Irish Fiddler Kevin Burke and guitarist Cal Scott performed in concert at the Arts Center in Elkins, West Virginia on March 30, 2008.
Amazing Irish fiddler Kevin Burke performed at the Randolph County Community Arts Center in Elkins, West Virginia last evening to a mostly full house. Burke's partner in this tour is Cal Scott, who backed up Kevin with guitar playing, and also sang and performed some of his original songs.
Much of the music of the evening was from the new CD entitled Across the Black River, a 2007 Loftus Music release of Kevin Burke and Cal Scott. This acoustic music CD has an overall Irish flavor and includes many traditional Irish jigs and reels. Scott is also an accomplished composer of original music for TV and film. Listen to The Lighthouse Keeper’s Waltz – Scott’s ability for musical story telling is pleasingly apparent in this sweet waltz.
Kevin Burke is the man who makes Irish fiddling look like a cakewalk. Burke’s smooth and effortless fiddling is solid, rich and spiritual, and his tone is absolutely flawless. Kevin Burke may be best known as a member of the Irish musical group Patrick Street as well as his tours with the Celtic Fiddle Festival.
Across the Black River includes an inspiring tribute to a former Celtic Festival colleague, the great Johnny Cunningham, one of the greatest Scottish fiddlers of all time. The tune For Johnny was written by Johnny’s brother, Phil. It is no wonder The New York Times has named this CD one of the top notable CDs of world music for 2007. (How great was Johnny Cunningham? It takes two musicians to replace him in the current Celtic Festival lineup.)
While Kevin is clearly the star of this duo, Cal Scott is no slacker at backing up and blending with the sweet tones of Burke’s fiddle. Perhaps the highlight last evening was a series of reels that the duo performed just before the brief intermission. The CD Across the Black River also has some fine guest musicians including Johnny B. Connolly on accordion, Michael McGoldrick on flute and Phil Baker on bass.
The icing on the cake of this CD is that Loftus Records is an independent record label owned by Kevin Burke. As Kevin mentioned at the concert last night, Christmas is Coming, stock up on your copy of Across the Black River early. While the title of this CD may be dark, the music is anything but. While we all know Irish music can produce some slow, sad, cry-in-your-Guinness kinds of songs, Across the Black River will make your heart happy.
