if John Joined Lunasa it’s obvious Lunasa would have to adapt, i doubt John is at a time in his career where he wants to duck under and ‘adapt’ for other people, he’s a proven instrumentalist.
Donogh and Trevor together pretty much nailed what the early Lunasa sounded like, with straightforward virtuosos like McSherry and McGoldrick (for the first album).
I think the new guitar player will influence Lunasa’s sound a lot, even if they try not to. IMO ITM has been so influenced by the introduction of guitar and its rythmic qualities that the style of the guitarist will create the canvas (sonic layer) on wich the tunes are then ‘painted’.
There are some guitarists now filling in. NOt sure who it will be, but i was jsut basing my proposition from what i heard when Kevin and John played together, they actually ‘made’ music together, not just played some tunes. It was a very vibrant show, and no, JOhn was not underused in that setting, he was picking tunes at the speed of kevin’s devil-hands, and singing as well. Now, would that work in the Larger Lunasa band setting? not sure, i would still give it a chance if it where me making the call.
Lunasa has been a strictly instrumental band, introducing vocals might put off some of its fans, however i’ve seen bands take far more radical and bad choices (LIKE SOLAS with their last 2 albums).
I’m not suggesting for a moment that John Doyle would be a bad choice. I’d just be concerned that, in a full band setting, he’d be largely relegated to the rhythmic chugging he did in Solas. Now, although I think he’s as exciting a rhythm guitarist as anybody around, that’s only one side of his talent.
Perhaps, what I’m really thinking is this. With Doyle out on his own and Lunasa with some other guitarist, that’s two fine acts to go to see when they come through rather than just one.
I agree that in the modern band setting, having a stellar guitarist makes a big difference. In this style of music, a band is probably no better than its weakest link. But I really do think that good guitarists have been around as role models for so long now that there must be a lot of obscure musicians awaiting their chance who could step into Lunasa and do an interesting job.
I’m not too sure Donogh has quit, after all he is joining in on a few venues when Lunasa plays the States. I remember reading that he plans to take a break from most of the touring and do other things. I don’t think he has officially left completely. I would not be surprised to see him on their next recording.
I saw Solas in Colorado last night and enjoyed them very much! I like their creative efforts over the last few years. I see Trad-nazis aren’t too keen on a musician exploring ones own art in some cases, but hey Solas is Solas and solo efforts are what they are..geared more on to what the soloist is about. Okay…maybe I’m full of “hot-air” and need to take a break as well 
Raymond
ITM …er … purists wouldn’t like early Solas or Lunasa much, if at all. The John Doyle solo album that lots of us have been praising is more of an Irish-influenced folk album broadly in the tradition of Dick Gaughan, Sweeny’s Men, the Dubliners and, in places, even Bert Jansch. If some of us like all of these artists but don’t like recent Solas, I don’t think purism has anything to do with it at all.
Every artist is free to explore their own art. We don’t have a right to demand that Solas play what we want to hear. The other side of the same coin is that every listener is free not to buy CDs they don’t like or to continue to attend concerts by people whose art is going in what they regard as an uninteresting direction.
yeah, for some reason i don’t feel that the Solas path is a dishonest one, i just don’t happen to like their celtic rock influences and what they have done to the amount of flute and whistle playing, however their arrangements are still excellent. In fact i have come over time to like Dervish and their musical path much more than Solas’. They might not have that all star lineup, but they put together a very tight show.