Corner Boys
Irish folk music consists of two distinct traditions--instrumental dance tunes played by a soloist and accompanist, and songs delivered by a vocalist and accompanist. It was only with the emergence of the Chieftains in the '60s that the concept that one group could handle both traditions took hold. Patrick Street--an all-star band composed of Bothy Band fiddler Kevin Burke, De Danann accordionist Jackie Daly, Planxty singer Andy Irvine, and Battlefield Band guitarist Ged Foley--achieves a near-perfect balance of dance tunes and songs. On the quartet's fifth album,Corner Boys, Burke and Daly forego all tentative and ornamental notes to carve out confident, surprising melodic variations in the instrumental medleys. With the possible exception of the Chieftains, there's no better Celtic-music group in the world right now than Patrick Street.--Geoffrey Himes