Colm Gannon: Return to Droim

COLM GANNON: RETURN TO DROIM

Colm Gannon: accordion

Jesse Smith: fiddle

John Carty: banjo

John Blake: guitar, bouzouki, piano

Raised in Dorchester MA, Colm Gannon learned to play the accordion from his father John, and as a teenager made a name for himself on Boston's active Irish music scene. After moving to Ireland in 1998 with Baltimore fiddle player Jesse Smith, who joins him here on two tracks, Gannon spent four years touring with Riverdance before settling in Droim, Connemara. This is his first recording, and it is a stunning display of skill as well as mature musical sense, as Gannon dazzles the listener with uncommon settings of tunes and unexpected turns of melody. This would go a long way to convince hardened detractors that music can be played on the accordion... John Blake is at his usual best as the accompanist, and Jesse Smith (fiddle) and John Carty (banjo) appear on a few tracks, in particular the closing track which is played to sound like a tribute to Irish musicians from the 1920s. Most enjoyable. (11/2005)

Rating: ****

Price: $19.99