Susan McKeown Bushes & Briars CD

Personnel: Susan McKeown (vocals, guitar); Hassan Hakmoun (vocals); Greg Anderson, Larry Campbell (guitar); Andy Irvine (mandolin); Johnny Cunningham (fiddle); Tom Zajac (hurdy-gurdy); Akira Satake (mandocello); Seamus Egan (whistles, bodhran); Jerry O'Sullivan (Uilleann pipes); Chris Speed (clarinet); Don McGeen (bassoon); Mick McAuley (accordion); John Clark (French horn); David Bargeron (tuba); Jamshied Sharifi (keyboards); Skuli Sverrisson (bass); Samir Chatterjee (tabla, tambura); Nikki Matheson (background vocals).
Producers: Jamshied Sharifi, Akira Satake, Susan McKeown.
Engineers: Scott Noll, Dan DiPaola, Eric Helmuth.
Recorded at D.K. USA Studios and PotaPota Studio, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Susan McKeown, Cynthia Pierce and Tess Mangum.
Personnel: Susan McKeown (vocals); Hassan Hakmoun (vocals); Seamus Egan (whistling, flute, bodhran); Greg Anderson (guitar, cittern); Larry Campbell (guitar); Skúli Sverrisson (E-bow); Tom Zajac (hurdy-gurdy); Akira Satake (mandocello); Andy Irvine (mandolin); Samir Chatterjee (tamboura, tabla); Johnny Cunningham (fiddle); Jerry O'Sullivan (Uilleann pipe); Mick McAuley (accordion); Chris Speed (clarinet); Don McGeen (bassoon); John Clark (French horn); Dave Bargeron (tuba); Jamshied Sharifi (keyboards); Ben Wittman (percussion); Nikki Matheson (background vocals).
Liner Note Author: Susan McKeown.
Recording information: D.K. USA Studios, New York, NY; PotaPota Studio, New York, NY.
Photographers: Dennis Connors; Josef Sudek.
Arranger: Jamshied Sharifi.
On Bushes & Briars, Susan McKeown brings her eloquent and haunting voice -- as well as the instrumental talents of a distinguished cast of supporting musicians -- to bear on a set of traditional Celtic and British songs. Most of her accompanists are Irish musicians, but the arrangements are anything but traditional: McKeown sings "In London So Fair" over a shimmery bed of looped whistles and mandolins; "Bonny Boy" is delivered a cappella in a controlled voice that hints at an underlying frenzy of rage and sexual frustration; and her accompaniment on "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" consists entirely of tabla, tambura and low whistle -- a truly bizarre instrumentation that fits so perfectly with her quiet, resigned delivery that you may not even notice its strangeness. McKeown has taken an ancient repertoire and made it entirely new and her own, with wonderful results. ~ Rick Anderson
Irish-born, New York-based Susan McKeown is a singer/songwriter based in Irish folk and Gaelic history/tradition. While some interpret the more traditional (and more boisterous, in some cases) aspects of Irish music, McKeown mixes elements of jazz, Indian and North African music and the atmospheric, cosmopolitan sounds of Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson and Dead Can Dance into her sonic Irish stew. Her singing is melodious yet bittersweet in the vein of Delores Keane and Sandy Denny--sounding forever young and eons wise at the same time.
BUSHES & BRIARS features instrumental contributions from a diverse cast of characters--jazz players Chris Speed and John Clark, as well as Irish folk pros Andy Irvine and Seamus Egan (the latter from the fine group Solas). If you like Enya or Clannad but find them too understated and airy, or if you wish Dead Can Dance did a Celtic album, check out BUSHES & BRIARS.