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

• Across the Waters: Irish Traditional Music From England.  (Compilation).  Excellent tunes from a variety of players.  Part of the same project as Fiddle Sticks.
• Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh.  Definitely on the more innovative end of Irish music, he also plays a Norwegian hardanger fiddle.  Sweet, sweet sounds.  Also check out this series of videos of him playing solo on YouTube.
• Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal. (Compilation).  Excellent tunes from a variety of players.  Part of the same project as Across the Waters.
• Liz Carroll.  Great Irish Trad player from Chicago.  She uses less bow than anyone I’ve ever seen, but gets a mighty amount of sound out somehow.
• Lúnasa.  Nice tunes, high-power playing.  These guys tour the states sometimes.
• Niall & Cillian Vallely.  One brother plays uilleann pipes and whistle, the other concertina.  They are playing with all sorts, and doing it well.
• Press Gang.  These local boys have put a really nice CD together and play a good show to boot.

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.