Following their outstanding 2005 recording Notes from the Heart on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label, Mick Mulcahy and his daughters Louise (26) and Michelle (24) are back with a new album, Reelin' in Tradition.

If their first album was a revelation for the rhythmic and beautiful Mulcahy sound - as well as the virtuosity across several instruments of Michelle and Louise - Reelin' in Tradition presents a new level of musicianship exploring their collective repertoire.

Mick Mulcahy from Brosna, Co. Kerry, recorded two accordion albums on the Gael-Linn label in 1976 and 1990, and, while he always played music at home, he never had to try to get his children to play as they quickly found their own way to it.

Louise and Michelle both started on tin whistle. At age 10 Louise moved on to the flute and as a teenager began playing uilleann pipes. Mick recalls driving Louise to Dublin from their home in Limerick every month for a year for lessons in Na Píobairí Uilleann. Louise recently guest-presented the TG4 traditional-music show Geantraí.

Michelle started playing the accordion aged six and surprised everyone when she asked for a harp at age ten. She subsequently took up the fiddle, piano and concertina. Michelle was TG4 Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2006 and recently featured on Riverdance composer Bill Whelan's new album, The Connemara Suite, on a piece for harp and orchestra which he wrote for her.

Mick, Louise and Michelle Mulcahy regularly perform in Ireland the USA and have an unmistakeable, infectious sound. As Martin Hayes writes, 'I first became familiar with the music of Mick Mulcahy from his first solo recording... I remember that both my father and I felt that his music had a great depth of feeling. That same feeling that first made an impression on me has been handed on to his daughters and continues all the way through this recording.'

Also available from Copperplate: CICD 160 Mick, Louis & Michelle Mulcahy: Notes from the Heart

Press Reviews

The previous album of this family of traditional musicians from County Limerick in 2005 did to an extent sound like Mick and his daughters, but it is clear that here the three have equal status. In fact the album is at its most impressive when the three of them are playing at full pelt; Mick on button accordion, Michelle on concertina, fiddle or piano. Louise on flute, uillean pipes or harp. There is that

close understanding that comes from talented blood relations playing together

and jointly their music really soars.

They have a carefully chosen programme drawing on tunes from all over Ireland and they show their ability to demonstrate region variations in style, particularly when it is the lovely Sliabh Luachra polka style.

The tracks led by individuals don't have quite the same spark as those featuring all three and the least successful are the harp tracks. It is clear that Louise is a very fine harpist, but the recording here is a bit unbalanced and does not do her justice.

As on their previous album there are two accompanists; Tommy Hayes on bodhrán and bones and Cyril O'Donaghue on bouzouki but the recording balance keeps their contributions very much in the background

to favour the superb melody playing. Vic Smith.

2009 TOP 10 TRAD RELEASES in Ceol Column in The Irish Echo newspaper, New York City

"Reelin' in Tradition" by Mick, Louise, and Michelle Mulcahy (Clo Iar-Chonnachta CICD 180).

It's not fair. No three family members should have the abundance of musical talent that Mick, Louise, and Michelle Mulcahy of Abbeyfeale, West Limerick, have. On this, their third album together ("The Mulcahy Family" and "Notes From the Heart" came out in 2000 and 2005, respectively), the Brosna, North Kerry-born Mick Mulcahy on C#/D, B/C, D/D#, C/C#, and D button accordions joins daughter Lucille on uilleann pipes and D and E-flat flutes and daughter Michelle on harp, concertina, fiddle, and piano for a largely familiar repertoire that's freshly and impressively played. Earle Hitchner

www.liveIreland.com

The Livies 1.1.2010

Instrumental Album of the Year

Reelin' in Tradition by the Mulcahy family is the easy choice. The album is being handled by the unequalled Alan O'Leary out of Copperplate Distribution in London, and he handles only the best. The Mulcahys won this Award with their last album, and we suspect they will again with their next album! Mick, Michelle and Louise are the real, true deal. Michelle is best known for her harp work, Louise for her uillean pipes and father, Mick for his button box. But, Louise and Michelle seem to play every instrument ever made---and they play them perfectly. Indescribable. We'll settle for the word, 'fabulous' and leave it at that. If you love trad, and you do, why would you not have this album? Every note perfect. Instrumental Album of the Year. Bill Margeson

www.liveireland.com

So, with this rambling in mind, I received the new Mulcahy family album from the best promoter and distributor in the business, Alan O'Leary of Copperplate in London. Michelle Mulcahy, sister Louise and father, Mick have done it again. This time, it is called, Reelin' in Tradition. Mick holds forth on the accordion, Michelle and Louise on every other instrument in the tradition. Does it do to tell you that Michelle was teaching master classes in the Irish harp at the age of 18? That, at 16, Louise was in the very forefront of uillean pipers? See, for you, after all these years, the hope is that you find a critic or writer in whose taste you trust. Our pal, Jimmy Keane---himself the best piano accordion player in Irish music