Traditional

The latest releases reviewed

FRANKIE GAVIN, RICK EPPING AND TIM EDEY
Jiggin' the Blues
Greentrax
****
The artwork is cheesey and the sleevenotes slim, but Gavin, Epping and Edey are firing on all cylinders on this bolshie collection. Testing the boiling point of traditional tunes, cross-fertilised by the blues, they've produced a sizzling melee, although the benefits are felt in the blues-trad direction. The sole blues original, Baby Please Don't Go (originally recorded by Big Joe Williams in 1935, and later by Them) gains fitfully from the addition of robust fiddle and zealous guitar. The trio revel in the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities of harmonica, jaw harp, fiddle and guitar, and their bold excavation of Seán Maguire's Hornpipes and Ge Do Theid Mi Do M'Leabiadh showcases just how that down-home feeling can invigorate a tune, whether from Louisiana or Louisburgh.  www.greentrax.com SIOBHÁN LONG
Download tracks: Eagle's Whistle, Kitty's Wedding/Plains of Boyle