This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #119 (August/September 2005).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

The McDades

Canadian/Celtic Improv

by Tom Nelligan

As a variety of bands have shown in recent years, Celtic music is an accommodating thing. Building on the framework of jigs and reels, talented musicians can add decorations and trim that make something exciting and new, but still based on the ancient sounds. Among the innovative groups expanding the boundaries is a personable and witty sibling trio called the McDades, a sister and two brothers from Edmonton, Alberta.

In the McDades' music, strong vocals in English and French are complemented by agile fiddling that draws on classical and jazz lines, moody low whistle and soprano saxophone, and complex and literate bass playing, backed by guitar and multi-ethnic percussion. Their work is full of side trips and improvisations, but always tight and smooth. The traditional Irish song "Rocky Road to Dublin" travels to a smoky jazz club with a soaring sax solo, the Mike Cross composition "The Bounty Hunter" trades its Southern flavor for a polyrhthmic Celtic folk-rock arrangement, and a sizzling fiddle/whistle set cleverly titled "McKinley Morganfield's" borrows licks from legendary bluesman Muddy Waters. It's hot, creative, and fun.

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #119 (August/September 2005).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Copyright ©2005 Dirty Linen, Ltd, Baltimore, MD