antiMusic.com: Emmet Cahill - Emmet Cahill's Ireland Review

Emmet Cahill - Emmet Cahill's Ireland

by Kevin Wierzbicki

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Cahill is a featured performer with the Irish group Celtic Thunder and here he puts his beautiful tenor to work on an 11-song set of beloved traditional Irish songs. With the backing of The Orchestra of Ireland, Cahill opens the program with a very cinematic take on "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" where it doesn't take too much imagination to envision the singer delivering the song with the verdant Irish countryside in the background, an image of the "home" he's singing about. Acoustic guitar features on the delicate "My Cavan Girl" but it is piano and violin that accompany Cahill's rich voice on perhaps the most well-known Irish song of all time, "Danny Boy." Another favorite, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," gets an upbeat and playful performance while songs less well-known outside the Emerald Isle like "Oft in the Stilly Night" find Cahill waxing tender. If you're looking for Irish drinking songs you'll need to look elsewhere, but the album does end with a toast of sorts with the emotional "The Parting Glass." Emmet Cahill's Ireland makes for a great soundtrack to a mellow St. Patrick's Day, or indeed any day.

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Emmet Cahill - Emmet Cahill's Ireland
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