Here's one for those of you who can't get enough of Irish fiddling. Cady Finlayson,a
graduate of Mannes College of Music and member of numerous other projects, saws
out an enviable niche in the tradition for herself and her musical mates.
Assisting on this project are Elkin Brown (guitar and cittern), Dan Immel (double bass), Hunter Lee (uilleann pipes, tin whistle), Tim O'Brien (mandolins and mandola), Jim Roberts (percussion), and Kevin Ryan (bagpipes).
The CD draws its name from the third song, "This Old Hammer" ("This old hammer / shines like silver..."), better known in the US as the melody behind "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." The track listing runs a course of traditional Irish fiddle tunes, interspersed with a few originals ("Bundle Up and Go / Ships in Full Sail" and "Humours of Granny White").
For added variety, Cady also includes a few American traditional numbers. She would make a great member of an Old Timey lineup with her rendition of "Streets of Laredo / Down by the Brazos."She renders the folk song "Bright Morning Star" a lovely air for winding up the CD.
Cady doesn't keep the spotlight all to herself, she gives her crew ample opportunity to show their stuff. Two notable examples are O'Carolan's "Planxty Irwin" featuring some fine guitar work by Elkin, and Hunter's uilleann pipe solo on "Siobhan Egen's Purple Button waltz."
There's some real depth brought to the experience on "Toby's Jig / Jenny's Chickens," where Jim backs her up with percussion on a unique combination of rik, djembe, and shakere. This world-beat number hints at Cady's ability to take on acoustic fusion styles, a direction that I sincerely hope she expands in the years to come.
Cady does a perfectly acceptable job when playing with the more or less traditionally
based ensemble on this CD. Personally, I've found that this CD also makes a
great background for poetry readings! However, her forays into the world music
scene demonstrate that with the right backing, she could easily rival the output
of Riverdance alum Liz Knowles.
