Eileen Ivers' Wild Blue Grooves “The fiddle lends itself beautifully to blues, to jazzier passages, to the traditional forms of music. I think that next to the human voice it’s the most emotive form of expression. You can make it cry, have all kinds of levels of emotion, and really have it be an extension of your own personality at the time you’re playing. Which can be dangerous sometimes!” On stage, Ivers is a sprightly dynamo with a trademark blue fiddle, adding abundant body English to her bowing, swaying to the music, flashing a sly smile and clearly having as good a time as the audience. And anyone who’s seen her in concert knows that a consequence of her strong (but never heavy-handed) fiddling style is that few bows survive more than one night on stage with her. Indeed, the cover photo of Wild Blue shows the shredded remains of a bow that had given its all on one reel set during the recording session. “There are just certain tunes that are so powerful and driving. I know I really get into it, and come down harder on the strings. And there are certain tunes like slow airs or slower melodies that are really suited to a nice delicate approach. But some Irish music is written in such a lively, powerful, and exciting way that I like to play that way anyway. To me, I could never play any other way. I don’t think it’s a great night unless I went through a bow!”, she finished with a smile. You can read the complete interview by Tom Nelligan in the current issue of Dirty Linen (Volume 70). This is from the current issue of Dirty Linen The Dirty Linen Pages are all copyright ©1997 by Dirty Linen, Ltd, Baltimore, MD