Ships in the Forest - Karan Casey

Karan Casey is an artist who proves that the ancient and the modern make excellent bedfellows. One of the most influential and imitated vocalists in Irish or American folk music, her crystalline voice is as fragile as it is fierce. On Ships in the Forest, her fifth solo album and debut on Compass Records, Casey's warm soprano ebbs and flows around ballads both timely and timeless. Produced by and featuring founding Capercaillie member Donald Shaw, Karen Casey surrounded herself with a wealth of special guests including Caoimh�n Vallely (piano), Cillian Vallely (pipes), Kate Ellis (cello), Kris Drever (vocals), Martin O'Neill (bodhr�n), Niall Vallely (concertina) and Robbie Overson on guitar. The songs found on Ships in the Forest range from fresh arrangements of tried and true folk standards (�Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair� and �Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye�) to �The Fiddle and the Drum�, Joni Mitchell's 1969 anti-war madrigal. \r\n\r\n

2006 saw her spotlighted on the Solas Reunion CD, as a guest vocalist for another well-known Irish group, L�nasa, as well as joining Peggy Seeger in a special 'songs of Conscience� program at Glasgow's Celtic Connections Festival. In 2007, Casey's toured North America with a lineup that featured avant-garde classical musician Kate Ellis on cello, Caoimh�n Vallely on piano, and longtime accompanist Robbie Overson on guitar. Casey began 2008 with an appearance at the renowned Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow and has announced tours in both Holland and the United States. \r\n\r\n

Track Listing: \r\n
1. Love Is Pleasing \r\n
2. Dunlavin Green \r\n
3. Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye \r\n
4. Black Is The Colour \r\n
5. Town Of Athlone \r\n
6. Maidin Luan Chinc'se \r\n
7. Fiddle And Drum \r\n
8. Erin's Lovely Home \r\n
9. Ae Fond Kiss \r\n
10. I Once Loved A Lass\r\n\r\n