An Irish Journey
Celtic Woman: An Irish Journey is a greatest hits album by the group Celtic Woman, released on October 3, 2011. This album was released exclusively in France. Performers in "An Irish Journey" are vocalists Chloë Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Lisa Lambe, Órla Fallon, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Hayley Westenra, Lynn Hilary, Alex Sharpe, and fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt. All songs were taken from previous releases, which makes this album one of only a few that feature all members (current and previous). The only new song is "The Water is Wide", which is performed by Kelly, Agnew, Lambe, and Nesbitt. Another  version of this song would later be released in (the 2012 international release), performed by Kelly and Nesbitt only. Lisa Kelly gave an interview about the album, saying "The songs are very specific to this album, and it definitely reflects the name of it. When you throw in songs, like 'This Isle Of Innisfree' and 'Galway Bay,' you give people a glimpse of where you come from, and how beautiful Ireland actually is. And then we've got the more modern Irish songs with 'You Raise Me Up' and 'The Voice,' and then you've got the reliable and the  beautiful 'Danny Boy,' which I think people really expect to hear from you. So it was definitely in the heading of the album, called 'An Irish Journey.' I think this really does reflect what it is." David Downes also gave an interview about the album, saying “We’ve recorded ‘The Water Is Wide' with the fabulous bagad Lann-Bihoué, and it’s an interesting collaboration because when I was 19 I toured with Alan Stivell, famous breton musician, and I worked with Dan Ar Braz, also kind of famous breton musician, and a lot of Celtic Woman musicians and our  engineer, Andrew Boland, have worked in the past with the bagad Lann-Bihoué and with many musicians over there. So it seemed like a very natural collaboration. We’re kind of brothers-in-arms, I suppose, so we all really just thought this would be a great idea. The bagad is so fantastic, and the opportunity is great for us to get to work with them.”