Transatlantic Sessions – Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy and Frances Morton – Michael McGoldrick & Tim Edey and Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves – Brian Finnegan
Transatlantic Sessions
It must be something to do with age that there are so many 30th anniversaries around, and even the mighty Transatlantic Sessions has reached that illustrious milestone. Starting out as a pure television entity (on BBC and RTÉ) in 1995 and continuing for six series, by the time of the last TV series in 2013, they had become established as a cornerstone of the winter Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow (followed now by a week-long tour of Scotland and England). Shetland fiddle player Aly Bain and bluegrass dobro player Jerry Douglas are the only two extant members of the Transatlantic Sessions House Band from 1995, although current House Band members, piano player (and Celtic Connections Artistic Director) Donald Shaw and accordion player Phil Cunningham were both guests on that first TV series.
The format – the band plays a wide assortment of tunes interspersed by four guest singers drawn from North American, Irish and Scottish folk, traditional, country and bluegrass milieus, one a relative newcomer, a couple maybe playing with the band, the more established guests often finding themselves singing a quite different musical context – endures, and is very popular, for good reason; it makes for a highly entertaining performance, with a rich variety of music and arrangements that are new and fresh because they emerge from rehearsals in the preceding days. Besides Aly, Jerry, Donald and Phil (though Phil was sadly absent, which Aly noted without elaboration), the House Band consists of John Doyle (guitar), Daniel Kimbro (bass), Michael McGoldrick (flute, whistles, uilleann pipes), John McCusker (fiddle, low whistle), James Mackintosh (drums) and relative newcomers Allison de Groot (banjo) and Tatiana Hargreaves (fiddle).
For their 21st Celtic Connections appearance, only the opening theme tune, Waiting For The Federals, remained the same, except that guests Julie Fowlis and Larry Campbell joined in, respectively, on whistle and mandolin.
Much talked about Niall McCabe, from Co.Mayo in Ireland, who has been singing with the band Beoga and last Autumn toured Ireland with fiddle/viola player Nollaig Casey and Michael McGoldrick, was, despite his incredulity at being there, the show’s first guest, singing primarily songs from his 2023 debut album Rituals. It only takes a few lines of his first song for it to be apparent that Niall McCabe is a serious contender, both for his singing and song writing. Stonemason is an exceptionally well-crafted song about a migrant Irish worker longing for home, imagining himself getting back there but never getting around to it: ‘Some days I can’t remember how I ended up out here, Something about the money and then building a career, But the only thing I’ve built so far is a hundred mile of stone, The opposite direction now to home.’ Niall followed it with Midas Touch a song about his best friend since he was young, their lives going in very different directions at the end of their teens, leading to them losing touch, but, in the end, finding each other again – the timbre of his voice like an intoxicating mix of Tim O’Brien and Paul Brady.
Multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell comes with a major pedigree, including playing guitar for seven years in Bob Dylan’s band and with Levon Helm (he’s on Levon and Mavis Staples’s superb 2022 album Carry Me Home). Joined by his wife Teresa Williams, they began with an edgy, rocking song called The Way You Make Me Feel (from their album All This Time, released last year). In each of their sets they played a song in a more obvious country style, Larry on acoustic guitar – first Did You Ever Love Me At All and secondly Rev. Gary Davis’s Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning – their voices blending very nicely but lacking the grit of their other numbers. They completed their second half slot, Larry back on electric guitar, with a great bluesy song, Midnight Highway (from their first album), which Larry co-wrote with Julie Miller.
The tunes in the first half were as diverse as ever. O’Carolan’s Planxty Robert Jordan, taken at a measured pace, bringing out the nuances of the lovely melody, was played in a set with three tunes the Doyle, McGoldrick and McCusker trio recorded, the first and last Asturian tunes, the middle one Siomadh Rud A Chunna Mi, a Piurt A Buel (mouth music), often played just as a tune, but when Julie Fowlis is on stage you get treated to the surprise of her switching from whistle to singing it as the song. Aly joked in the second half that he couldn’t remember the first tune in the set – The Trowie Burn/O’Farrell’s Farewell /Sophie’s – but he did remember, and he also dedicated the set to the absent Phil Cunningham.
