Cillian Vallely & David Doocey: The Yew & The Orchard

 The Yew & The Orchard is the brand new release from acclaimed uilleann piper Cillian Vallely and award winning fiddler David Doocey. Through a classic instrumental pairing, the album reflects Vallely’s musical experience growing up in Co. Armagh (“The Orchard”) and Doocey’s in Co. Mayo (“The Yew”) in old traditional tunes as well as several new ones composed for this collaboration. The result is a crisp, forward-thinking collection that will charm and invigorate lovers of traditional music.

Cillian Vallely has established his name over the last two decades through his work with the award-winning Irish supergroup Lúnasa. The product of an important and groundbreaking musical family steeped in the tradition, Vallely’s mastery of chanter, drones and regulators has earned him the reputation of being one of Irish music’s great pipers. He has appeared on over 60 recordings, performed with acts as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Tim O’Brien, & Declan O’Rourke, and has performed at venues the world over, including The Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Paris Bercy, and The Royal Albert Hall in London, among many, many others.

David Doocey stands at the forefront of a younger generation of Irish musicians. Having won several awards for his outstanding fiddle playing (including numerous All-Ireland titles on both fiddle andconcertina, the first ever World Fleadh fiddle championship in 2005, and the much coveted Féile Oriel competition in 2009), he released Changing Time, his debut solo album, in 2013 to critical acclaim. He’s been a member of several noted groups, including Gráda, Blás, and NxNW, recorded with Grammy award winners Tim O’Brien and Allison Brown, and has performed extensively with musicians such as Sean & Dolores Keane, Finbar Furey, Michael McGoldrick, Martin Hayes, and Sharon Shannon.

The album also features accompaniment by Patrick Doocey (guitar), Caoimhin Vallely (piano), and Séan Óg Graham (guitar) of the band Beoga, whose performance and songwriting credits include Ed Sheeran’s chart topping hit “Galway Girl.”

Audio

Track 1: O'Reilly's Greyhound

Track 2: Lark's March

Track 3: Up & Down Again

Track Listing

1. Billy Rushe’s /Jim Collin’s Rambles / The Pride of Rockchapel
2. Mickey Callaghan’s Fancy / The Glentown Reel / The Fairhaired Boy / O’Reilly’s Greyhound
3. West Clare Railway / The Jug of Punch
4. The Cider Shack / Bolt the Door / I’d Rather Be Married than Left
5. Tha’m Buntàta Mor / The Bullet Thrower / Red Ned’s
6. The Worcester Reel / St. Ruth’s Bush / Gay Cassidy’s
7. Elk River Blues / Ryan’s
8. Heights of Dart / Paddy Joe’s
9. James Byrne’s / Humours of Whiskey / Up and Down Again
10. Lark’s March
11. Peacock’s Feather
12. Scotch Mary

Also available from Copperplate
Cillian Vallely: The Raven's Rock
Cillian Vallely & Kevin Crawford: On Common Ground
Cillian & Niall Vallely: Callan Bridge

Press Reviews

THE IRISH POST
The sound of Cillian Vallely’s uilleann pipes and whistle will be known to many  through his longstanding membership of Lúnasa, one of Ireland’s top traditional bands. His musical abilities were nurtured in the Armagh Pipers Club run by his parents. Vallely has recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant and Karan Casey, made a duo album, On Common Ground, with Lúnasa’s flute maestro in 2009 and a solo album, The Raven’s Rock in 2016. David Doocey is a fiddle player at the forefront of a younger generation of Irish musicians, winning several awards, including All-Ireland titles on both fiddle and concertina.  He released Changing Time, his debut solo album, in 2013, has been a member of Gráda and of Blás, and recorded with Tim O’Brien and Allison Brown.

The title The Yew & The Orchard reflects Vallely’s musical experience growing up in Co. Armagh (“The Orchard”) and Doocey’s in Co. Mayo (“The Yew”).
The album features familial accompaniment from Patrick Doocey on guitar and Caoimhin Vallely on piano, with Beoga’s Séan Óg Graham sharing guitar duties.

Mickey Callaghan’s Fancy, a glorious tune - learned from fiddler Tola Custy and also recorded by, amongst others, P.J & Martin Hayes, and by The Chieftains Michael Turbridy - starts off a captivating set of reels, pipes and fiddle locked in close unison. A similarly elegant, easy-going reel set opens with just fiddle and guitar on West Clare Railway, a tune composed by Clare fiddle player Junior Crehen, with Vallely’s pipes coming back in on The Jug Of Punch which Doocey leaned from Paddy Glackin.

Their album doesn’t only offer the main course of the uilleann pipes and fiddle pairing, as Vallely’s whistles and Doocey’s concertina contribute additional light and shade. Vallely plays tin whistle on a set of jaunty hop jigs, initially with just guitar accompaniment on Tha 'm buntàta mòr – which translates as ‘The potatoes are big’ - a tune he learned from the great highland piper Allan MacDonald. Exquisitely evocative solo low whistle plays the first bars of a reflective old-time American tune, Elk River, before  fiddle and guitar pick up the tune which is followed by Ryan’s - Doocey switching to concertina - taken from one of Kevin Burke’s Open House album Second Story, originally recorded by North Carolina’s Red Clay Ramblers in 1974.

