Two Journeys
West Virginia native Tim O'Brien is one of a handful of master musicians  that manages to be both cutting edge and traditional at the same time. Primarily  known as a folk and bluegrass player who can charm and cajole with a wide  variety of stringed instruments, he has of late been turning to bridging the  ocean and ages by finding the common denominators between Irish and Appalachian  musical forms. OnTwo Journeys, he brings together renowned American and  Irish musicians on tracks as disparate as "Mick Ryan's Lament"--a take on  "Garryowen" (General Custer's unofficial marching theme) that tells the ghostly  story of a man who would have preferred dying with his brother at Vicksburg than  at Little Bighorn--and "Norwegian Wood" sans sitars. For those who love the best  that wood, string, whistles, and wit can produce, O'Brien has perfectly combined  Irish and American forms without losing either the mirth or the melancholy of  either.--Henry Cabot Beck