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Stand clear of the closing doors! Seelie Court is an ancient Celtic faerie land, where folks are friendly and cool. But don't mix it up with "Unseelie Court", whose inhabitants are far less benevolent ...best to skip that stop!
When I first asked artist Ariella Huff about doing the CD cover, I had a subway scene in mind. She had been reading Brian Froud and Alan Lee's brilliant book about faeries, and suggested both the CD title and colorful cover drawing. Bravo, Ari.
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Many great musicians helped make the CD possible. Accordionist Martin Reilly (who I met when we were playing Riverdance on Broadway) called and said "We want to play on your CD. When can we come?" So he showed up at the studio with his sister Marie Reilly (fiddle player with Cherish the Ladies, she and I worked together in Cathie Ryan's band a few years ago) and Tony Davoren, a great bouzouki player whom I had heard of, but never met. |
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One evening I went to pub across the street from where I was playing one night in Woodside, Queens, and heard guitarist James Reilly and banjo player Donie Ryan tearing it up. I'd played with them both, but never at the same time. They were so tight, they sounded like one player. They said they'd like to come down and record a couple of tracks, and came up with two really cool sets. |
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Bonnie Rideout, the great Scottish fiddler from Washington, D.C., called me in the fall of 2002 about playing bodhran in her trio and for her annual Christmas tour. We hit it off great, and she brought me to DC to play on her new CD. She generously gave me a solo fiddle track of a 300 year old tune called "Reel O'Tulloch" that had never been recorded before. I layered bodhran and some other percussion onto it, and when I played it for her later, she smiled and started dancing around the room!
Darryl Conlon is a good friend and bandmate in The McCabes. We recorded a couple of his original tunes, with Darryl playing mandolin, octave mandolin and guitars. Maz Swift, also from the McCabes, came in and sweetened up the tracks with her fiddle.
Guitarist Donal Clancy and I toured with Solas for a couple of years and went through countless bloody mary's together. While I was recording the CD, Donal was very busy touring with Danu, and with Cillian and Nile Vallely, but happily he had time to record one track along with Mary Rafferty. Although Mary is best known for her accordion playing, she played whistle on two sets, and it sounds beautiful!
Filling it all up and providing musical magic is bassist Chico Huff, my old friend and comrade from Solas and hundreds of sessions and gigs. Chico is well known for his endless creativity, and he has an amazing ability to make everything sound even better. Check out his bass solo on "MondoReel/Toss the Feathers." Brilliant.
Other key contributors who should be mentioned are Jack Waltrip, my partner at Manhattan Bridge Studios in NY, who did all the design work for the CD cover. The mastering was done at MAJA Audio Group in Philadelphia by John Anthony and John Baker, and the back cover photo was taken by Debra Reschoff-Ahearn. Thank you, everyone.
To hear sound clips or to buy a copy on online, click here to go to CD Baby.
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