By Jamie O’Brien
Dylan Walshe
Blind Is Blind
Dylan Walshe, from Dublin and now based in Nashville, is a powerful singer-songwriter. This album, recorded in Nashville, features 10 songs, plus two alternate versions, for 40 minutes of thought provoking, excellent entertainment. There’s great maturity in his lyrics and a distinct catchiness in his melodies, which leaves you hanging on his words as you are enveloped in the tunes.
Helping create the atmosphere is a handful of musicians: Walshe plays guitar and harmonica and he is joined by Evan Penza (guitar, drums, bass), Stephen Harms (bass), Jake Stargel (banjo, mandolin, bass), John Mailander (fiddle), Andy Gibson (steel guitar), James Fearnley (accordion), Chris Compton (drums), Michael Hulscher (piano) and Cody Martin (drums). Arrangements are built around Walshe’s powerful voice, a baritone with great warmth and emotion in his sound.
At times, things are laid back, as on “Trickle-Down Effect,” with just his voice, finger-picked guitar and a bass. The effect is hypnotic. But one has to be careful – this is not a gentle song, as the lyrics talk about politics and what is going on in society. He can also really rock and take you out of your comfort zone, such as on the desperate “Cut It Down” (Listen to the wild fiddle and guitar on this!) And I just love the intimacy of a track like “Lady Lee.”
For me, Dylan Walshe has taken up the reins from the likes of Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt, with poignant, poetic lyrics and memorable tunes set on fitting accompaniments. I really look forward to hearing more from him.
www.dylanwalshe.com
Bangers and Mash
Whisper Valley and Other Stories
Bangers and Mash is a new group for me. Formed as a Celtic rock band in the New York City area back in the early 2000s, they have evolved into something a little different from others, as this album shows. Instead of relying on the usual, rocked-up songs normally associated with the style, they’ve come out with an album of original songs.
Not just original songs, but songs which distinctly follow tradition: about life, historical figures, events and so on. They’re set on a more contemporary accompaniment, with electric guitars, bass, drums and so on. There are also fiddles, whistles and more, but the arrangements are not loud and brash. Instead, they are more fitting for the approach, making this a band really worth hearing.
Lead vocals are from Liam Hadock, who also plays whistle and spoons and has written a couple of the dozen songs, and bodhran player, Carole Lesselbann. Seth Lesslebann plays bass (and either he or Carole, I’m not sure who, has written five of the songs), Chad Herth plays guitar (also five songs to his name), and drummer Seth Salwen. There are also six guest musicians adding various other instruments to round out the sound.
I freely confess that I found the singing a bit difficult to enjoy on first listening – Hadock and Lesselbann have voices that are not the usual I listen to – but once I’d played the album a few times, I found I was really into their approach and sound. This is particularly true of Hadock on “I Won’t Stand In Your Way” — when he talks toward the end of the song, especially as he ends on the final sentence! I love it.
There is a very strong rhythm section, so important with this kind of music. A lyrical bass and driving drums flow together so well and give such a good foundation for the vocals, the powerful guitar and the flowing fiddle.
The band seems to spend much of its time in New York and Florida, but hopefully they’ll come to the Philadelphia area before too long; in which case, if you like Celtic rock, then try this brand!
www.bangersandmashband.com
Confession: yes, another musician friend of mine, one I occasionally play with. But naturally, I don’t let that affect my reviews. (Honest!)
Dan Possumato
The Last Pint
Dan Possumato is one of the finest traditional Irish accordion players I’ve come across. He has a wonderful approach to playing, one that conjures up kitchens, bars and other places friends get together to play music. And that is exactly the atmosphere this album creates.
He has put together 14 tracks, just over 45 minutes of tunes, some traditional, some contemporary, but all sounding just right. There are standards, such as “Silver Spire”, “The Diplodocus” and “Maid on the Green”, along with many rarely-heard gems. And if nothing else, Possumato is a student of the tradition as, in the sleeve notes, he includes details of the tune origins and from whom he learned them.
Joining him are friends from Oregon, Pennsylvania and Ireland among other places: fiddlers Kevin Burke, Seamus McGuire, Vince Burns, Billy Oskay and Bill Vernier, along with Bruce Molyneaux and Gerry Whelan on banjo. The accompanists are pianist Teresa Baker, Myron Bretholz on bodhran, Frances Cunningham (bouzouki) and Kathy Fallon (guitar).
From a melody point of view, there is a tremendous togetherness in the playing as accordion and fiddle weave in and out of each other. The movement the banjos feature really adds to the diversity in sound.
But as an accompanist myself, it’s what piano, bodhran, bouzouki and guitar do that really affect me. Baker is such an accomplished keyboard player that I really wish she’d played on more than four tracks. Her sense of chord progression and rhythm is excellent – at times Old Worldly, such as on the “Uncle Stewart’s” waltz set, at times majestic, as on the hornpipe, “The Road to Eyeries.” I am also quite taken by Cunningham’s dancing bouzouki throughout.
But most of all, it is the sound of Possumato’s accordions and melodeons that appeal to me so much. I just love his playing. No wonder musicians of the caliber playing on this album flock to join in with him!
www.danpossumato.com
That’s it for this month. If you have any problems finding these albums, contact me ℅ Irish Edition or by email at jamieobrienmusic@gmail.com. Until next month!