"Yeats...never sounded so good"--Paul Liberatore, Marin IJ
San Francisco singer/songwriter/guitarist and folk musician Kyle Alden’s third full-length CD—Songs From Yeats' Bee-Loud Glade—is a collection of thirteen songs inspired by poems of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Featuring a stellar cast of musicians, including Athena Tergis on fiddle and Mike Marshall on mandolin, strains of traditional American and Irish folk music can be heard in these original musical settings of Yeats' poems, some well known, some less known. In putting them to music the poet’s words have not been altered—although sometimes stanzas are repeated to create an effective chorus.
Some of these songs were performed at a sold-out house concert in Berkeley, CA earlier this year. The following day Roland Nikles raved in his blog: “Kyle and Athena gave a wonderful concert … they managed to bring the poems to life … they made them sound fresh and varied and true, rather like they wrote the music and then asked Yeats to come and be the librettist. Keep a lookout for the CD, it'll be great.” From the up-tempo Brown Penny and Valley of the Black Pig to the contemplative charm of The Mask, Lake Isle and Running to Paradise, this striking collection of folk songs manages to sound fresh yet traditional, all while keeping Yeats’ wonderful poems front and center.
Kyle has toured Ireland with trad Irish band The Gas Men, toured with Americana/Irish outfit The Mild Colonial Boys, and performed solo on stages from Co. Galway to San Francisco.
Links to a feature article, http://www.marinij.com/lifestyles/ci_18759798 and review of the new CD, http://www.marinij.com/entertainment/ci_18757152.
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