Album Notes

The Kingston Céilí Band has been an institution in the Eastern Ontario city of Kingston for over 25 years, but the current line-up of Anne Archer (flute), Shane Dunne (guitar and vocals), Valerie Hamilton (bodhrán, tin whistle and vocals), Maggie McIver (fiddle), and Brant Peppley (double bass and vocals) have only been together about five years.

The band's mix of lively traditional fiddle tunes, classical instrumentals, soulful ballads and rollicking pub songs is a hit wherever the band plays.

Sláinte (a traditional Irish toast meaning "good health"), the Céilí Band's new CD, features three classical tunes by the great Irish harper and composer Turlough O'Carolan (Captain O'Kane, Morgan Magan and Planxty Fanny Power), two traditional songs in the Irish language (Molly Na gCuach Ni Chuilleanáin and Dúlamán), a variety of fiddle tune medleys, the popular pub song Whiskey in the Jar (artfully woven together with the Celtic/Canadian reel Whiskey Before Breakfast), and a powerful rendition of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by the great Canadian balladeer Gordon Lightfoot. Also included are the haunting ballad Carrickfergus, and Rolling Down to Old Maui, a traditional song from whaling times made famous by Stan Rogers.

Anyone who likes traditional Irish music and beautiful songs is sure to love this CD.