The Crossing: Tim O'Brien: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Ireland's Green Shore

2. A Mountaineer Is Always Free

3. The Crossing

4. Into the West

5. Wagoner's Lad

6. Down In the Willow Garden

7. The Kid on the Mountain

8. Lost Little Children

9. Ireland's Green Shore (Instrumental)

10. John Riley

11. Rod McNeil

12. Cumberland Gap

13. Talkin' Cavan

14. The Ribbon In Your Hair

15. Yew Piney Mountain

16. Wandering

Product Description

From Amazon.com

The artist himself calls this project "the inevitable next step for a bluegrass singer-songwriter in his mid-40s named O'Brien," but in this description O'Brien sells himself short. It's only the "inevitable next step" for a musician who is passionate about his craft and his culture, conscientious about his music's deep roots, diligent in their exploration, and bold enough to celebrate them. O'Brien organizes a sort of family reunion that brings together Irish folk, its Appalachian old-time son, and its bluegrass grandson. Like with any family, all of these musical generations enjoy many shared traits and these similarities are brilliantly accented across 16 diverse yet related songs. O'Brien taps a number of resources, ranging from traditional Irish musicians like fiddler Frankie Gavin and wind player Seamus Egan to bluegrass stalwarts like Earl Scruggs, Del McCoury, Stuart Duncan, and Jerry Douglas to modern old-time enthusiasts such as David Grier and Dirk Powell to new-acoustic pickers like Darol Anger, Edgar Meyer, and Mike Marshall. O'Brien even enlists Guy Clark as lyricist for "John Riley" and unveils a marvelous original talking blues ("Talkin' Cavan") done in Dylanesque style. The result is an album that is both ambitious and comfortably traditional. --Marc Greilsamer

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific collection of songs and performances, Mar 12 2003

By

R. Plemmons "deltadad" (Texas, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Crossing (Audio CD)

Hard to add much to the reviews already written. You will definitely like this CD alot. O'Brien draws on major talent from both sides of the Atlantic to assist him on this project and almost every cut is superb (the rest are just real good). Tim O'Brien is in fine voice and his harmonies with Del McCoury, Kathy Mattea, and others are right on the money. One of the most impressive aspects of this project is the quality of Tim O'Brien's songwriting. I'm sure "A Mountaineer is Always Free" is destined to become a bluegrass/folk classic and his "Talkin' Cavan" is a great (and hilarious) tale of genealogy tourism gone awry.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Taking a Chance on Tim, Dec 2 2002

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Chrijeff (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crossing (Audio CD)

It's a truism that if you don't try new things you'll never know whether you like them. Tim O'Brien was a new artist to me when I got this album, and on the first play I wasn't sure whether I'd made a good choice, but it grows on you. There's authentic folk music ("Wagoner's Lad"), original music successfully imitating folk (the chilling "John Riley," which is *not* the song you remember Joan Baez singing--this one focuses on a little-known aspect of the 1846-7 war with Mexico, and if I didn't *know* it had been written expressly for this collection, I'd have thought O'Brien dredged it up from some obscure traditional songbook), instrumentals and "talkin' blues" ("Talkin' Cavan," which reminds me a bit of "Alice's Restaurant"). Worth your listen.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Bluegrass Music Meets Its Celtic Roots, Oct 14 2001

By

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Crossing (Audio CD)

I first encountered Tim O'Brien twenty years ago as the vocalist/fiddle player in the bluegrass band Hot Rize. On this solo outing (which he dedicates to Hot Rize guitarist Charles Sawtelle), O'Brien takes us on a musical journey to his Celtic roots with a wonderful collection of both original and traditional songs.

The album opens with the traditional "Ireland's Green Shore" and is followed by "A Mountaineer Is Always Free," an O'Brien original who lifted the title from the West Virginia state motto. The title track is a rip-roaring original fiddle tune. "Wagoner's Lad" is a lovely duet with Kathy Mattea. One of my favorite tracks is "Talkin Cavan" which features O'Brien on guitar doing a terrific take on Bob Dylan as he tells of his 1998 trip to Ireland to find the old O'Brien farm cottage in County Cavan. Each tune is proof of the musical connection between Irish and American folk music. And with guest musicians like Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Seamus Egan (whistles, bodhran), Todd Phillips (bass) and Jerry Douglas (Hawaiian guitar), the music is nothing short of spectacular. Earl Scruggs even shows up on the instrumental medley "Lord McDonald/Cumberland Gap."

If you like Tim O'Brien, Celtic music, bluegrass, folk or any combination of the above, you'll find much to cherish on this album. Total running time: 63:10 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brave New World uncovered by the Crossing ...
As a fan of both celtic traditional and bluegrass music I was wary of a CD claiming to be a hybrid - too often it means an unsatisfactory compromise where original flavours become... Read more

Published on Oct 30 2000 by Ian Clarke

4.0 out of 5 stars Bluegrass Roots Music
This is an excellent CD, clearly the soundtrack of O'Brien's personal journey to uncover his, and this music's, roots. Read more

Published on Sep 5 2000 by Eddie Finn