Search - David Wilkie & Cowboy Celtic Orchestra :: Cowboy Ceilidh

CD reveals the Irish roots of many Western Standards. A Joy!

04/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The most recent review below this one is so uninformed as to be ridiculous. This CD is one of a rare few efforts to reproduce the sounds of the Irish influence on the Popular music of the West. I remember growing up hearing my Grandfather sing "The Bard of Armagh" and his own daughter sing the same tune to me but as "The Streets of Laredo". To say the least, I was confused. David Wilkie has provided the answer by reproducing authentic arrangements of Irish tunes that later wound up as Standards in The American West. Yes, the Mandolin is a tad "Tinny" as noted below, but that was actually the way period Mandolins tended to sound. I point to the excellent Soundtrack to the film RAVENOUS as another example of authentic period music with an Irish influence. Note I do not say "Celtic". I do not say "Celtic" because the influence was primarily that of the Irish as they moved west and from the Irish Rail workers, miners and others. The notion that there is some Pan-Celtic Musical tradition is of course, false.David Wilkie has produced a timeless album that should appeal to World Music fans, Western and Cowboy Music Fans as well as to Alt.Country fans and Contemporary Folk fans since all four or five of these traditions share many of the melodies he so faithfully reproduces here. Truly one of the lovliest cuts is the Instrumental rendition of "The water is wide" which to my ears seems to be a direct descendant of "Carrickferrgus" which also has a line about the "Sea is wide, and I can't cross over". I could be imagining that but Wilkie's work on this CD promotes just such speculation on the listener's part. He has taken songs that have roots back in Ireland (for the most part) and has played them in such a way as they were played back when that Irish influence was recent. The arrangements are fresh even as they harken back to a time when musicians had to make do with whatever instruments they had at hand. All the cuts are memorable. This CD is a welcome change from the New Age, Pan-Celtic synthesized nonsense that passes for World Music today. This CD is enough to make you want to hit Clannad with a stick, take away all their electrical instruments and demand they play on traditional instruments again. If you find yourself wandering back to the Shanachie label records you have had for years, then you must grab this CD. It's fresh. It's tradtional. It's original but respectful of the traditions it seeks to represent. It's roots music at it's best. Even Gram parson's fans should be able to respect this CD as the Ultimate in Roots-music and the precursor to "Cosmic American Music". David Wilkie is my hero."

Wilkie does it again!

06/21/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fans of David Wilkie will will want this second album by him. Tracing the connection between songs of the American West and their Celtic origins, he then presents them in a fresh and delightful manner, played on classic Celtic instruments. Most memorable is his haunting rendition of "Wind in the Wire.""