Recommended Recordings

Current Favorite Albums

  • Beolach – Beolach.  Great Cape Breton playing, fantastic arrangements, excellent tunes.  I just don’t get tired of this album.
  • Bruce Molsky.  I honestly can’t pick my favorite disc of his, but he’s making up about 50% of what I listen to right now.  I’ll keep you posted.
  • Ian Carr & Karen Tweed – Fyace, also SHHH.  Really innovative guitar and piano accordion – lots of Scandinavian and original repertoire.
  • John McCusker – Goodnight Ginger.  I want to learn every tune on this CD.  John McCusker plays a mean fiddle.  (Scottish)
  • Karen Tweed & Andy Cutting – One Roof Under.  Double accordions, fantastic arrangements.  Must be heard to be believed.  (Mostly Irish and Scandinavian)
  • Niall & Cillian Vallely – Callan Bridge.  One brother plays uilleann pipes and whistle, the other concertina.  This is pure magic.  Another album where I want to learn every tune.
  • Rhys Jones & Christina Wheeler – Starry Crown.  Double old-time fiddle and some great singing to boot.  Yup, you guessed it, this whole album went directly to my “Learn Me” iTunes folder as well.
  • Ruthie Dornfeld, Joel Bernstein, Keith Murphy – Ways of the World.  Great old-time on fiddle, harmonica (yeah!), banjo, and guitar.  Absolutely brilliant.

New England/Contra Repertoire

  • Clayfoot Strutters.  Old-time influenced contra.  The name pretty much says it all.
  • Montville Project.  2 CDs chock full of classic New England tunes.  A great repertoire source.
  • Nightingale.  Great contra band based in Vermont, playing a mix of tunes, lots of Irish and Quebecois.
  • Popcorn Behavior/Assembly.  These guys recorded a couple of great CDs, some when they were just children.  I liked the old name better…  It looks like Journeywork and Strangest Dream are only available used online.  January EP is available on CD Baby.
  • Wild Asparagus.  I’m amazed my copies of these CDs haven’t worn out.  Irish-influenced contra music, some of the first fiddle recordings I owned.

Irish

Scottish and Cape Breton

  • Battlefield Band.  These guys have been playing for ages, with different line-ups of great musicians.  I particularly enjoy their CD Happy Daze.
  • Beolach. Great Cape Breton playing, fantastic arrangements, excellent tunes.  I also highly recommend the individual band members’ CDs which can also be found at their band site.
  • Ed Pearlman.
  • Flook.
  • John McCusker.  A magnificent Scottish fiddler.  He also writes a lot of wonderful tunes.
  • Natalie MacMaster.
  • Neil Pearlman.

Quebecois

  • Genticorum.
  • Nicolas Boulerice & Olivier Demers – Le Vent du Nord est Toujours Fret.
  • Les Têtes des Violons.
  • Vent du Nord.

Old-Time

  • Bruce Molsky. Fantastic fiddle and banjo player and singer.  I love everything he does.  He’s pretty much my hero.
  • Dirk Powell.
  • Rhys Jones & Christina Wheeler – Starry Crown.  Double old-time fiddle and some great singing to boot.

Scandinavian

  • Haugaard & Høirup.  Danish duo.
  • Ian Carr & Karen Tweed.  They play in Swåp and have recorded a couple of great CDs as a duo.
  • Swåp.
  • Väsen.