Julee Glaub: Fields Faraway

JULEE GLAUB: FIELDS FARAWAY

Julee Glaub: vocals, guitar, flute

Brian Conway: fiddle

Jerry O'Sullivan: uilleann pipes, tinwhistle

Brendan Dolan: flute, low whistle

Linda Hickman: flute

Mike Flanagan: concertina

Tony Cuffe: harp

Gabriel Donohue: guitar, bouzouki, piano, low whistle, accordion, vocals

Kevin Goodan: bodhran

Ciaran Sheehan: vocals

When Julee first sent me a preview of her album in progress a couple of years ago, I wished then I could hear the whole finished product and have been eagerly awaiting the moment when I would finally hear it. Having a voice which makes you pay attention, Julee is also one of very few American-born singers performing (mostly) Irish traditional songs with the kind of feel usually heard from those "born to it." And it doesn't hurt that she has surrounded herself for this project with some of the best Irish musicians in New York, including Brian Conway (fiddle), Brendan Dolan (flute), Jerry O'Sullivan (pipes, whislte), and Gabriel Donohue (guitar, piano, bouzouki), as well as the late Tony Cuffe (harp). This is admittedly "revivalist" material, but the quality is generally above average. While the arrangement of the opening song "My Johnny was a Shoemaker" feels a bit contrived, the music is definitely at its best when Julee's voice gets the limelight, for instance on the a capella "The Flower of Magherally O."

Rating: ***

Price: $16.99