Nerdum ad Absurdum, Part 2
Lots of self-produced and small-label Celtic and English music
by Celtonerd Steve Winick

Boy oh boy, if I thought I had a lot of discs to review last time, this time it’s just getting silly. I’d better not get started rambling, friends. Instead, let’s use all our space for reviews!

I’ll start out with a couple of Irish-American women who’ve released discs of late. First off, Patty Furlong is a familiar name to anyone who saw the original series of concerts called "Cherish the Ladies," which grew into the band of the same name. Furlong was an original member of the lineup, and plays on their original, self-titled album. As a kid growing up in the Bronx, she benefited from the teaching of fiddler Martin Mulvihill and father, Jimmy Conway, who started her on the accordion. Her latest project, the solo CD Traditional Irish Music for Button Accordion, brings her old-style C#/D accordion playing (think Joe Cooley) into a contemporary context, with gentle influences from jazz and world music brought in by Furlong, her backing musicians, and her co-producers, Zan McLeod and Brendan Dolan. From older Irish pieces to American, Cape Breton, and Scottish tunes of recent vintage, Furlong runs the Celtic gamut with ease. And if her playing doesn’t have the vicious crispness of Billy McComiskey’s or the baroque ornateness of Joe Derrane’s, it does have lift, pulse and a nice light touch. Her backing band provides bouncy accompaniment on guitar and piano, along with flute, fiddle, harp, banjo, uillean pipes, bodhrán, and even dancing feet; they keep Furlong’s accordion from getting lonely and from sounding the same from track to track. The result is a fine, laid-back, and highly listenable set of accordion tunes. [1/8 Mile Productions, 306 Holt Drive/ Pearl River, NY 10965; http://www.pattyfurlong.com/]