Latest CD releases reviewed

The Unwanted: Music From The Atlantic Fringe Claddagh Record s ****

Many ties bind our own musical traditions to those of Appalachia and points west. The Unwanted is a beautifully loose-limbed celebration of those cross fertilisations, with an inquisitive ear cocked towards the future too. Dervish's Cathy Jordan, US harmonica genius and vocalist Rick Epping, and Sligo multi- instrumentalist Seamie O'Dowd criss cross this so-called Atlantic Fringe, from Sligo to the Ozarks and back, on a picaresque journey. Leadbelly and the Rolling Stones offer fodder for excavation, alongside shared tunes such as Greenfields of America. Epping's creaking hinge of a voice is perfectly suited to the task, and O'Dowd's dobro shimmers in the heat of Jagger and Richards' No Expectations. Only the hokey It's Cool To Be Green grates beneath its forced metaphors. www.unwanted trio.com SIOBHAN LONG

Download tracks: Sweet Becky At The Loom, Angelina Baker