The Widening Gyre

The Widening Gyre

Celtic folk and American roots music have influenced each other greatly over the years, particularly in the instrumentation and the general approach of playing together and sharing songs. The long-running Altan make these ties quite clear, recording this mixed bag of jigs, reels, and songs with some of Nashville’s top-tier players. Singer Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh sounds particularly fetching on the ambient “Cuirt Robin Finley” and the melancholy “Lurgy Streams,” while the band kick up their heels with typically spectacular results on the reels. It’s also worth noting that “White Birds” features lyrics borrowed from a Yeats poem.

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