Latest releases reviewed
VARIOUS ARTISTS A Celebration of New Orleans Music Rounder ****
There is, happily, no shortage of fundraising going on for the beleaguered city and people of New Orleans, and this eclectic 16-track collection shows why it was, and hopefully will be again, a must place to visit for even the casual music lover. As Branford Marsalis states in the sleeve notes, the Crescent City is a timeless place where even the most contemporary music carries echoes of the past. From the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's flamboyant opener, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to Johnny Adams and Aaron Neville's beautiful a cappela prayer, Never Alone, the rhythms and spirit are evident, whether it be Irma Thomas's brash Second Line Medley or Marsalis's quartet's measured B'c Paris Blues. A fine taster. www.rounder.com
Joe Breen
STEVE DAWSON Sweet is the Anchor Undertow Records ****
Depending on your disposition, a Dolly Varden is either a fish found in the North Pacific, a woman's hat which droops to one side, or a band from Chicago who major in sadcore. Steve Dawson is co-leader of that band, and after four albums with them this is his first solo effort. And a very good record it is, too: soft and sensitive, with flashes of Al Green-influenced soul colouring the introspective tone of the moody lyrics. Dawson has an easy way with melody, with songs such as the title track a prime example. The Al Green influence reaches a peak on the wonderfully sung Love Is a Blessing; in contrast, his anti-war opus, The Guilty Will Pay, is a mess with an apology for a brass section. Earnest but entertaining, Dawson plays in Dublin in early February and is definitely worth catching. www.stevedawsonmusic.com
Joe Breen
VARIOUS ARTISTS Hands Across the Water Compass Records ****
For this record, ostensibly a fundraiser for children of the tsunami, Donegal musician and Georgia resident John Cutliffe (alongside Nashville's Andrea Zonn) has orchestrated a swathe of magical collaborative collisions. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, as unlikely pairings send sparks flying into the ether. Darrell Scott's collaboration with Danú's Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Oisín McAuley on Scott's This Beggar's Heart is a languid, almost indolent opener, their vocals courting one another with the coyness of untutored lovers. Beth Nielson Chapman's luminous reading of Be Still My Soul is deliciously tempered by the backing vocals of Bonnie Raitt, and Paul Brady (with Rodney Crowell) engages in downright lusty yodelling on Forty Shades Of Green. Countless other diamonds glitter amid this fine cache. www.handsacrossthewater.com
Siobhán Long