There is yet more in the way of musical variety in the choice of tunes. Heights Of Dargai, a march, is another Scottish tune that Cillian got from highland piper James Duncan MacKenzie which builds particularly nicely from a guitar intro, then pipes and lastly fiddle, and then blends very effectively into a reel called Paddy’s Joe’s. The pairing of A Ógánaigh An Chúil Chraobhaigh (which translates as O Young Man of the Flowing Hair), a great air/lament - which Vallely plays achingly well, solo on uilleann pipes - with Peacock's Feather, a hornpipe, is a standout even amongst so much great music. The Yew & The Orchard is a diverse, absorbing instrumental collection that should tempt anyone who loves traditional music.   Dave McNally

THE IRISH TIMES
Cillian Vallely and David Doocey: The Yew & the Orchard ˊ Fiddle and pipes in a dance that never lets up Drawing deeply from the well in this new collection, the duo make some stellar tune choices, and contribute no fewer than six of their own compositions
Taking their title from their respective home places ˊ Armaghˏs Orchard and Mayoˏs Yew ˊ Cillian Vallely and David Doocey have created a fresh-faced sound from their pipes and fiddle, a long[1]standing favoured duo of instruments in the tradition. This is a collection that has much to mine. Drawing deeply from the well, the duo have made some stellar tune choices, and contributed no fewer than six newly composed tunes themselves. Geography presents no barriers, and in fact itˏs their lively and imaginative tune pairings that elevate their sets from the get-go.

The reel set tail-ended by OˏReillyˏs Greyhound emerges from the traps striking a subtle note with fiddle and guitar (courtesy of Patrick Doocey, Davidˏs brother), but once Vallelyˏs pipes join the fray they weave a gorgeously languid pattern across a set bequeathed from the playing of Denis Murphy and OˏNeillˏs Music of Ireland collection from the s. Both musiciansˏ own compositions are stellar ˊ sharp in definition and playing to the harmonic strengths of their instruments. Vallelyˏs utter possession of the pipes is evident throughout, while Dooceyˏs fiddle has an innate swing that charms the pants off his tune choices. Guitar accompaniment is also provided by Seán Óg Graham, with some very tasty piano from Caoimhín Vallely.

Irish Echo
In the media player this week is “The Yew & The Orchard,” the new album from Cillian Vallely and David Doocey. Vallely and Doocey are a superb musical match and the music they make here is sophisticated, well selected, and brilliantly executed. This is an album that will surely hit with traditional music audiences for its many strengths. Vallely is one of the world’s great pipers. The product of an important musical family and a member of the supergroup Lúnasa (https://www.lunasamusic.com/ https://www.lunasamusic.com/ (https://www.lunasamusic.com/)), he’s played and recorded with the likes of with Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, Mary Chapin[1]Carpenter, Tim O’Brien, and Riverdance (among dozens of other projects) and has toured extensively over four continents. Productions he leads are always of an exceptionally high standard and ultimately, he’s a musician who needs little introduction to readers of this column.https://www.blasmusic.com/ ttps://www.blasmusic.com/ (https://www.blasmusic.com/) Doocey (https://www.daviddoocey.com/) https://www.daviddoocey.com/) (https://www.daviddoocey.com/)) reflects a similarly premier musical standard. An award winning fiddle (which he plays here) & concertina player and composer from Foxford, Mayo, he released his outstanding debut solo album “Changing Time” in 2013 and since then has played & recorded with the groups Blas (with Stephen Doherty, Anne Brennan, and Shane McGowan, and NxNW (with Stephen Doherty, Ryan Molloy and Kieran Leonard. Bill Neely

the bright young folk review
Uilleann pipes and whistle maestro Cillian Vallely and talented young fiddler David Doocey have teamed up, inaugurating their new collaboration with the release of The Yew and The Orchard, a collection of old and new tunes, including six self-penned ones, arranged and recorded with a line up including Sean Og Graham, Patrick Doocey and Caoimhin Vallely. One might expect, given the names printed on the cover, a series of foot-tapping jigs and reels; if so, you will not be disappointed. Even from the first track, namely Billy Rushe’s / Jim Collin’s Rambles / The Pride of Rockchapel, it is clear that breathtaking dexterity will be the key feature of this release, a sensation that’s confirmed as one proceeds along the tracklist. The brisk The Worcester Reel / St. Ruth’s Bush/ Gay Cassidy’s is perhaps the highest peak of their virtuoso playing. It starts with a delicate touch by Og Graham’s guitar, but Doocey’s fiddle and later Vallely’s pipes rapidly take centre stage with a display of exquisite technique. However, there are also some very evocative slow paced tunes on this album. Take for example the modern classic Elk River Blues or the melancholic Peacock’s Feather, both presented in a
slightly different flavour than the ones we are used to. The whole release feels like a delicate and playful dance where the fiddle and the uilleann pipes, the latter sometimes replaced by the whistles, gracefully combine or move around each other to create ever changing harmonies. The instruments are just natural extensions of these musicians’ bodies, as they dive into traditional tunes, many of which have not often been recorded before, with a mix of boldness and spontaneity. The Yew and the Orchard is an album for everyone, a captivating collection of tunes with real drive and bite, that gets every listener looking forward to seeing these artists live. Michele Mele