Hands Across the Water-Benefit for the Children of

Hands Across the Water-Benefit for the Children of (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 20, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Compass Records
• ASIN: B000A7Q21Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,197 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The first thing you should know is that this recording was released to benefit children who suffered from the devastating tsunamis that ravaged Southeast Asia in late 2004. So, obviously, you should buy it even if it's not that good because it's for an awesome cause. Thankfully, you get to hear some pretty groovy tunes as well when you buy this compilation. Produced by Nashville-based fiddler Andrea Zonn and Irish musician John Cutliffe, the disc pairs British Isles artists with American roots musicians. It's not only far better than it has any right to be, the album highlights the similarities and affinities the different musics have for and with each other. Who'd have ever thought a cover of an old Irish tune reworked in English, by Vince Gill with Celtic lite band Altan no less, would be so lovely? It is, as is the rest of this wonderfully-realized collection, which also includes Bonnie Raitt, Tim O'Brien, John Prine, and Jerry Douglas. –Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Irish-American collaboration in service of charity, March 20, 2006

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hands Across the Water-Benefit for the Children of (Audio CD)

This collaboration brings together nearly a hundred American roots musicians and their Celtic counterparts in service of fundraising for the victims of the December, 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. Between two dozen studios on either side of the big pond, overflowing computer networks, telephone lines and email streams ferried ideas and material that were knit into these sixteen tracks. What's truly amazing, given the patchwork nature of the album's assembly, is how smoothly the players integrate within and across tracks. The material flows smoothly from track to track, and though these aren't typically live-in-the-studio performances, the musicians are pulled together by both purpose and shared musical roots. Highlights include Darrell Scott's "This Beggar's Heart," a demo that was movingly overdubbed by the band Danu with fiddle, banjo, whistle and a harmony vocal, Tim O'Brien's reading of the traditional "Fair & Tender Ladies" with Lunasa providing the backing, the high harmonies of The Brock McGuire Band with John Cowan for "Cumberland Plateau," and the closing duet of Jerry Douglas' dobro and Ciaran Tourish's whistle. This is a tremendously thoughtful album in support of a tremendously worthy cause. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars relief for tsunami pain, January 14, 2006

By 

K. R. Williams "kenzed" (melbourne, australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hands Across the Water-Benefit for the Children of (Audio CD)

This is an outstanding musical salve to the pain of the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami. Overwhelmed by the devastation Nashville bluegrass fiddler Andrea Zonn suggested to Irish music producer-player John Cutliffe that they draw on their musical acquaintances to do something to help. A year later, this music, the Anglo-Celtic source of America's Appalachian stream, represents hope for healing: in Zonn's words, ''Profound moments in time to help rebuild the lives of children we may never meet.'' Indeed, it deserves the accolade ''prayer in voice and instrument''. If the statistics of the tsunami were

staggering, noteworthy too are figures involved in bringing to fruition this transnational project: 27 recording studios, 29 studio engineers and more than 100 musicians from Nashville to Glasgow to Sydney (on tour in Australia, Michael McGoldrick and Donald Shaw recorded flute and accordion

respectively for Beth Nielsen Chapman's "Be Still My Soul", from a theme by Sibelius). This is typical of the methodology: on "Fair and Tender Ladies" Tim O'Brien is in Nashville, Lunasa are in Dublin; the effect is seamless. This alluring collection closes on a note of surpassing beauty, "In the Sweet By and

By", where the aching tones of Jerry Douglas' dobro blend with the ethereal

whistling of Ciaran Tourish, fiddler with Irish traditional band Altan. (This is an edited version of my review which appeared in The Age newspaper, Melbourne, Australia.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hands Across the Water, February 19, 2011

By 

pride goeth - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hands Across the Water-Benefit for the Children of (Audio CD)

A rare collection of soul-centering songs by multiple artists; all the more remarkable since it was thrown together and engineered in hurried response to the tsunami. Includes the most sublime renditions I've heard of "Ae Fond Kiss" and "Fair and Tender Ladies", the latter also being the best by Tim O'Brien I've heard.