Star rating: ****
Triple Grammy-winner Dirk Powell is a man steeped in his Appalachian musical heritage. One of the great exponents of traditional fiddle, this multi-talented musician took great pride in telling us just how Celtic his connections are. Not only is his tradition rooted in Scottish, Irish, African and Native American music, but the main influence on his musical life was his late grandfather, James Hay, "and you can guess where his ancestors came from".
Star rating: ****
ON SUNDAY night, Ewan Robertson from Carrbridge became the first singer-guitarist to win the Young Traditional Musician of the Year title, in a final that gave the judges one of the most difficult decisions to make
in the competition's eight-year history.
Star rating: ***
opening act Tony McManus is something of a Celtic Connections veteran, playing intricate and pleasant tunes with an engaging warmth and unquestioned virtuosity. However, even in a half-hour set, there is too little light and shade to hold the attention of anyone but the most dedicated guitar enthusiast.
Star Rating:
****
New England fiddler and singer Lissa Schneckenburger and her band opened proceedings with a fine selection of traditional tunes from the north-east of the United States. Dance tunes, ballads, songs from logging camps and Richard Thompson's Waltzing's for Dreamers set feet tapping.
Star Rating:
****
In a fairer world, the Balkans might now be making the same kind of headlines for their musical vibrancy that they made for their political and internecine troubles during the 1990s. Introduced by Martin Swan of Mouth Music, who got the music started with his Stobo Village Band's blend of Scottish-Irish melodies and eastern European metres, Serbia's Balkanopolis and Croatia's Kries showed that their respective strong identities have grown out
of their tradition with the
help of modern electric instruments.
Star Rating:
****
It can only have been a surreal experience for the four musicians from Boston who flew in on Tuesday to find themselves playing, a few hours later, on the nineteenth-century sailing ship, The Glenlee.
Celtic Connections: Steve Forbert's ability to write a great roots-rock song is not in doubt and he may sit comfortably with his place in a lineage that spans Dylan and Springsteen through to Earle, Petty and Adams, but his performance is workmanlike rather than inspired.
Star Rating:
***
Dr Fred Freeman doesn't do things by halves. He's the man we have to thank for Burns's complete song catalogue being recorded and collated into one mammoth set, and he's doing a similar service for Robert Tannahill. So it came as no surprise that he'd travelled exhaustively through Scotland's history and combed its geography to present this picture of a
multicultural society and how our pride in our hospitality has often been misplaced.
Star Rating:
*****
"It's been 43 years since I first came here. I promise I'll keep coming until I get it right." Tom Paxton, one of the great American songwriters, "got it right" a long time ago. This man first played the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, when he was introduced on stage by Pete Seeger. He has toured and recorded ever since.
Star Rating:
****
Perhaps with the confidence that can come only from being part of a revered musical family with an apparently free choice of the best collaborators and musicians, Teddy Thompson chose to open with a batch
of new songs, played acoustically.
Star Rating:
****
It began with music created to have them dancing in the isles and wound up with them dancing in the aisles, in their seats and - with a threat of severe overcrowding - on the stage. Celtic Connections' Celtic-Senegalese ceilidh celebrated poets, pitched Gaelic song in with dusty-plains slide guitar, mourned the dead in battles and actually found a Gaelic love story where nobody left, got sick or died, all courtesy of Jenna Cumming's
"four-piece trio".
Star rating: ****
A Gaelic singer on Jools Holland. Imagine that. But not only did North Uist's Julie Fowlis impress Mr Holland, she received the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award and persuaded the chattering classes that understanding the words was not as important as appreciating the context in which they are sung. Sales of her second album, Cuilidh, benefited accordingly.
Star rating:***
Finniston were first up on Sunday night. This fine little beat combo's tight harmonies, intelligent lyrics and fine musicianship combine in a promise of great things to come. And they're hip with it, right down to the bare feet of keyboard player of Jolene Crawford. That coolness was confirmed with the announcement that, as part of their merchandising, they do fridge magnets.
Star rating: ****
Nearly 30 years on from its release on one of those old vinyl recordings - and 18 since its previous performance in Scotland - Shaun Davey's The Brendan Voyage retains its ability to transport the listener.
Star rating: ****
Paul Burch is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter who released his first album some 10 years ago and has worked with the likes of Kurt Wagner along the way. That his star isn't brighter comes as something of a surprise given how easily accessible his music is.
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