Working on a celtic groove...

Our little band, Between the Banks, is working on a set of Celtic inspired grooves for an up-coming TV show. It will be a blast. For the last few weeks we've been trying different sounds in honor of dear St. Patrick and have pretty much zeroed in on a great little set... with one exception: I've been in a Chuck Berry groove, too. We got "Around and Around" to work as an acoustic rhythm and blues thing with a do-wop background but my wife kept saying, "It doesn't really fit with the rest of the set."

Good point - but what to do? I love the FEEL of that blues shuffle in E. After practice was over she said, "Maybe you should think of something from that other great Celtic band... the Beatles." Listen to this by Julie Fowlis - makes "Blackbird" sound like it was born in the Highlands, yes?

I've loved Da Dannan's version of "Hey Jude" for years and years... so I got to thinking: maybe there would be a way to do Chuck Berry a la the Beatles... and then "Get Back" jumped into my head! So, while it is a bit of stretch, maybe we'll use it to open our Celtic Blessings set which will include songs by our own Brian Staubach as well as Luka Bloom, Nanci Griffith, U2, Belle and Sebastian, Glen Hansard and Chumbawumba.

The poem, "Bennacht," by John O'Donoghue is so perfect:

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colors,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

I sense this set - and this ministry - may be captured best by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - a song my honey turned me on to a long time ago... and maybe needs another hearing.