Canadian musical discovery of the week

The Cottars are a blend of traditional, folk, Celtic, and Scottish musical influences. Their music is impeccable and the female singers have voices like angels. I'm in serious lurve with this band from Cape Breton Island.
Viva The Cottars!

I don't usually ask for much

And actually I'm still not asking for much but if anyone has any Loreena Mckennitt, Heather Dale, Anonymous 4, and or Medieval Babes MP3's you'd like to share with me then I'd be eternally grateful. We've already got Ms. Mckennitt's The Visit so no need to send that one thanks. Email me at monkeymuckATgmailDOTcom if you have some you'd like to share. Thanks.

Jaysus feckin' Christ...

...I almost forgot to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's day!

So from everyone at Craggy Island Parochial House,

and from this red haired Irish woman who's picture I got off Flickr,
and from all of us here at Monkey Central,

Happy feckin' Saint Patrick's Day!

Now go play some Black 47, some U2, some Clancy Brothers, the Pogues, and even Sinead O'Connor and riverdance that ass of yours off.

My roots are showing

I must be some kind of Celtic music monster lately or I'm getting ready for an extra long, or extra early as the case may be, celebration of St. Patrick's Day. I picked up these CD's recently:

I got this one from a large chain bookstore because Sparky bought me a giftcard there for Valentines Day. I would have scoffed at this kind of CD just a few years ago but now I really dig it. It's got a ton of great songs on it and it's easy to see why these guys were so influential to not only the Irish music scene but to the folk explosion in this country and to country and bluegrass music as well.


I got this CD, and the next one as well, from a locally owned music store in Bristol, TN. I had never heard of this group before but I plunged ahead and bought it anyway, sometimes I'm impulsive like that yo, and I'm glad I did because it's a damn fine CD chock full of instrumentals and songs sung in Gaelic and in English. The fiddles are smokin' on this CD and I almost want to "Riverdance" my ass off every time I hear it.

Ah, what can I say about this CD? It rocks on every level. Black 47 is an underrated band that deserves more airplay but will never get it because their sound is too strange for corporate radio. This is my second Black 47 CD, I have their "live" CD, and it's probably not going to be my last. This CD has the great songs "Rockin' The Bronx," "Funky Ceili" (Ceili is pronounced Kail-ee), "Fire of Freedom," and "James Connolly," among others, on it. Black 47 rock harder than you'd ever expect a bunch of pasty Irish guys to ever rock.