While The Celtic Music Fan loves new bands and music I also love taking a ride on memory lane. Well, perhaps memory lane for you but it’s new to my ears! Irish traditional trio Chulrua have been around since  1999 with the release of Barefoot on the Altar. It also includes a mesmerizing black and white album artwork. 

   Chulrua is  the Irish Gaelic name of a wolfhound owned by Fionn MacCumhaill, an ancient hero.  It also means “red black”.  The trio is composed of Paddy O’Brien on button accordion, Pat Egan on vocals and guitar, and Timmy Britton on uilleann pipes, tin whistle, and wooden flute.  There are 17 songs in this album and lasts for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Just enough to fill a traditional  themed  gathering or say, a bike commute for at least 16 kilometers. 

  What strikes me about Barefoot on the Altar is the choice of traditional materials and arrangements on every track. I like the pipe solos, accordion solos and other featured instruments, each highlighted before they all merge into a rhythmic buildup. 

  There are songs like The Foggy Dew rendered in a beautiful and somber style. Diamantina Drover is another notable track, originally written by  Australian singer-songwriter and Redgum member Hugh McDonald.  Then there is The Springhill Mine Disaster  written in 1958/1959 by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl.

  This album in a must-have for collectors of traditional Irish music and a great album to have anytime!