Celtic Comeback: Liz Carroll, John Doyle At Forefront Of Toe-Tapping Revival
By Alan Lewis Special to the Vermont Guardian
Posted August 18, 2006
The fiddle was the main folk instrument of early America,
and New England has had its share of players, notably
including French-Canadian and old-school Yankee fiddlers.
But vintage tunes and traditional musicians have since been
pushed far into the background by a technologically enabled
mass pop culture.
“We had the same thing happen here in Chicago,” said Irish-
American fiddle star Liz Carroll. “Musicians played tunes
for a few numbers at dances and then played more popular
fare for the dancers. Those same musicians did still get
together in their houses, though, and enjoyed the music
they liked the most. I guess there’s an ebb and flow to
this music and its popularity, like any other music.”
Acclaimed guitarist and singer John Doyle credits Planxty
and The Bothy Band for influencing a revival in traditional
Celtic dance music. Doyle was a founding member of Solas, a
later group that many say is the best of them all. Findlay
Napier of the Scottish band Back of the Moon said the debut
Solas album “pretty much changed the face of traditional
music.”
“I think when we recorded the first Solas album we had many
different ideas bubbling to the surface as a band,”
recalled Doyle. “We were working a lot, rehearsing and
intensely looking at how we could make the music a little
different with arrangements and the like. We eventually
rushed into the recording as I remember, and there is an
intensity to it that I think is still palpable. … Johnny
Cunningham as the producer left us pretty much alone apart
from a little steering here and there. It was probably the
best thing he could have done.”
Solas shot a hot DVD, Reunion, from its 10th anniversary
concerts. And Vermonters who have seen it are likely to be
at the head of the line for the upcoming in-state Liz
Carroll and John Doyle concerts. On Reunion, Doyle is a
marvel of motion. How did his kinetic style come about?
“When I’m teaching,” he said, “I always ask the student to
start moving with the music, feel the beat, and sense where
the music is going. I mainly play dance music after all
with Liz. If you feel the music in your body, your response
will be better, tighter. I can’t imagine not moving to
music you are moved by.”
Carroll takes a broad view of the genre. “There’s always
been a strong instrumental side to Irish music, I think.
Yes, there are sentimental songs, and a lot of people like
listening to them alone. There are rambunctious rebel songs
and ballads, too. But people like to listen to and play
dance music as well.”
Mainstream media has not always noticed. Decades ago, Joe
Derrane was a star player out of Boston’s sizeable Irish
community. But a search of The Boston Globe and New York
Times archives turned up no hits on his name until 1995,
after his career was revived. Said Doyle, “Irish music can
go underground quite easily.”
“Joe made some wonderful recordings when he was young,”
said Carroll. “His recordings would have come out in the
50s. He told me that he played mostly keyboard with a
wedding-style band when playing traditional tunes was not
in vogue.”
“Of course,” said Doyle, “we cannot forget Michael Coleman
and James Morrison, two great Sligo fiddle players that
recorded in the 20s until the 40s. It changed the face of
Irish music not only in the States, but in Ireland too.
“There always needs to be a changing of format for the
music to be relevant to a new audience of young people,”
continued Doyle. “It’s like a reintroduction. It keeps
traditional music alive, I think. Reinventing, recreating,
rewriting - all of it sparks interest.”
Female instrumentalists have not always been prominent. “I
always owe this to women being mothers,” said Carroll. “My
own mom is one of 13 children [born in Limerick] and my dad
is also one of 13 [from County Offaly]. Definitely, the
moms had their hands full in the old days with kids. …
One hears rumors about women musicians and how good they
were and how they passed the tunes on to their children.
“The times have changed now, and large families are rare.
There is a living to be made from playing Irish music - and
there are loads of girls out there doing just that, or
aspiring to play music.”
Recent times have seen the closing of big, famed
international recording studios, while small suburban and
rural studios have been bursting at the seams.
“The fact that there’s so much recording going on now is
creating a very high standard,” observed Carroll. “The
novice listener can hear Irish music performed by large
groups supported by guitar[s], bass, drums, let’s say - a
far cry from hearing one lone flute player playing a tune
one hasn’t heard before. The initial introduction can be a
well-oiled machine with quality of sound and innovation as
good as if this were popular music.”
On the duo CD, In Play, the arrangements of Carroll and
Doyle get the fiddle and guitar playing with and off each
other, producing delightful results. These players
sympathetically weave together to form a top-notch two-
piece string band. Doyle is as great at keeping the beat as
his admiring notices say, while Carroll navigates rhythm
changes with skill and fearlessly throws herself into the
toughest passages.
Who: Liz Carroll and John Doyle
Where and When:
Higher Ground, South Burlington, VT Monday,Aug. 28
Middle Earth Music Hall, Bradford, VT Tuesday, Aug.29
In Peace,
Louise