Solas/
Danu guitarist Donal Clancy, inspired by an impromptu "guitar jam" with some of Celtic music's finest pickers at the 2003 Sebastopol Celtic Festival in California, asked a pal at Shanachie (Richard Nevins) if he would be interested in releasing a compilation to showcase the contemporary instrumentalists without all of the pipes, fiddles, and flutes. The resulting
Masters of the Irish Guitar may sound like a WWF wrestling event on paper, but the 16 home-recorded airs, jigs, reels, waltzes, and hornpipes that reside within its interior are pure atmosphere and feature some of the genre's finest practitioners. Arty McGlynn,
Garry O'Briain, Donogh Hennessy, and even Clancy himself may not be household names, but each provides the collection with some its finest moments. ~ James Christopher Monger