Album Notes

The collaboration of singer/guitarist Lisa Moscatiello and fiddler Rosie Shipley has resulted in "Well Kept Secrets," a beguiling recording of traditional and contemporary music from Ireland, Scotland, and North America.

Moscatiello's rich, sensuous alto voice and Shipley's deep, pure fiddle tone blend on "Well Kept Secrets" in a highly skilled yet unpretentious performance. Subtle arrangements of songs and direct, forceful fiddle tunes intertwine to create a sound that is both sophisticated and primal, revealing the dual nature of folk music that has seduced musicians and listeners alike for generations.

Well Kept Secrets engages the mind and goes straight for the heart, guiding listeners on a musical journey that is at times intimate, often mysterious, and always compelling.

BIOGRAPHIES

Legendary folk DJ Gene Shay (WXPN-Philadelphia) has called Lisa Moscatiello "one of the best voices in the business." Her hometown of Washington, D.C. has honored her over twenty Washington Area Music Awards including "Artist of the Year" and "Album of the Year" (for her CD "Second Avenue"). Lisa toured internationally for six years with the New York City-based Celtic-fusion band Whirligig and was the lead singer for the folk-rock band The New St. George. In 2002, she sang at the New Victory Theatre in New York and the La Jolla Playhouse in California as part of the Mabou Mines production of Peter and Wendy with music by Johnny Cunningham.

Rosie Shipley has been playing the fiddle since she was three years old. She learned her first Irish tunes at the age of eight from master fiddler Brendan Mulvihill in her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. As a teenager, she attended the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, where she became well versed in Cape Breton-style fiddling. Rosie, who tours internationally with singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Gerry O'Beirne, has appeared as a guest fiddler and pianist with the Irish-American band Cherish the Ladies. "At Home", her debut recording, features Rosie, pianist Matt Mulqueen, and Rosie's brothers Peter (fiddle) and Trevor (flute/tin whistle/uilleann pipes).

REVIEWS

"Well Kept Secrets" struck like a bolt of lightining . . . the performances on this CD are highly original . . . a masterpiece.
-Sing Out!

. . . an achingly beautiful recording . . .
-Jay Votel, The Washington Times

A remarkable recording by two profoundly talented women . . . Lisa Moscatiello's voice is both so pure and worldly it raised the hair on the back of my head. The deep, woody tone of Rosie Shipley's fiddle, so strong and true, hit me right between the eyes, which promptly closed and stayed that way for some time.
-Puremusic.com

[Lisa Moscatiello] possesses the magic to invest the songs she sings with an almost knee-buckling poignancy and believability.
-Billboard Magazine

This terrific CD combines two awesome talents: the dynamic and original fiddle playing of Rosie Shipley and the simply peerless vocals of Lisa Moscatiello. I have enjoyed hearing both of these musicians over the past few years, but to hear them as a duo is a dream come true.
-Myron Bretholz, Instructor, Gaelic Roots Festival, Boston College, Boston, MA

The ballads and dance tunes, like the singer and fiddler, produce colorful contrasts, but in the end all the music here seems of a piece, woven together by shared emotions, common interests, and mutual finesse.
-Mike Joyce, The Washington Post