{"id":372214,"date":"2026-10-13T19:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372214\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T19:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T19:14:09","slug":"brilliance-with-touch-of-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372214\/","title":{"rendered":"Brilliance with touch of grit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0This week, Irish Arts Center is hosting two \u201cITMA: Drawing from the Well\u201d concerts. \u00a0These concerts will preview \u201cAcross the States: An Irish Cultural Atlas of America,\u201d a project documenting 250 years of Irish music, song and dance in the U.S. and will feature exceptional and culturally significant artists from Ireland and New York, including Brian Conway, Brendan Dolan, Rose Conway Flanagan, Maeve Flanagan, Kieran Flanagan, Ivan Goff, Katie Linnane, Edwina Guckian, Matt Molloy, Doireann N\u00ed Ghlac\u00e1in, Caitl\u00edn Nic Gabhann, Hannah O\u2019Brien, Liam O\u2019Connor, Ciar\u00e1n \u00d3 Maonaigh, Se\u00e1n Potts, Sophie Ryan, and Diarmuid \u00d3 Meachair. \u00a0The \u201cCultural Atlas\u201d is a remarkable project in scope and will draw new refreshed attention to this country\u2019s importance in the story of Irish music. \u00a0The Atlas will launch on itma.ie<\/a> later this year.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Next up is “The Return of the Irish Concert,\u201d which will take place on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 3 p.m. at St. Malachy\u2019s Church on 1429 N. 11th St in Philadelphia. \u00a0This year, St. Malachi\u2019s is celebrating its 175th anniversary and this concert is being held to honor the late, great Mick Moloney, who for decades was the concert\u2019s organizer and in support of the church\u2019s ongoing charity mission. \u00a0The event will bring together a great crew of musicians, including Brendan Callaghan, Donie Carroll, Kevin Crawford, Rob Curto, Darin Kelly, Rosaleen McGill, Gerry Timlin, Cillian Vallely, and myself. \u00a0In addition, Paul Keating will be there to serve as the afternoon\u2019s emcee. \u00a0I hope to see you there to help support this great cause! \u00a0For more information, contact Donie Carroll at ducksymusic@gmail.com.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0In other news, Emmet Henry died in Ireland on Oct. 7. \u00a0Henry bartended in New York’s East Village for many years and was a beloved figure in the traditional music scene here, in particular for his stalwart support of the legendary Monday night Irish session at Mona\u2019s, which was hosted by Patrick Ourceau and Eamon O’Leary. \u00a0It ran late into the morning, attracted the best in New York City, and was a first stop port of call for top tier musicians from the world over. \u00a0Sessions never fully work without a bartender who is totally committed to the music, and Henry was exactly that, a man who went above and beyond for the tunes. \u00a0That\u2019s his shout of “last call!” at the beginning of track 17 on the brilliant “Live at Mona\u2019s” album, https:\/\/patrickourceau.bandcamp.com\/. \u00a0May he rest in peace.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the media yoke this week is Cathal Caulfield\u2019s \u201cWelcome the Stranger Into the Tipsy House,\u201d his solo debut. \u00a0It\u2019s an outstanding album of mostly solo fiddle music that reflects an intriguing facet of Ireland\u2019s contemporary traditional music scene. \u00a0I think it\u2019ll delight fans of serious fiddle playing and is an album readers of this column will want to check out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Born in Dublin but living in Mayo, Caulfield learned from some of the music\u2019s finest, including Aoife O\u2019Connor, Liam O\u2019Connor and Ciar\u00e1n Mac Aoghdh\u00e1in. \u00a0However, he points to a longstanding Wednesday night session at the Cobblestone in Dublin, hosted by fiddle players Jesse Smith (who wrote one of the album\u2019s forewords) and in particular, Mick O\u2019Grady, as something that gave his music special inspiration. \u00a0Another of Caulfield\u2019s formative experiences was as a member of Skipper\u2019s Alley (https:\/\/skippersalley.bandcamp.com\/), the well-known Dublin-based based group that included a bevy of very fine musicians \u2014 John Francis Flynn, Macdara Yeates, Patrick Cummins, Caoimhin \u00d3 Fearghail and others.