Corner Boys
On their fifth album, Corner Boys, Patrick Street welcomes new recruit Ged Foley (formerly of the Battlefield Band, and now in The House Band), whose inventive guitar licks provide ideal underpinning for Andy Irvine's intricate songs and Kevin Burke and Jackie Daly's seamless duets on fiddle and accordion. Corner Boys adds yet more luster to a group whose tightly executed arrangements and unparalleled musicianship know no equal.
Daly brings his wide repertoire of Kerry music to the fore with a dazzling slide set (which includes a surprise polka to keep you on your toes!), and Burke lays into his reel solos with a gentle ferocity. Irvine's bouzouki playing has long been a standard by which others are judged, and he is in great form here, both instrumentally and vocally. This is especially true on his medley of songs about the hunting of the hare (with the delightful bonus of Foley's Northumbrian pipes). All in all, it's another hit from the Irish group that first popularized "Music For a Found Harmonium." This all-star quartet just keeps getting more diverse and eclectic over time, and Corner Boys shows them at the peak of their form.
Tracks:
1. The White Petticoat / The Kerry Jig / Katy is
Waiting
2. Sweet Lisbweemore
3. Mike McDougall's / Paddy Canny's / Jim Keefe's
4. Devanney's Goat / The Leitrim Rover / Michael Ryan's
5. Moorlough Shore
6. The Kanturk Polka / Joe Burke's
7. Portarlington Jig / Billy McCormick's / Munster Buttermilk
8. Pity the Poor Hare- On Yonder Mill / Merrily Tripping / O'er The Plain / The Kilgrain Hare / Pity the Poor
Hare
9. The Lighthouse / Neilie Boyle's
10. Down by Greer's Grove, Killanan's Fancy / The Dash to Portobello / Anna Maculeen
Artists: Kevin Burke, Jackie Daly, Andy Irvine, Ged Foley
Instruments: fiddle, accordion, vocals, bouzouki, harmonica, mandolin, guitar, Northumbrian smallpipes