Welcome back to the thrilling
conclusion to “did Logan clean his house as intended?” Sort of yes. I vacuumed
the carpet immediately after uploading my last review, but couldn’t bring
myself to doing the bathroom until the following evening – but more on that
later. Really, I’ll talk more on that later.
Disc 683 is…. My Roots are Showing
Artist: Natalie
MacMaster
Year of Release: 1998. The interweb and
the CD’s embedded information both say it came out in April 2000, but I am
holding the actual text on the CD case, which has a date of 1998. I’ll believe
my own eyes over the interweb, thank you very much.
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a picture of
the beautiful Natalie MacMaster, looking all dreamy and full of repose. Behind
her is her family tree. I’m not sure if those are actual members of her family
or more her ‘fiddle’ family tree (i.e. people who influenced her playing).
Either way, she’s showing her branches not her roots.
I
think this cover was a touching idea, but it comes off a bit hokey for me.
Fortunately a dreamy and reposeful Natalie MacMaster makes up for a lot.
How I Came To Know It: I honestly don’t remember. I
must have heard MacMaster playing somewhere and was impressed, but I don’t
remember the circumstances.
How It Stacks Up: I only have this one CD by MacMaster. I am on the
lookout for “In My Hands” because of the killer version of “Blue Bonnets over
the Border” that’s on it, but I haven’t found it yet.
Rating: 4 stars
“My Roots Are Showing” is MacMaster delving into the
traditional fiddle music of Cape Breton. To many, this might sound like the
introduction to a long and dreary night at your grandparents’ house. I’d say if
that’s the case, then we should all be giving our grandparents’ music
collection a lot more attention.
A beautifully played fiddle always puts a smile on
my face, and few can play as well as Natalie MacMaster. Her style is precise
and technically as sound as anyone I listen to (and I listen to a lot of
fiddles). Despite the precision, she always manages to infuse a sunny, joyful
quality to her playing that lifts it up and makes it inspiring.
In fact, despite this album being almost a full hour
long, and full of fiddle tunes that fade one into another over and over again,
I never once got tired of listening. If anything, I’m sad to be moving on so
soon.
With my limited knowledge of the musical
constructions (my guitar teacher taught me they are mostly built around the 1st,
4th and 5th chord progressions) and no lyrics as
signposts, the songs blended together to the point that I couldn’t keep track
of where I was on the album without constantly checking. Even when I did check,
individual songs are themselves an amalgam of multiple fiddle tunes, seamlessly
connected by MacMaster’s deft playing.
What I do know is this music made me happy. So happy,
I’d forget my cares entirely while listening to it. On my walk to work, I’d
arrive entirely unprepared for what my day would hold, because I simply wasn’t
thinking about it until the headphones were off and I was sitting at the
silence of my workstation trying to refocus.
One night on my walk home I had to pee really badly,
but once the music was on, I actually forgot about my bladder. Trust me when I
tell you that getting a man over 40 to forget he has to pee, is quite an
accomplishment. We have to pee most of the time. Just like the walk to work
experience, it wasn’t until I was home and the headphones were off that the
urgency of the situation returned.
Emboldened by this cure-all effect of MacMaster’s
playing, I decided to slightly break the CD Odyssey rules and listen to the
last quarter of the record while cleaning my bathroom. As hoped, cleaning the
toilet actually became a smashing good time with the fiddle dancing in my ears.
I’m not sure I did a great job, mind you, since the controlled buoyancy of the
fiddle tunes takes centre stage once you let them into your heart..
I don’t get to play this album very much. The truth
is there aren’t that many people who want 60 minutes of fiddle music as the
backdrop to their lives, so I’ve got to pick my spots.
However, if you want your life suffused with a
natural high, you can’t do much better than putting “My Roots are Showing” on
the headphones. Clean your house, do your laundry or just go for a walk in the
autumn afternoon and kick some leaves. This is music that celebrates life,
which means it fits into any occasion that finds you on the right side of the
grass.
Best tracks: I like them all, but if I have
to choose I particularly enjoyed Willie Fraser, Balmoral Highlanders, Captain
Keeler, and Close to the Floor
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