Cathie Ryan
For Cathie Ryan, it's a long, long waybackto Tipperary, and the road goes through Michigan. The Detroit-reared singer is a first-generation American; her mother is from Kerry, and her father from Tipperary. Ryan, however, was schooled in Gaelic ways, includingsean nos(solo) singing. Ryan's debut (following seven years with the women's groupCherish the Ladies) draws on her heritage and her New World upbringing with effortless grace. Traditionals ("Ned of the Hill," "Dark Moll of the Glen") mix with more contemporary material (Dougie MacLean's "Garden Valley) and three Ryan originals, including the autobiographical "When Detroit Was Burning." It's a formula that serves Ryan well on this vastly promising debut.--Steven Stolder