Let Loose in Letterfrack
Conamara Environmental Education & Cultural
Centre; 46 minutes; 2003
Let Loose in Letterfrack is the third in a series of fund-raising CDs
released in support of the Conamara Environmental Education and Cultural
Centre. Like its predecessors, 2000’s Behind the Mist and last year’s Between the Jigs and the Reels, this new compilation
features musicians mainly either born in counties Galway or Clare or based in
them and has again been produced by PJ Curtis (an environmental campaigner
himself who was instrumental in fighting off attempts to develop The Burren in
County Clare). 
Some of the musicians
featured here, such as Seán Tyrrell, Luka Bloom, Máire Breathnach, Josephine
Marsh and Jacqueline McCarthy will be well-known to most listeners, but all are
in expected good form, especially Bloom on a fun-laden live rendition of his
own song, I’m a Bogman, but the overriding delight evoked by these
collections consists in the discovery of lesser-known musicians. One such is
the Clare flute-player Michael Hynes who provides a gently swaying version of
the reels Rolling in the Ryegrass/The Traveller, accompanied by
some pretty nifty banjo-plucking from Mr. Tyrrell. Another is the singer Maria
Sheridan who sings Who Put the Blood? in a style somewhat redolent of
Cara Dillon, but with enough of her own inspiration to warrant attention.
The show-stealer, however,
is undoubtedly the triumvirate of Jacqueline (concertina), Bernadette (fiddle)
and Marian (uilleann pipes) McCarthy whose set of reels, Molly Brannigan’s/Sporting
Nell (the latter often associated with their late father, Tommy) is the
epitome of sublime revelation.
Unlike its predecessor, this
album lacks a joke hidden track, but concludes with a bluesy instrumental from
The Mystery Jam Band (who rather give the game away by listing their identities
in the credits).
Written for TIMR by Geoff Wallis.
For more details about this album contact lfrack@eircom.net or ceec@eircom.ie.