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Produced by Ron Cody
Order the CD for $15.00 (s&h included)
Click on the higlighted song titles to hear clips from the CD
- Sylvia and Mikey’s Reel (John Williams) / Paddy on the Turnpike (The Auld Reel) (traditional)
- Bob’s Bucket (Joe Walsh) / Simon Thoumire’s (John McCusker, Kinmore Music)
- Hanning’s Farewell (trad.) / Fleur de Mandragore (trad.)
- Snow on the Hills (trad.) / Bobby Casey’s (trad.)
- Reels: Salamanca (trad.) / The Golden Keyboard (trad.)
- Jigs: Boland’s Favorite (trad.) / The Talking Rake (Ron Cody) / Humours of Whiskey (trad.)
- The Dog Set: Kerry’s Reel (Ron Cody) / Emmet’s Fancy (Ron Cody)
- The Mason’s Apron (trad.) / The Cape Breton’s Fiddler’s Welcome to the Shetland Islands (trad.)
- Wesley (trad.)
- Old French (trad.)
- Little Jonny’s Run (Ron Cody)
- Booth Shot Lincoln (trad.)
- Chinquapin Hunting (trad.)
Featuring:
- Erica Brown, fiddle
- Ron Cody, 5 string banjo
- Wendy Cody, bass (13)
- Natalie Haas, cello
- Danielle Langord, harp
- Lincoln Meyers, guitar (7, 11)
- Nicole Rabata, flute
- Steve Roy, bass
- Matt Shipman, guitar, bouzouki
- Joe Walsh, mandolin
I have always wanted to play Celtic tunes on the banjo. Since my early years of playing, I tried to play these tunes by listening to a variety of sources. With not a lot of Celtic rules and instructional material for the 5 string banjo about, I stumbled along the way with different techniques, eventually assembling an approach to technique that includes single string, melodic and 3 finger styles. Over the years, listening to great players like Irish 4 string player Gerry O’Connor, and 5 string players, Bill Keith, Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka helped a lot.
My goal was to make a listenable banjo album. While I was focused on banjo sound and technique, my primary emphasis was arranging these tunes with these musicians and making each instrument sound its best with a banjo. The album has cello, fiddle, bouzouki, harp, flute, mandolin, bass, and guitar spread throughout.
The musicians are wonderful and talented players I know as friends. Cellist Natalie Haas added her profound texture and rhythm to the music in this recording. We had a lot of fun and I am so pleased with how great banjo and cello sound together in this style.
I hope you will enjoy listening to this album.
–Ron Cody
Ron Cody has come up with a beautiful new album drizzled in Celtic influences. Bluegrass traces peek through, which makes sense given the strong Scotch/Irish fiddle tradition that informs Bill Monroe’s music.
The overall sound is sweet and elegant, with a rich palette of sonoroites led by Ron’s facile and heartfelt five string banjo playing. He’s joined by a hugely talented and sympathetic cast of musicians whose primarily wood-timbred instruments – cello, mandolin, guitar, bouzouki, bass, and fiddle – take one to a sun-spattered shore near the cliffs of Moher. Here Ron joins Chris Thile’s Punch Brothers in the move toward (new) acoustic chamber music, with exquisitely played unison melodies and mood-altering texture shifts.
Ron has been composing wonderful original music for years and his inclusion of several new gems is a welcome addition to the project. Here you’ll find exquisitely adroit music that never overshadows the profound Celtic melodies that form the backbone of this album.
–Tony Trischka
