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Solas
Leave 'Dangerous Ground' For Studio, Road
Following successful stage show, Celtic supergroup plans new album and summer-fall tour. Correspondent
Earle Hitchner reports:
"I've always been excited about the musical possibilities of this band," said Seamus Egan, Solas' leader. "Even though it came about loosely — getting some musicians together to play a folk festival — it jelled right from the start."
The quintet recently distinguished itself as house band for a new Irish dance extravaganza, "Dancing on Dangerous Ground," which had a successful December-to-February engagement at London's Theatre Royal and sold out an eight-performance run in March at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall. Each album by Solas — including its eponymous 1996 debut, 1997's Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers and 1998's The Words That Remain, all released on Shanachie — has been named best Celtic/British Isles release of that year by the Association for Independent Music. Hard-charging tunes like "The Stride Set" (RealAudio excerpt), the incisively arranged "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" and Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" (RealAudio excerpt) conveyed a brashness and bristling virtuosity that knock both casual listeners and Celtic aficionados for a loop. The Song That Wouldn't Go Away All of which has meant that Egan — who already had a full plate outside the group — will probably have more food than he can chew, careerwise, well into the future. He had a banner year in 1995 when the group emerged on the international Irish-music scene. He had just scored the music for the hit movie "The Brothers McMullen," writing and performing all the melodies except for "I Will Remember You," which he composed with Sarah McLachlan and Dave Merenda. Five years later, the song earned McLachlan a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance on Mirrorball, her double-platinum live album. Country singer Kenny Rogers also covered "I Will Remember You" on his comeback album, She Rides Wild Horses. "I call 'Remember' the song that just won't go away," the 30-year-old Egan said. "And believe me, I'm not complaining." The melody of the song was inspired not by pop-music musings but by the death of Irish traditional legend Ed Reavy, the composer-fiddler Egan knew and admired while living in Philadelphia. Reavy's passing at age 90 in 1988 prompted Egan to write "Weep Not for the Memories," a beautiful lament he recorded on his 1990 solo album A Week in January and later re-recorded with fuller instrumental backing on his next solo project, When Juniper Sleeps, in 1996. For "I Will Remember You," McLachlan drafted lyrics to Egan's melody and used his title as part of the song's refrain. Plate Stays Full Most artists with a burgeoning solo career wouldn't have the time or inclination to simultaneously undertake the founding and nurturing of a band, but Egan is happy to devote himself to Solas. Mary Chapin Carpenter asked the band to share the bill with her during a 12-week tour last year. But this period was unsettling for Solas, whose celebrated lead singer, Waterford's Karan Casey, had decided to leave the band. Filling in was Kerry-born vocalist Sheila O'Leary, and later that summer Tipperary-born singer Deirdre Scanlan joined the group for some Stateside gigs. The chemistry flowed especially well between Solas and Scanlan, an all-Ireland champion singer who is now a full-fledged member. Solas had earlier been consumed with "Dancing on Dangerous Ground," for which Egan composed some 30 pieces of music. "It was a hell of a lot of writing," he conceded. "The score combines traditional music with more soundtrack-oriented elements, all in the service of the dancing and the story. Show music, I learned, does not exist in a vacuum." The group's full-time involvement in the dance show, however, did not deter Solas — Egan, Scanlan, New York's Winifred Horan on fiddle, Dublin's John Doyle on guitar and Kilkenny's Mick McAuley on button accordion, concertina and low whistle — from compiling songs and tunes for the new album they hope to record in May. "We actually have more material going into this record than we had for the previous three," said Egan, who will produce the album and Horan's first solo venture as well. "We're also looking forward to getting back on the road." Busy as he is, does Egan ever get an itch to record another solo album or compose for another film? "I wouldn't say an itch," he answered. "More like a twitch. I'd love to write music for a movie again, especially a non-Irish one, if some producer would give me the chance." Solas tour dates: (2000) Aug.
12–13; East Lansing, Mich.; National Folk Festivals
[ Tues., April 11, 2000 8:49 AM EDT ]
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