Has the world gone mad?

Phil Hardy · Post by **Phil Hardy** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:32 pm

I have just heard that Lunasa have dropped Tim Edey from the line up.......has the world gone mad?
Only Paul Meehan will be on guitar for the next US tour.
Gobsmacked...push me over with a feather!
Phil.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:35 pm

Err... who's Tim Edey? (And should I care who the guitar player is as long as he is not Donough Hennessy?)

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:42 pm

The fewer guitars the better. Sorry, just my opinion.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:52 pm

Cynth wrote:The fewer guitars the better. Sorry, just my opinion.

They only used one at a time. It wasn't all that noticeable.

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:12 pm

Phil Hardy wrote:....has the world gone mad?
Phil.

Hey Phil, the wonderful world of backstage politics eh? Things look very different from the other side of the proscenium. On that side the world has always been mad.

Where to now for Tim?

Jennie · Post by **Jennie** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:31 pm

Wait a second. Guitar players, good ones, aren't really a dime a dozen, are they? I confess to knowing none of the players or politics in this one, but Lunasa has given me a real lift. The guitarist must obviously be part of their successful formula for great music.

Or am I off base. One can drag a guitar player off any street and have it come out the same.

Never mind. I just don't get the joke.

Jennie

monkey587 · Post by **monkey587** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:40 pm

Jennie wrote:Wait a second. Guitar players, good ones, aren't really a dime a dozen, are they? I confess to knowing none of the players or politics in this one, but Lunasa has given me a real lift. The guitarist must obviously be part of their successful formula for great music.

Or am I off base. One can drag a guitar player off any street and have it come out the same.

Never mind. I just don't get the joke.
Jennie

Good guitar players are certainly not a dime a dozen... Lots of people think that there is no such thing. More specifically, lots of people feel the guitar doesn't suit the music, and so it doesn't matter how good the guitarist is.

Some people are pretty draconian about it. I'm not crazy about most guitar accompaniment, and there's also very little piano accompaniment that I like. Like it or not, accompaniment is kindof a newcomer to the tradition, and it has not necessarily found its legs yet, and it will probably never gain universal acceptance.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:42 pm

I'm not sure there is a joke.

Donough was Lunasa's first guitar player, one of the original three members of the band. He left at the end of 2004 and is apparently now touring with his wife. Looking at the band's website, they list Paul Meehan as guitar, with a brief mention of "Time Edey"(!).

Or if there was a joke, it was on me. Lunasa is one of my favorite bands, and as of a year ago I had met and chatted with all of the members. And here Phil is complaining because someone I never heard of is no longer in the band! As far as I know, Lunasa hasn't been back to Michigan since 2003 or so, and they haven't yet released an album with this new lineup, and so I've got no clue who these new people are. A very weird feeling.

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:34 pm

I am pretty sure they did not intend to keep Edey and I also think that only Paul is on the upcoming album.

boomerang · Post by **boomerang** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:17 pm

A good guitar player, is an assett to any celtic session, like any musician they should possess the right chords or notes, a sound sence of rythmn, and an understanding of the intricancies of the music being played,
The band i play with is blessed with such a person, without him the music to me sounds shallow and thin, the guitar fills the void and enhances the overall feel of the tune,
I am sure others will disagree, but thats normal.
Its all about perfect pitch
Definition of perfect pitch =
throwing a whistle at the guitar player, have it bounce off his head and punch a hole in the bodhran players drum.......oh yea!!

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:49 pm

Jennie wrote:Wait a second. Guitar players, good ones, aren't really a dime a dozen, are they? I confess to knowing none of the players or politics in this one, but Lunasa has given me a real lift. The guitarist must obviously be part of their successful formula for great music.

Or am I off base. One can drag a guitar player off any street and have it come out the same.

Never mind. I just don't get the joke.
Jennie

Hi Jennie---I should really not have said anything because I don't even know the band. I don't care for guitar backup. The louder it is, the less I care for it. My problem is that on a number of CD's I actually feel I cannot hear the melody instruments well. I also just don't find it necessary. I prefer the music without accompaniment. But I know not everyone feels this way. And I know there are very good groups with guitars. And there are certainly amazingly good guitar players in the world, I'm not saying there aren't. But I will probably always prefer the more old fashioned type of playing, but that's just me. To each his own. Live and let live.

For some reason, I don't mind piano accompaniment, kept well in the background. On Cape Breton Island it is traditional, and so perhaps I just got very used to hearing it when we went there on vacation.

Jennie · Post by **Jennie** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:12 am

Thanks for the explanations. Guess I'm still groping my way in the culture of ITM. I have grown into so many of the cycles of notes and rhythms that they define part of my "home" feeling. But I had to learn that some folks can't stand any kind of countermelody, others would rather not have chords, others resent the presence of bodhrans, hammered dulcimers, or harmonicas. I didn't know about the guitar part. I am not offended by the innovations or syncopation that some bands add to the traditional sound. I like that some of them make ITM (if we are still allowed to call it that) more accessible to my friends who aren't yet attuned to the "naked" sound of melody only.

I have a friend who also plays octave mandolin and fiddle, but his flatpicking on guitar for all these wonderful tunes adds a great dimension when I play with him.

I wish Lunasa and all their lineup great music in the future!
Jennie

Montana · Post by **Montana** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:16 pm

I'll second boomerang's comments.
A guitar player may not make all the difference but you can notice the difference sometimes when guitar players change.
I know some chiffers don't think much of Solas (too "pop") but just for example, I thought they had a better sound when John Doyle was playing with them than they do now. Not that they still can't rip through a set of jigs and keep you bouncing in your seat. But there is a difference.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:28 pm

Montana wrote:I know some chiffers don't think much of Solas (too "pop") but just for example, I thought they had a better sound when John Doyle was playing with them than they do now. Not that they still can't rip through a set of jigs and keep you bouncing in your seat. But there is a difference.

Hmmm.... of my five favorite albums from 2005 (that pop to my mind, anyway), two have John Doyle playing guitar, two have Jean Hewson playing guitar, and one has piano backing (when it has backing). And I'm, relatively speaking, firmly on the traditional side. (Listening to Colm O'Donnell's dad lilting and tapping his feet at the moment -- awesome stuff.)

Celtic983 · Post by **Celtic983** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:40 pm

Tim is a fantastic guitar player. Really enjoy his stuff. When I heard that he was joining the band, I did wonder how his style would fit in with Lunasa...but I personally ended up really liking it....thought it gave some of Lunasa's old stuff a new face lift. The world is mad.

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