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Liz Carroll / Winifred Horan
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Winifred Horan
Liz Carroll
How does a solo instrumentalist hold listeners' interest for an entire album? It's not easy, but recent albums from two female Irish-American fiddlers show how it's done. For Winifred Horan and Liz Carroll, the formula is picking a varied playlist and accompanists who are more than just wallpaper.
Both women show that they are not strict traditionalists. While Chicago-based Carroll adheres more to an Irish menu of jigs and reels, she also jumps afield on the title cut with The Turtle Island String Quartet, straddling the seemingly polar opposite worlds of traditional music and contemporary classical.
Horan doesn't break as much as bend tradition. She doesn't add rappers or synthesized new-agey backdrops. Instead, she allows herself the latitude to create tunes that have the simple, rustic beauty of folk music that could come from any number of places.
While Horan has shown with Solas that she can fast-fiddle with the best of them, here she showcases her melodic side, such as the exquisitely sad title tune or the poignant "Giants Fall," a tribute to New York in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Horan works here with Solas' multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan (who co-produced with Horan) and the group's bassist, Chico Huff. With them and others, she parts from Solas' powerful sound (though with the group's latest album, it parts way with its sound too).
Her second album since her return to the professional circuit, Lake Effect shows she can fiddle with both fire and feeling, spinning out lovely melodies even over some breakneck jigs and reels. In addition, like Horan, Carroll wrote most of the tunes herself and shows that she is as talented a composer as a player. Also, like Horan, Carroll shows that she can play a slow air that will give your heart a little squeeze.
To put together the album, Carroll called upon long-time collaborator guitarist John Doyle (formerly of Solas) as well as veteran accordionist M�irt�n O'Connor. While the fiddle stands front and center in the tunes, the ensemble playing -- particularly Doyle's rhythm guitar -- makes each set of tunes thoroughly enjoyable to listen to.
What are the chances that two Irish-American female fiddlers would come out with great instrumental albums almost simultaneously? Whatever the odds, it's a very happy coincidence. - Marty Lipp
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For New York City native Horan, who is best-known for her work with the group Solas, her solo debut gives her the opportunity to show her cosmopolitan musical sensibility. The songs on Just One Wish are almost all written or co-written by Horan. She includes several lovely waltzes, but even when she is playing a reel or jig, the sound transcends what is conventionally thought of as Irish music.
Liz Carroll was born in Chicago and took to Irish music early, writing her first tune at the age of nine and winning the All-Ireland championship at the age of 18. She became a noted fiddler in the Irish American music scene before taking a professional hiatus to raise her children.