged string arrangement. His voice is strong and carries the song well, and the lyrics are carefully constructed to reflect Buckley’s motivations – overall it’s an appealing mixture, and an excellent showcase for his talents. On the evidence of this track, we’ll be hearing a lot more from Mark in the future.
Mark Lysaght