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although Caulfield he has a strong background in the music, he\u2019s distinguished himself in many ways here. \u00a0The first thing I notice is the distinctive, somewhat \u201cgritty\u201d tone he\u2019s able to pull from his fiddle. \u00a0It animates the superb lift and gorgeous style in his playing, with the bite giving the album its compelling voice. \u00a0In addition, the three songs on this album reveal a quite individual singing voice that, in both tone and phrasing, provides an interesting match to his fiddle playing. \u00a0The music here feels very developed in a way that suggests this album was something of an inevitability.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It opens with “Welcome the Stranger \/ \u2026,” a set of unusual reels played with a captivating bounce and fascinating ornamentation. Caulfield’s playing is great, and an auspicious start to the album. \u00a0I also appreciate how this track is described in the liner notes, which are very well done, because they show how these tunes reflect his connection to a deeper tradition, and also how he combines tune variants and makes the music his own.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are quite a few other instrumental standouts. \u00a0\u201cBatt Henry\u2019s Favourite \/ \u2026\u201d barndances are fabulous. \u00a0Taken from prewar 78rpm discs, he plays the tunes with a really wonderful rhythm that not only captures the spirit of the source material, but leaves him adequate space to be himself. \u00a0\u201cThe Aughavas \/ \u2026\u201d and \u201c\u00c9ist le Fuaim na hAbhann agus Gheobhaidh t\u00fa Breac \/ \u2026\u201d are another couple of lovely tracks. \u00a0Caulfield\u2019s very active playing is superb on both and he makes great hay with the fairly unusual tunes he\u2019s working with. \u00a0(I especially dig the vocal accompaniment on the latter.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0The album includes three guests, Sarah Flynn (concertina) Fionn\u00e1n MacGabhann (uilleann pipes), and Catriona Kennedy (fiddle), each of whom appears on one track. \u00a0Flynn\u2019s appearance on \u201cNapoleon’s Retreat \/ \u2026\u201d is lovely. \u00a0Caulfield reigns himself in to a degree to find very sweet common ground between with Flynn. \u00a0The track with MacGabhann, \u201cMurphy\u2019s Monaghan Twig \/ \u2026\u201d has a classic \u201cpipes and fiddle\u201d sound that will really attract many listeners with Caulfield once again finding the right common ground with his counterpart. \u00a0\u201cDwyer\u2019s \/ \u2026,\u201d on which Kennedy features, pays tribute to Jesse Smith and Mick O\u2019Grady\u2019s influence and has a feeling different but no less enjoyable than the other two guest tracks. \u00a0Just gorgeous stuff.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The vocal tracks are excellent as well. \u00a0Caulfield has a light tenor voice that trails off with a slight warble on his held notes in a way that feels very sean-n\u00f3s-y. \u00a0Each song here his delivered with fiddle accompaniment, which gives them an interesting sound and of the three, my preferences are \u201cThe Winding River Roe\u201d and \u201cThe Cail\u00edn Deas.\u201d \u00a0Both are very engaging tracks that convey the kind of \u201clonely\u201d sensibility that singers in Connemara and Appalachia sometimes share.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWelcome the Stranger Into the Tipsy House\u201d is a brilliant album. \u00a0It leans heavily into Caulfield\u2019s personal style, as a solo album should, but his choice of repertory and his careful attention to how it \u201cconnects\u201d him are both individual and memorable. \u00a0But mostly, it just sounds like he\u2019s having fun with his music and not worrying too much about being anything other than himself, which feels very genuine and is lovely to hear. \u00a0The album releases this Friday, Oct. 16 and is highly worth checking out, especially if you love very traditional fiddle music with a unique, gorgeous style. \u00a0Visit here<\/a> for further details and to purchase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0This week, Irish Arts Center is hosting two \u201cITMA: Drawing from the Well\u201d concerts. \u00a0These concerts will preview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7871,75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-372214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-irishecho","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}