CELTIC MUSIC REVIEWS
SEPTEMBER 2001
BRUCE GUTHRO Guthro
Sensational Scottish Celtic supergroup Runrig has enjoyed 25 years of vast popularity in Europe. Now, the multi-platinum selling band's lineup includes Bruce Guthro, the pride of Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, who has joined as their new singer.
Recently, Bruce Guthro returned to Canadian shores to release his new solo album Guthro on the EMI Music Canada label. This new album is his most accomplished work to date and features a collection of eclectic songs with a diverse range of musical styles from rock to country.
Most of the material on Guthro was penned by Bruce Guthro whose music is both exciting and inspiring and stirs in the tradition of great songwriters. Bruce has been described as an honest storyteller with a striking voice and he has an impressive range of awards to his credit to substantiate his talent. He has won six East Coast Music Awards, three Canadian Radio Music Awards, and a CCMA Award.
His 1998 debut release with EMI, Of Your Son, was certified gold and produced two hit singles, Walk This Road and Falling. The single Falling continues to be an audience favourite.
It is a heartfelt ballad about a father calling his son and asking for forgiveness after a 20-year absence. On the new album, Bruce has followed up Falling with an equally impressive sequel, called Don't Go.
Guthro said, "in Falling, we never heard the other side of the conversation and I always thought about the son answering and wondered what he would say. When I wrote Don't Go and tried it out live, there was a great audience response."
He says, "I always try to portray the positive side, or at least the side that stands for good. There is enough angry music in the world, so I'm not trying to put that out, but I don't sugar coat things. I think I'm a realist and I call things as I see them." •
JOHN WHELAN Celtic Fire
John Whelan is a seven-time All-Ireland button accordion champion. Raised in the Luton suburb of Dunstable in England, he was born in London.
John was raised listening to Irish music. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather, all came from County Wexford in Ireland and played the accordion.
At the age of 11, Whelan started music lessons with the well-known Clare fiddler, Brendan
Mulkere. Within three years of beginning to play the accordion, he was asked by Belfast's Outlet Records to record his first album which he entitled The Pride of Wexford.
Along with being a tremendously talented musician, Whelan is also a storyteller. He tells his listeners that he spent the first three years of his life sleeping in a drawer.
His father told him that when he was born, his family lived in a one-room flat in London. As his sister was the oldest, she got the crib, so he got the drawer. He says, "my dad said that when I got too big for the drawer, they had to move. So we moved to Dunstable."
After moving to New York, John played with Eileen Ivers for a time and was hired to play the fiddle for the Riverdance production which was staged at the Gershwin Theatre in New York.
John Whelan's latest release is a lively collection of jigs, reels and waltzes called Celtic Fire. It is available on the Narada World label. For more information, call (203) 301-0142, e-mail: whelanbxl@aol.com or visit his website at: www.johnwhelan.com. •
JIMMY RANKIN Song Dog
After 10 years of touring with the Rankin Family (which disbanded in 1999), numerous hit singles, multiple Juno awards and sales of over two million albums, Jimmy Rankin has emerged with his debut album Song Dog, which moves him into the realm of solo singer-songwriter.
"I am grateful for my years with the Rankins" says Jimmy, "It was all tremendously rewarding." Despite their success, Jimmy says it was time for a change when the group made a decision to disband. "We were at different places in our lives, and we wanted to do different things."
The group won countless ECMAs, several CCMAs and five Junos, including Entertainer of the Year and Single of the Year for Jimmy's self-penned song Fare Thee Well Love, the Rankins signature song.
The untimely death of his brother and band-mate, John Morris, was mourned by family, friends and fans alike. It was a devastating experience for the family and is a topic still considered by Jimmy to be too difficult to discuss publicly.
"My brother was and continues to be incredibly important to me. He will be with me forever." Not surprisingly, Song Dog is dedicated to the memory of John Morris.
This album comes after a two-year absence from playing and Jimmy is delighted with the opportunity saying, "I've always
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
wanted to make a solo record to explore another part of my creative head space."
He wrote all the material himself with the exception of the first single, Follow Her Around, which was co-written with Gordie Simpson. Of the 12 tracks on the album, Jimmy says "There's a lot of imagery. They're kind of like snapshots of life." Song Dog was recorded on the EMI Canada label and is available at all fine record stores.
