For several years in a row, Vince Gill, who personifies the best in country music as a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, hosted the Country Music Association awards show on national TV. Because of my occasional coverage of country artists in the Wall Street Journal, I was invited by the CMA more than a decade ago to attend a pre-awards dinner in a private downstairs room at the Blue Water Grill on Union Square West in Manhattan. Gill was there, receiving kudos for such country hits as "When I Call Your Name," "Never Knew Lonely," "Liza Jane," "I Still Believe in You," and "One More Last Chance."
I mentioned to Gill none of his country hits and collaborations with Reba McIntire, Patty Loveless, and Rosanne Cash. Initially I said just one word to him: "Sundance." He was stunned. Then he smiled. "I'll bet you're the only one here who knows about Sundance," he said. I knew Gill had spent two years, starting in 1976, as the lead singer and guitarist for fiddler Byron Berline's progressive bluegrass band Sundance in Los Angeles.
I also told Gill that one of my favorite songs by him was "I Can't Believe," which I first heard performed in 1984 by Skyline, a wonderful but under-appreciated bluegrass group featuring banjoist Tony Trishka and vocalist Dede Wyland. "I know about the Bluegrass Alliance too," I said, referring to the band Gill had joined that featured Sam Bush and Dan Crary. Gill's smile widened.
Later that evening in the Blue Water Grill, he informally sang a couple of his country hits while backing himself on acoustic guitar. Then Gill said this: "There's a journalist here tonight who reminded me of my bluegrass days. I love bluegrass. But I had to give it up because I wanted to own my own house." We all laughed.
My article on him was published in the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 4, 1999. Its headline was "Vince Gill: Proof That Nice Guys Last." This was my concluding paragraph: "'I like having a balance of styles on my albums,' said Gill, who hopes to start recording a new one before the end of the year. 'I also realize the gifts I've been given, and I'm very appreciative of them. But they don't make me special. It's the gifts that are special. I'm the same guy I was when no one paid any attention to me.'"
Those special gifts include a riveting tenor voice, perfect for bluegrass and country music and also quite compelling in Irish music. (Check out Gill's singing of "The Bard of Armagh / The Streets of Laredo" on the Chieftains' album "Long Journey Home" from 1998.) So Joanie Madden was smart to invite Gill into Nashville's Compass Studio to sing "Donegal Rain" for Cherish the Ladies' superb new album, "Country Crossroads: The Nashville Sessions."
Over the years there has been no shortage of Irish, country, bluegrass, or old-timey collaborative albums. They include the Brock-McGuire Band's "Green Grass / Blue Grass" (2011), Desi Wilkinson, Mairtin O'Connor, Frank Hall, and Lena Ullman's "Buffalo in the Castle" (2010), Tim O'Brien's "The Crossing" (1999) and "Two Journeys" (2001), and the Chieftains' "Another Country" (1992), "Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions" (2002; on it Vince Gill sings Merle Travis's classic "Dark as a Dungeon"), and "Further Down the Old Plank Road" (2003).
One of the world's most astute and successful Irish traditional bandleaders, Joanie Madden was wise to follow the March 2011 silver-anniversary tour by Cherish the Ladies with a special CD. "Country Crossroads: The Nashville Sessions" focuses almost wholly on a repertoire of Irish traditional and original music in the Irish idiom, and Madden made sure such guests as Vince Gill, banjoist Alison Brown, dobroist Rob Ickes (of the bluegrass band Blue Highway), and upright bass player Dennis Crouch and pump organist Jeff Taylor (both of the Time Jumpers, a Nashville-based western swing band) would blend in, not dominate. This insistence on deft integration within an Irish traditional framework makes the new album stand out.
Gill's stellar vocal rendition of "Donegal Rain," a song co-written by Silly Wizard lead singer Andy M. Stewart and sung by him on his 1997 solo CD of the same name, is beautifully supported by Madden's whistle and flute, Mirella Murray's piano accordion, Kathleen Boyle's piano, Mary Coogan's guitar, Ickes's dobro, Crouch's bass, Eileen Ivers's fiddle, and Deirdre Connolly's high harmony.
Connolly's own lead voice, powerful yet nuanced, distinguishes "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce Hi" ("For Ireland, I Won't Tell Her Name"), backed expertly by newest CTL member Grainne Murphy's fiddle, Madden's whistle, Boyle's piano, Coogan's guitar, Murray's accordion, and Ickes's dobro.
Two other songs on the album are both sung by Ennis-born Maura O'Connell: "We Dreamed Our Dreams" and "The Verdant Braes of Skreen." Her uniquely expressive voice, one of the best in any genre, elevates Richard Farrelly's song "We Dreamed Our Dreams" from what could have been a mawkish meditation on yearning.
The only vocalist falling short on the album is Nanci Griffith. Her reputation as a "folkabilly" singer-composer was deservedly strong for such past songs as "Trouble in the Fields," "Love at the Five and Dime," "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go," and "Ford Econoline" (written about peripatetic folksinger Rosalie Sorrels). But Griffith's interpretation of Ewan MacColl's song "Dirty Old Town" on CTL's new CD lacks authority and glacially skims the surface of this gritty ode to Salford in greater Manchester, England, where MacColl grew up. Her wan rendition made me recall, in stark contrast, Shane MacGowan's indomitable version on the Pogues' "Rum, Sodomy & the Lash" album in 1985.
The remaining seven tracks of "Country Crossroads: The Nashville Sessions" are instrumental and offer a sparkling tightness by CTL's current lineup of Madden, Coogan, Murray, Boyle, and Murphy. Every one of those tracks is exceptional, highlighted by six memorable compositions ("The Boat to Bofin," "The Wave and the Spade," "Southfork Posse," "Minus Imus," "Shoot When the Ducks Are Flying," and "Longing for Home") from Joanie Madden and one tune ("Waltzing Down the Aisle") from Kathleen Boyle.
On this new CD, Cherish the Ladies have never sounded better. Having guest fiddlers Liz Carroll and Liz Knowles join on two tracks apiece only strengthens the album's impact, which is further bolstered by Kenny Malone and Jim Higgins on percussion and Brendan O'Regan on bouzouki.
For Cherish the Ladies, named after a popular Irish traditional jig, the jig is not up. Madden's tenacious but tactful helming of the ensemble should be studied in business schools. It should also be scrutinized in music schools. For 25 years and counting, Cherish the Ladies have shown that Irish traditional music from America remains a vibrant, vital, diasporic marvel. "Country Crossroads: The Nashville Sessions" provides unimpeachable proof and will definitely appear in my top ten list of albums for 2011.
For more information about the CD (Big Mammy Records 0006), visit www.cherishtheladies.com.
