Quick recommendation here…I’ve heard Beolach (Cape Breton group including Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin on fiddle, Mac Morin on piano and accordian, Patrick Gillis on guitar, and Ryan J. MacNeil on pipes and whistles) a few times, but have had a hard time getting hold of their CD’s…I don’t do the download thing, and prefer to get them in local stores when I can…anyway, finally got them, and spent a good bit of time with them on an extended road trip, and I think there are people here that would like them. Like a lot of Cape Breton music, it’s Scots, Irish, and CB music all mixed in…lots of fairly pure trad music but some new compositions or more contemporary takes on trad tunes in there too. I think it’s just great.
Ryan J. is a superb whistler, and the second CD, Variations, has more whistle on it than the first one. I can’t get ‘Norman’s Reel’ or ‘Jenny Belle Lane’ out of my head. I know there are some people on here that are interested in MacNeil whistles; I’m assuming he is playing mostly or all MacNeils on the CD (says on the back cover he plays MacNeils), so you can get a good sense of what they sound like. I’m still loving my low D, and figuring what I need next.
Also trying to track down Ryan J.'s solo CD, Piper; out of print…I’ve found a couple on the internet, but there is a local store that keeps emailing me saying they think they can get me one.
Anyway, highly recommended.