page_title: Altan (band)
section_title: 2014-2017: The Widening Gyre and touring
hierarchical_section_title: Altan (band) / History / 2014-2017: The Widening Gyre and touring
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Altan in der Markthalle Hamburg (kleiner Saal) English: Altan in the Markthalle Hamburg (small stage)
context_page_description: Altan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. The group were primarily influenced by traditional Irish language songs from Donegal and have sold over a million records.
  The group were the first traditional Irish group to be signed to a major label when they signed with Virgin Records in 1994. The group has collaborated with Dolly Parton, Enya, The Chieftains, Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, and many others.
context_section_description: 2014
  On 3 June 2014, on their Twitter page and the Pledge Music website, Altan announced that they were working on a new studio album to be recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. The band had started rehearsing potential material for the album with the intention to perform some of these new pieces at various concerts over the summer.
  While on a 5-show US tour, the band – Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Ciarán Tourish, Ciarán Curran, Daíthí Sproule, Mark Kelly and Martin Tourish (replacing Dermot Byrne) – began recording their new album in Nashville, Tennessee.
  In October 2014, Altan confirmed that their new album was being mixed, and that they "hope[d] to have it [released] in the Spring of 2015," and that it would contain "loads of surprises".
  On 5 November 2014, Altan published a snippet of a new track titled "White Birds" which was recorded with an undisclosed musical guest.
  In late November 2014, Altan announced the names of some guest musicians who they collaborated with: Eddi Reader on vocals, Jerry Douglas (from Union Station and Transatlantic Sessions) on Dobro, Alison Brown, Bruce Molsky, Mike McGoldrick, Natalie Haas, Jim Higgins and Darol Anger.
  On 5 December 2014, Altan took part in the Great British Folk Festival in Skegness, Lincolnshire, UK. During the show, Ciarán Tourish announced that they "have a new album almost finished [which] has been mastered" and about which they "can do any more with it [for] it's done" just before the band went into playing a new medley (taken from it) entitled "The Tin Key / Sam Kelly's Jig / The Gravediggers".
  On 19 December 2014, Altan revealed the names of the final guests having participated in the recording of the new album: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Todd Phillips, Garry West, Julee Glaub Weems, Kenny Malone and Stuart Duncan and offered (for listening and downloading) a (very) short audio excerpt (18 seconds) of one new instrumental titled "Buffalo Gals".
  2015
  In January 2015, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh explained why Altan called on Pledge Music's services in order to produce the new studio album and thanked all the pledgers for helping Altan with the fundraising campaign and for bringing it to completion (reaching, at that time, 101% of goal): "The music business is a changing world for professional musicians as ourselves. We depend more on live concerts to make our living. We can no longer depend on big record company funding to get our music out there, we have to do it ourselves. Now with your help we have funded our latest album which we are really happy with." She also stated that Altan have licensed the new album to Compass Records in the US, that Gary West of Compass co-produced it and that after 30 years recording studio albums, Altan "have taken a new approach with this one." The Altan Pledge Music pre-order page announced that all exclusive pre-orders would be fulfilled by 17 February 2015.
  The band later announced that the new album would be released in Ireland on 20 February 2015, in the UK on 23 February 2015 and in the US on 24 February 2015, and would be titled The Widening Gyre, taken from "The Second Coming", a poem by W. B. Yeats, the first Irishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh revealed the album's cover artwork, by artist friend Édaín O'Donnell, who previously designed the Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen cover.
  On 26 January 2015, Altan's official website published a presentation of their new studio album entitled anew The Widening Gyre giving many details about the new album: the new musical direction taken by the band, the album recording process and the participation of numerous guest musicians as well as the titles of some of the new tracks. The very same day, on their "Widening Gyre" iTunes page, Altan revealed the titles of the 14 tracks from their new studio album and released them for sale.
  On 27 January 2015, on their "Widening Gyre" Compass Records page, Altan made available short snippets of their new tracks.
  On 22 February 2015 in Charleston, WV (at Culture Center Theater, Mountain Stage Radio), Altan embarked on an ext
caption: Altan in Hamburg 2017
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