Dirty Linen #96, 2001

Welcome to the first episode of a new column that will attempt to cover some of the vast, fiddle-and-squeezebox-strewn territory previously explored in each issue by the renowned Celtonerd, Steve Winick. The Reel World will feature a concentrated look at selected small-label and self-produced CDs that fall within a broad spectrum of Celtic and English music — music connected to or branching from the traditions of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Celtic corners of mainland Europe, and coming from anywhere on the planet where that sort of music has traveled.

This month's survey starts with new releases from two talented young fiddlers based in Boston who perform together on occasion, guest on each other's recordings, and share some of the same backing musicians. Erstwhile Oregonian and former U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion Hanneke Cassel favors an elegant, graceful, chamber-folk style rather than fiddle pyrotechnics on her debut, My Joy [Cassel Records HJC2001 (2001)]. She can skip through Scottish and Cape Breton-style dance sets with the best of them, but the disc's highlights are soaring original slow airs like "November," with exquisite piano accompaniment, and the melancholic, cello-backed "Leaving You." Cassel's tunes capture the mixture of sadness and hope found in much Scottish and Irish music and give it a fresh West Coast spin. The arrangements for multiple fiddles and cello on this disc are especially striking. As both a fiddler and composer, Cassel shows conspicuous promise.

Maine native Lissa Schneckenburger frequently plays for contra dances and also works with the Celtic folk/funk/rock band Mad Pudding, so there's a correspondingly uptempo kick to many of the tracks on her latest disc, Different Game [Footprint Records (2001)]. She has a hot hand with reels and jigs, mixing deftly ornamented traditional tunes like "Drowsy Maggie" with clever, perky originals like "Aren's Jig" and "Hipper Than Hip" (inspired by James Brown!). Then she adds a couple of courtly slow airs for variety, all simply but crisply produced with guitar and assorted second fiddle, mandolin, bass, and bodhrán backing. She successfully ventures into contemporary songwriting as well — the disc's title track is a lighthearted, catchy tale of a surprise romance that sails into a bow-bouncing reel.

There are eight more recordings reviewed in this article in Dirty Linen #96, 2001 (October/November '01).

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