The Glasgow Celtic Connections crowd obviously didn’t need Jerry Douglas’s introduction to Julie Fowlis’ guest slot. Fear a’ Bhrochain / Dòmhnall Binn, was an utterly delightful Piurt A Buel nonsense verse from Julie’s last album Alterum (2017), about she said ‘porridge‘ and ‘a man called Donald who was causing chaos in the house’ – the band locked into a fitting, swinging groove. The audience paid appropriately hushed attention to Ge fada mo thriall (Catullus) – the originally Latin words were translated into Gaelic by poet John McLean, with a tune composed by Julie (and which is on Julie, Éamon Doorley, Zoë Conway & John Mc Intyre’s brilliant new album Allt Vol. II: Cuimhne).
Casual listeners to the legend that is Loudon Wainwright III tend to emphasise the frequently sardonic humour, often missing his tender, deeply empathetic side, which was on full view on Primrose Hill, a song he explained he wrote while living in London about a homeless alcoholic he got to know whose possessions were little more than a sleeping bag and a guitar. Middle Of The Night seemed particularly poignant in present circumstances – ‘It’s not the end of the world, It’s just the middle of the night’ – Loudon explaining that whilst he’s usually a pessimist, the song contains ‘a smidgen of hope.’ He seemed right at home with the full sound of the House Band behind him.
Niall McCabe returned with two more songs: November Swell, another song describing the challenges of working people’s lives, this time fishermen on the West coast of Ireland – ‘I’m fishin’ out of the north cove, Drawin’ oars through the wild foam, Pullin’ crab for the rich folk, In Dublin or Londontown;’ The as yet unrecorded Your Letter was a tear-jerker that already sounds like a classic country song. Niall consummately rose to the occasion, revelling in the bigger arrangements of his poignant, resonant, compassionate songs.
Unlikely juxtapositions are always possible with the Transatlantic Sessions and Loudon Wainwright singing one of his best-loved songs, the wonderful Swimming Song, with Michael McGoldrick playing uilleann pipes; it was one of those moments, drummer James Mackintosh and bass player Daniel Kimbro perfecting the swing in the song’s rhythm. Loudon introduced the song with a reference to his favourite pool in Glasgow. For his last song, he eschewed his own in favour of ‘some local flavour’, singing Michael Marra’s classic Hermless – a humorous song about an agreeable but guileless man: ‘I dae what I′m telt and I tidy ma room, And then I come doon for ma tea.’ The audience loved it.
‘I can’t follow that’, Julie Fowlis said and then proceeded to give us the most sublime performance of the evening, singing Gràdh Geal Mo Chridhe from Looking For The Thread, the recently released album with Julie, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Karine Polwart. With just Donald Shaw on the harmonium for accompaniment, the Glasgow Concert Hall crowd was reverential and silent for an enchanted few minutes. The final song of the evening was the vibrant Hug Air A’Bhonaid Mhòir (Celebrate the Big Bonnet), which Julie recorded in 2007 and performed on the final Transatlantic Sessions TV series in 2013. It was followed by a buoyant tune during which Julie left the stage only to return playing the Highland Pipes, bringing the biggest cheer of the night, to end what was probably the best Transatlantic Sessions in recent years.
Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy and Frances Morton
Frances Morton, a Glasgow-born flute player with an Irish background, launched her debut solo album Sliochtm, supporting Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, one of a good number of flute and whistle players in some excellent traditional orientated gigs. Whilst Frances seemed a little nervous on the opening set of jigs and a set of reels, by the time she got to Lady Mary Ramsey, a slow, gorgeous strathspey, and Miss Ramsey’s, a reel, she had relaxed into a warm, flowing style of playing. With bodhran, fiddle, and guitar for company, Frances had an assured command of her instrument; Fonn Mall, a slow air, was a real stand out. She finished with a set of lively reels, her dad’s favourites, paying tribute to his gift to her of the music and his support for her playing.
