CD Review: Across the Black River

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Published: May 3, 2007

Kevin Burke and Cal Scott
Across the Black River
Kevin Burke and Cal Scott
Loftus Music
Release Date: January 2007
Irish Traditional

The players:

Kevin Burke (fiddle)
Cal Scott (guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, mountain dulcimer)
Johnny B. Connolly (accordions)
Michael McGoldrick (flutes)
Phil Baker (double bass)

The review: As with so many Irish music recordings, it’s impossible to hang a “traditional” tag on it and just let things go at that. “Across the Black River” is solidly Irish, but Burke and Scott gleefully toss many ingredients into the old Irish stew—Cajun, bluegrass, a bit of Texas swing, Parisian sidewalk music—and nothing seems out of place.

The CD reminds me of a similarly playful offering, “Ciaran Tourish’s “Down the Line” (Compass, 2005). Burke and Scott really up the ante, though. The result of this inspired pairing is a CD that sounds fresh, new and glorious.

(You can hear the results yourself Friday, May 11, at 8 p.m. at the Philadelphia Irish Center in a concert sponsored by the Philadelphia Ceili Group.)

Listen to my top tracks, listed next. And read an interview with Kevin Burke.