Volume 2 of Joanie Madden's best-selling solo series is a mix of gorgeous ballads, sprightly dances, and two lavishly orchestrated tracks with the sound that drove the Titanic score to mega hit status, with uilleann pipes, bass, guitars, bodhran, accordion, harp, and percussion. There's nothing halfway about Irish music. It can evoke a range of emotion like little else. When the fiddles, pipes and whistles are celebrating, it's hard to resist the urge to clap your hands, stomp your feet, and do those crazy step-dances. It's very social music from gregarious people that aren't afraid to let loose and enjoy life. At their festivities, joy and camaraderie flow like pints of stout and are just as intoxicating. But when the time for mourning comes, the Irish express their grief with the same passion. Even if you've never been there, a lonely flute evokes memories of lost loved ones and visions of the windswept cliffs of County Clare. A sad Irish song can make you want to cry in your Guinness and toast those who've gone before. The Irish can pluck emotions like harp strings.

Songs of the Irish Whistle

Cherish the Ladies: Woman of the House

The Essential Chieftains

Heidi Talbot:

Distant Future