CD choice:roots

Prison Love is a fan's band, formed in a blitz of enthusiasm after the 2001 Dunmore East Bluegrass festival. But it has grown into something more than a tribute group. The tightness and complex nature of their playing and their singing and harmonies underlines their commitment to, and affection for, these neighbouring and often overlapping genres. Powered by the dynamic accordion of Darragh Kilroy and coloured by the fiddle of European Sue (aka Suzanne Mulcahy), the seven-piece rarely take their foot off the accelerator. Mark O'Mahony's robust vocals are a particular highlight.

Louisiana Cajun is one of the great musics of the US, a vibrant expression of a unique and living culture. Dewey Balfa was one of Cajun's great champions, and three of his toe-tapping songs are included here. It is no small tribute that these songs could not be more authentic in feeling and mood if they were being played on a bayou in Louisiana. But this enthusiastic collective also can swivel into convincing bluegrass mode on tracks such as the ripping Georgia Railroadand the reflective Single Girl, Married Girl.

The Irish influence is never far, either. Mulcahy's fiddle is sweeter in tone than the typical bluegrass or Cajun style, and her instrumental interplay with the other players happily betrays its Irish roots.

There are downsides. Brendan Behan's The Auld Triangleis taken Pogues-like at too fast a lick, and occasionally the playing is too frantic. But if captivating tracks such as La Danse de Mardi Grasand Tater Patchdon't set your feet a hopping, it's time to hang them up - the feet that is. Check out the band's amusing website at www.prisonlove.ie   JOE BREEN

Download tracks:Single Girl, Married Girl, La Danse de Mardi Gras