LEAHY Lakefield
The fabulous Leahy family have just released their newest CD, entitled Lakefield, the recording's namesake is the group's hometown of Lakefield, Ontario, the rural community where the Leahy clan grew up. The family's large working farm managed by their dad has been the Leahy home for several generations.
Ancestor Michael Leahy settled there in 1825 when he immigrated from Ireland and brought with him a deep family musical tradition.
Each of the 11 Leahy children learned to play the fiddle from their father, while their mother, a champion step-dancer born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, taught them to sing, dance and play piano.
There was no television in the Leahy household. At night, family members played and shared music. "Growing up, we didn't really listen to a lot of music outside the family," says eldest brother Donnell.
LEAHY
The Leahys are such physical performers on stage that when they are not on tour, they're at home replenishing that lost energy.
Donnell said, "I'm not sure we'd be who we are today if we hadn't been born on a farm. It helps to breed a certain ethic, I think, because you cannot afford to disregard what needs to be done. If you do, the chance is gone. And, when you're part of a family on a farm, you have no choice but to get along, to have to work together."
Pop/Country star Shania Twain, saw Leahy performing live at the 1998, Juno Award telecast on CBC and invited the group to join her two-year worldwide tour.
Instantly, Leahy was catapulted into the international spotlight, winning legions of fans who continually rewarded them with standing ovations.
Leahy played 175 tour dates with Twain and appeared on her two major U.S. television network specials.
Leahy has become Virgin Canada's largest selling domestic group, with worldwide sales near-ing 400,000 units. Their self-titled Leahy CD reached Number Four on the Billboard World Music charts and is now close to achieving Double Platinum status in Canada.
Lakefield offers a great variety of music ranging from rock, pop, Celtic classical, folk and country. There is also more singing on this release, whereas Leahy was all instrumental. However, that unmistakable lightening quick explosion of fiddle playing that is Leahy's trademark is still there in Lakefield.
Literary Voices Heard at Annual Writers Fest
VANCOUVER - The annual Vancouver International Writers (and Readers) Festival will take place again on Granville Island from October 17-21. Along with poets and fiction writers of international acclaim, the 2001 festival presents world adventurers, science and mystery writers. More than 80 of the world's most popular and distinct literary voices will read from their latest works, while famous and newly emerging authors mingle in intimate and informal settings.
Of particular interest to the readers of The Celtic Connection axe. highly interactive readings and discussions by Sir Ranulph Fiennes (England), Aislinn Hunter (Vancouver-Ireland), Gemma O'Connor (UK), Manda Scott (Scotland) and Simon Winchester (Scotland).
Ticket prices range from 810.50 to $20. Group and senior/student rates are also available. For more information visit the festival website at: www.writersfest.bc.ca or call (604) 681-6330.
PHOTO: Brendan Flynn
AMY STEPHEN of Mad Pudding onstage at John Lawson Park in West Vancouver.
Celtic Airs Courtesy of Mad Pudding
On a superb late summer evening, Mad Pudding treated hundreds to Celtic music in a free open air concert at John Lawson Park in West Vancouver.
The band consists of Andy Hillhouse, Amy Stephen, Boris Favre and Allan Dillon. They put on a terrific performance for all who came to hear their wonderful Celtic sounds. Shown above is Amy Stephen on the accordion.
Demand to Ban Mobile Phones
EDINBURGH - A few minutes into a performance of a Mozart C minor Fantasia in the Usher Hall, a world-renowned pianist stormed off the stage amid a cacophony of unwelcome accompaniment.
Andras Schiff, a Hungarian virtuoso was upset by ringing mobile telephones, beeping watches and coughing in the audience. Schiff left the stage after asking the audience to switch off their phones and watch alarms - and to clear their throats while he was gone.
He returned for the remainder of the concert - interrupted by two more mobile phones. He said afterwards that festival audiences were usually wonderful but he called for audiences to leave their phones at home.
Some London concert halls play mobile phone rings before the start of a concert as a reminder to the public to switch off. But they say that it is not realistic to confiscate mobile phones from people like cowboys handing in guns at the saloon door.