Danu: The Road Less Traveled

Vocals, Flute, Whistle – Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
Accordion, Melodeon – Benny McCarthy
Bodhrán, Uilleann Pipes – Donnchadh Gough
Bouzouki – Eamon Doorley
Fiddle, Backing Vocals – Oisin McAuley
Flute, Whistle, Backing Vocals – Tom Doorley
Guitar – Donal Clancy, Garry O Briain* (tracks: 2)

With Guests

Fiddle – John Sheahan (tracks: 10)
Cello – Aongus McAuley (tracks: 2, 4, 8, 10)
Double Bass – James Blennerhassett (tracks: 2, 4, 7, 10)

Another re-release of a classic CD by Danu the very popular and hard working band. This time around they have a new singer, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, and the one of the featured guests is Dubliner John Sheahan.This was their 5th CD and the one which won them great critical aclaim and won them a worldwide reputation as one of Ireland's greatest band.
The beating heart of Irish music is, as it has been for centuries, the sessiun. These informal music gatherings, where any and all can gather to play traditional tunes, have kept Irish music a social form at a time when most other folk styles exist almost exclusively on the professional concert 'stage, or in the privacy of people's homes. The Irish even have a word for the special fun of people sharing music together, craic. More successfully than any band working today, Dania has transferred the unique social energy and convivial passion, the lively craic, of the sessiun to the concert stage. Their wild spontaneity and breathtaking musical power have made them arguably the most in-demand touring band to emerge from Ireland in the past decade. The Boston Globe says "Danu is the Next Big Thing in Celtic music."
With the release of their fiery and gorgeous new CD, The Road Less Traveled, Dana welcomes back founding guitarist Donal Clancy, and introduces stunning new vocalist Muireen Nic Amhlaoibh, from the Irish-speaking Corca Dhuibhne in West Kerry. Filling out the current ensemble are button accordionist Brendan McCarthy and bodhran player-piper Donnchadh Gough,
both from Waterford; flutist Tom Doorley and his bouzouki-fiddle playing brother Eamon Doorley of Dublin; and Donegal fiddler Oisin MacAuley.
The new lineup promises to continue a career rise that is already the talk of the Celtic world. In 1999, Danu was named Best Overall Traditional Act by Irish Music Magazine. In 2002 BBC's vaunted Folk Music Awards named them the "best band of the year," and The Irish Herald dubbed Dana "the finest traditional band in Ireland."
"The essence of that spontaneity you get jamming away at a really good sessiun," says Tom Doorley, "that is where the heart of Danu comes from. We want to just consolidate that more, anchor down the sound into enough of an arrangement for a concert, and yet still have that energy of it being a little bit loose, so you can create more of a spark on stage, and each night becomes a different concert from the one before."

Audio

Track 1: County Down

Track 2: The Wonder & The Impish Hornpipes

Track 3: Farewell Farewell

Track 4: Cliffs of Glen ColmCille

Track Listing

1. McCahill's Reel / Doherty's Reel / Reel Gan Ainm 3:01
2. County Down 4:50
3. Top It Off / Jig Gan Ainm / Kilkenny Jig / Alasdruim's March 5:41
4. Peg And Awl 4:02
5. The Fairy Reel / The Old Torn Petticoat / Our House At Home 3:43
6. Ráitachas Na Tairngreacht 5:04
7. Garech's Wedding / Reel Gan Ainm / The Moving Bog / Cliffs Of Glen Colm Cille 4:51
8. Farewell Farewell 3:22
9. The Song Of The Chanter / The Rakes Of Clonmel 5:00
10. The Wonder Hornpipe / The Impish Hornpipe 3:30
11. Beannacht Ó Rí Na hAoine 3:43
12. Neilí / Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Swing Band / Dayne Tomas's / Jazzing With Mag Leary 4:21

Press Reviews

Folk Roots * * * *
The addition of new singer Muireann Ni Amhlaoibh seems to have completely rejuvinate Danu. Tunes ignite and blaze with more verve and their new Kerry vocalist has given them another strand entirely here. Her performances on County Down and Richard Thompson's Farewell Farewell recall Delores Keane and seem to inspire the rest of the band to new heights. Colin Irwin

SONGLINES * * * *
More personnel changes, more great music Spinal Tap got through drummers at a frightening pace, but the Irish septet Danu go a couple of steps further. The Road Less Travelled sees not only the return of founding member DOnal Clancy (son of Liam), their third guitarist in four albums, but also a new singer (and the band's first woman member), Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who becomes their third lead vocalist. If they weren't such a likeable and gregarious bunch, you'd begin to wondnder, but Danis affability continues to imbue their increasingly excellent music.
The band's roots synthesise the music of the Waterford Gaeltacht of An Rinn, provided by accordionist Benny McCarthy and bodhran-player-cum-uilleann-piper Donnchadh Gough, with the east-coast stylings of the Doorley brothers from Dublin — Tom on flute and whistles and amonn playing bouzouki. An addition to the blend is fiddler Oisin McAuley, whose driving Donegal style is immediately apparent on the album's opening set of reels, especially as 'McCahill's' and 'Doherty's' come respectively from Tommy Peoples and John Doherty, two of the County's greatest musicians.

In Contrast, Amhlaoibh hails from the West Kerry Gaeltacht whence two of her five songsoriginate: the gorgeous aisling or vision song 'Raitachas na Tairngreacht', and the equally sumptuous 'Beannacht 6 Ri na hAoine'. Both reaffirm her cr?dentials as one of Ireland's best young singers. Instrumentally, too, The Road Less Travelled reveals all the polish of a band at the top of their tree and — as proved by The Wonder Hornpipe' and a closing set of polkas — in a far more relaxed mood than on previous outings. Geoff Wallis