Kevin Burke & John Brennan, The Pound Ridge Sessions
“Not an official ‘genre’…at least, not yet!” says Kevin Burke in describing “The Pound Ridge Sessions,” his new album with guitarist John Brennan. It’s simply two great players sharing their musical interests – one steeped in traditional Irish music while the other is a veteran California rocker.
Burke, an Irish fiddle icon, got to talking with California guitar whiz Brennan (Graham Nash, Chris Hillman, POCO) about some of their favorite songs, from Jimi Hendrix to traditional Irish tunes. They began working out arrangements and recording now and then at Brennan’s home studio in Pound Ridge, NY, when Kevin was in the area. John laid down guitar tracks (as well as mandolins, dobro, lap steel, bass, and keyboards). Friends and musicial guests stopped by to add their voices.
Never suspecting a CD was in the making, “The Pound Ridge Sessions” is the result. The album features their re-imagined jigs and reels, as well as versions of ’60s & ’70s rock classics, blues, country tunes from Bill Monroe, and Bach.
The fiddle and electric guitar share and exchange the melodies, comfortably complementing each other in the differing styles, whether it’s the soaring orchestral beauty of Hendrix’s “May This be Love” (featuring Irish pipes and whistles), the hard rocking riffs of the old spiritual “Wade in the Water,” or the deep and genteel calm of Bach’s minuets.
“Electric guitar and Irish fiddle is an unusual pairing but we had a great time working together and trying out different styles of music,” says Burke.
Winnie Horan of the group Solas suggested her dueling fiddles set with Kevin on the Allman Brothers great “Jessica.” Pat Metheny-bassist Mark Egan popped in for the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac tune “Albatross.”
A highlight is the original Kevin Burke song “London Town” about post-WWII Irish immigrants, the London in which Kevin grew up. Kevin makes a rare vocal outing, with backing vocals by Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O’Leary.
Kevin is known as the king of the Sligo style, a member of seminal Irish group The Bothy Band and later with Paul Brady, Christy Moore, Patrick Street, and Celtic Fiddle Festival. John was a SoCal surfer dude who by age 20 was playing top recording sessions in LA, and then touring, with country/rock stars like Graham Nash, The Chris Hillman Band (The Byrds) and POCO. John’s passion for Irish music meshes here with Burke’s longtime love of American and British rock’n’roll.
“By any conventional standards the album shouldn’t work at all!” says Burke. “But John and I are thrilled with the way it turned out and quite tickled by the fact that it contains so many different genres but still manages to hang together really well.”
Take a visit to “Pound Ridge” and be prepared for some spirited and original sounds from this unique musical partnership.