There is little that can compare with married fiddle players Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy‘s spectacular, remarkably energetic show. Whilst their music is strongly rooted in Natalie’s Cape Breton traditional background, their bass player, drummer and guitarist diversely hail from, respectively, Prince Edward Island, Belfast and Cuba, their eldest daughter Mary Frances on piano and dynamic step-dancing. The Battle of Killiecrankie, a Scottish march Natalie recorded on her Sketches album with Tim Edey, was a highlight, as was the more acoustic medley Clogs with most of the band sat informally in a semi-circle, plus piano – the very same Tim Edey joining them on stage on melodeon, continuing the rest of set on second guitar. If, at times, it seemed almost too frenetic, there were plenty of shifts of pace, tunes from Galicia, a Cuban-like number, and a Richard Galliano tune to give them and the audience time to take a breath.
Michael McGoldrick & Tim Edey and Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Tim Edey was back on stage a few nights later, co-headlining with flute, whistle and uilleann piper Michael McGoldrick, following the release of their Jamland album. Banjo player Allison de Groot and fiddle player Tatiana Hargreaves begin the evening with a masterclass in old-time American music, starting with the unhurried Hurricane Clarice, the title track from their last album. For the reel Billy in the Low Ground, they gave the audience the choice of which key it was played in and also sang Kentucky singer and union activist Aunt Molly Jackson’s song Prisoner’s Call from the 1930s – Tatiana highlighting the value of such activism in the face of the deportation of immigrants by Donald Trump.
Michael and Tim began, respectively, on flute/low whistle and guitar, with Larkin’s Beehive / Andy McGann’s / The Amazing Adventures Of Dr. Moriarty, a set originally from Michael’s first album Morning Rory, which was recorded in Glasgow 30 years ago. The contrast between Tim’s animated musical, physical, verbal presence and Michael’s calm demeanour, movement limited to rolling shoulders, makes for an intriguing gig – you’re never quite sure what’s coming next. Their versions of the slow air Port Na bPúcai and slip jig Cucanandy were sublime. Calum’s Road, written by Festival Director Donald Shaw, and The Full Set, two jigs composed by Michael, had Tim starting on guitar, switching to melodeon and then back to guitar – the melodeon still hanging precariously off one arm in mid-air, not losing a beat. Donald Shaw joined them on piano for a beautiful rendition of Ma Theid Mise Tuileagh, a tune Donald wrote, and the reel St Kilda’s Wedding. Donald left, and Allison and Tatiana returned for the remainder of the evening, making for a delightfully spontaneous, session-like quartet, including a reprise of Planxty Robert Jordan, a gorgeous O’Carolan tune they’d played the night before in the Transatlantic Sessions.
Brian Finnegan
Flook founder member, flute and whistle player Brian Finnegan, fresh from a rare Kan gig the night before, had no trouble rising to the challenge of delighting a last night of the festival crowd who’d already enjoyed lots of great music. Brian learnt to play from an early age at the Armagh Pipers Club, as did Ríoghnach Connolly, who joined Brian on stage, and the gig was a tribute to Brian and Eithne Vallely, who have run the Club since 1966 – both of them in the audience. The night also marked the launch of Brian’s fourth solo album, Shepherds, a collection of traditional and traditionally inspired tunes that shaped and influenced his playing, most learned in those early days.
A set of reels and another of jigs, including The Humour’s of Ballylaughlin, which Brian told us he got from the playing of Matt Molloy, both feature on the Shepherds album, though on stage filled out with sensitive bass from Connor McCreanor and marvellously subtle percussion from Liam Bradley in addition to Seán Óg Graham’s very fine guitar and Brian’s tin whistle and low whistle. The fabulously adaptable fiddle player Patsy Reid was also on stage for most of the gig. The air Ar Eireann Ni Neosfainn Ce Hi also comes from the album, but on this occasion, it was also sung impeccably by Ríoghnach, who played the flute alongside Brian’s flute on the follow-on Cait’s Jig. Ríoghnach also sang two songs she recorded in The Breath – Let The Cards Fall and Land Of My Other – and the Honeyfeet song Hunt and Gather, all of which were intriguingly refreshing with different arrangements and instrumentation. They played tunes of Brian’s from his last two albums, Eva from the Kan album Sleeper, and one of his and two of Zoë Conway’s from Flook’s last album Ancora – the interplay between Patsy’s fiddle and Brian’s whistles and flute a joy throughout. The encore saw Ríoghnach singing Cailín As Contae Lú, a song she recorded with Lí Ban, followed by an exultant reel of Brian’s called Fathom, which built gradually to a full-bodied finish.