John Doyle and the modern Irish soundtrack
In time for St. Patrick’s Day, enjoy the amazing Irish guitarist, singer, and songwriter John Doyle.
In time for St. Patrick’s Day, enjoy the amazing Irish guitarist, singer, and songwriter John Doyle.
John Doyle is — to my ear — about the best rhythm player in roots music today. Ever since first hearing him as the original guitarist with the Irish super-band Solas, I’ve been taken with the mixture of power and musicianship in his playing. In recent years, Doyle has been playing in a duo with Fiddler Liz Carroll, and they just released a new CD in March on Compass Records. As promised last week, I’m highlighting several new releases from Compass in the hopes of encouraging others to take a look at this label’s varied offerings from a talented group of artists. Double Play is the second release from the Carroll/Doyle duo. The CD begins with a medley of two Carroll tunes, The Chandelier and Anne Lacey’s. Liz Carroll is not content to simply play traditional tunes, but she’s quite a composer of new Irish music. The interplay between the major key of The Chandelier and the minor tones of Anne Lacey’s makes for a great pairing. Doyle’s singing is strong on tunes such as …