Micheal O'Raghallaigh: Inside Out

MICHEAL O'RAGHALLAIGH: INSIDE OUT

Micheal O'Raghallaigh: concertina

Michael Rooney: harp

Eoghan O'Brien: guitar

Triona Ni Dhomhnaill: keyboards

One of the great joys of my first trip up to East Durham for the Catskills Irish Week this summer was meeting Micheal, playing alongside him for a ceili, and getting from him this jewel of a CD fresh off the presses. It stayed in my car's CD player the whole time I was up there, and all the way back to Washington--it may well have saved my life, given how sleep-deprived one gets during those events. A resident of Co. Meath, and a member of the band Providence, Micheal O'Raghallaigh is undoubtedly one of the foremost concertina players in Ireland today, a fact made abundantly clear when his first solo album, "The Nervous Man," came out in 2001, and more than confirmed with this superb new recording. Although Micheal's concertina playing can sound quite busy, particularly with his liberal use of octave doubling and chords, it remains most tasteful and supremely musical at all times. The choice of material is equally judicious and balanced as it was on "Nervous Man," my personal favorites possibly being the reel "Mother and Child," the "Colonel Fraser" medley, with Vincent Broderick's wonderful reel "The Rookery," and the air "The Green Fields of Canada," based on the famous song associated with Paddy Tunney. Like on "Nervous Man" as well, the accompaniments by Rooney, O'Brien, and Ni Dhomhnaill are perfection itself. Beautiful music. (September 2006)

Rating: **** 1/2

Price: $19.99