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In Irish traditional music circles, the guitar is usually found as rhythm accompaniment. There are even some traditional music purists who say the guitar has no place in Irish trad. This album gives the lie to all that, as Dónal Clancy (the son of one of the famous Clancy Brothers, Liam Clancy) shows what a powerful solo instrument guitar can be. This album is solidly a guitar album, too--nothing else intrudes on his wonderful playing except for occasional accompaniment on uilleann pipe drones by the Waterford piper David Power, and Donal accompanies himself in places on bouzouki and bodhran. And his playing is truly wonderful! At turns forceful and fast, with blazing speed, at other times slower and more delicate, but always beautifully realized. His choice of tunes is equally wonderful: all the tunes on this album are taken from the tradition, and the well-written liner notes give the background so typical of traditional music, of where he learned the tunes and a little about the history of some of them. There is a very nice balance between the familiar and the less-familiar, and between fast and slow. I love the playing on the jigs (like "The Monaghan Jig" and "Old Hag You Have Killed Me," combined in a ripping set where he also demonstrates how the guitar can almost mimic the drone of the pipes behind the melody), and on the familiar reels like "The Concert Reel" and "My Love and I in the Garden." Also included is an O'Carolan harp tune, "Lord Inchiquin," which comes off very well on guitar. For me, perhaps my favorite track of all is his treatment of the slow air, "The Dark Slender Boy" or "An Buachaill Caol Dubh," which happens to be one of my favorite traditional songs, and which is rendered beautifully by Dónal. All in all this is a fantastic album of traditional music, and is a must-have for fans either of Irish trad or just of guitar in general.

Perfect in every way. Clancy is a co-founder of the traditional Irish band, Danu, which is among the best in the world right now, and boy, can he play. The selection of traditional tunes is beautiful, and Clancy's performances on guitar and bouzouki are musically and technically superb. His playing could be described as pristine -- every note and every line is clear and expressive. Unlike some virtuosos, who feel they need to impress the listener with breakneck speed, Clancy restrains himself in the service of the music, so the tempos are always just fast (or slow) enough to give the tunes their due. Clancy's love for the music shines through and he will impart that same sentiment to you, as he does for me. I suppose somebody else could do as brilliant a job with this material as Clancy does, but as far as I'm concerned, this is as good as it gets. Ten stars.