ROOTS CD REVIEW IN IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE

Chapter One – Roots
Own Label
12 Tracks, 51 Minutes, 34 Seconds

I wasn’t expecting this. OK! I thought, being the hard boiled sceptic, here’s another enthusiastic young American band with a tenuous grip on the tradition. Then I put the CD on the stereo system, loved it and poured the custard for a big slice of humble pie. This is proof we are living in a golden age of acoustic music.

Irish music at home is innately conservative and most players are expected to grow into the genre as they mature. The Willis Clan seem to have short–circuited the fuse board, well eight of the family have. They are joined by Eamon Murray, Trevor Hutchinson, Frances Cunningham and Jeff Cox to add more sparks to the mix.  The sound is big and expressive, somewhere near Lúnasa, somewhere near Solas, their arrangements are tight, the playing on the button, the attention to detail exact. They are disciples of the new wave of Irish bands that have been touring America over the past five years, the likes of the afore mentioned acts and Beoga too.

There is much more, every one of those twelve tracks is original. Freshly composed sets of tunes and a basket of new songs all embossed with the guinea stamp of authenticity. There aren’t that many bands in Ireland composing their own traditional songs, take a note from the Willis Clan, it can be done. The Clan’s A Traveling Song and The Rambler, could have come from Petrie or Child. They have mastered the idioms of melody and language, nothing seems contrived or clumsy in their word patterns.

As to the tunes, the McGoldrickesque, whistle powered Lonely Castle William Set is a stunner. Even when they delve into something contemporary it retains a deep melodic centre, such as Lottie Lies Amongst The Flowers. The banjo driven Wounded Crow is a funky 7/8 number excelling in the middle eight breaks.
Quality is evident on every track. If you want one recommendation the a-capella My Soldier, could have been written about any military separation from the past 200 years, whether it be caused by Bonaparte or the Taliban.

In short this is a wonderful debut album, full of nuggets that could keep many bands in new songs and tunes for years. You can do something new and still remain true to the tradition. As another famous American said a year ago Is féidir linn!

Seán Laffey