Sheila MacKenzie

A brilliant and satisfying collection by a founding member of the Fiddlers' Sons, and more recently the Celtic Ladies. When this album came out, I bought several copies, on the strength of what I'd heard previously in live performance. When I mentioned that to her during a show she was so amazed that she had to re-group before going-on: probably the only time she's ever been non-plussed in her career. I defy anybody to hear her version of "Neil Gow's Lament for his second wife" without being transported back centuries to the sorrow which generated this piece. In fifty years of listening to fiddling in many styles, I rank Sheila as one of the greatest of her time, right up there with the late lamented Jerry Holland, Bela Halmos, and Garry Harrison.… (meer)