“True to the roots of the music, with a mastery of traditional styles, they have used that foundation to construct a contemporary repertoire that expresses their identity and concerns as contemporary women artists. Virtuosity on fiddle, banjo and guitar is combined with a couple of great voices to produce one of the most exciting duos in country or any other kind of music.” -- Festival Program

“Possibly the most popular act of the weekend was the American duo Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, who held a capacity crowd spellbound with their traditional and contemporary songs, and even the odd yodel.”

"In recent years many acoustic guitar players have turned their talents to Celtic music. El McMeen is no band-wagon jumper, though. The liner notes make it clear that he has saturated himself in Irish music, has developed an instinctive "feel" for it, and has used non-standard guitar tunings to enhance the sound of it on guitar. There are some lovely embellishments in his playing that can only come from a master of the instrument (and of the genre for that matter.)
The liner notes are full and informative. As if that were not enough, the sound quality is outstanding, equal to that of Stefan Grossman's on "Shake that thing" and "Black melodies.." albums. I am no expert on recording technicalities, but I do know that this calibre of sound clarity with warmth demands a lot of skill when recording steel-strung acoustic guitar. Full marks all round, and I intend to get more of El McMeen's albums!"

This album was recorded entirely "direct-to-digital", without overdubs. The recording equipment included Panasonic and Sony DAT machines and three microphones. One mike was located on each side of the guitar's soundhole and the third was an elevated mike, for ambiance. Digital editing was performed on aStuder. The recording was made with a small amount of reverb from a Lexicon reverb unit.

"Some things never change except for the better. Thumbing through collections of his work dating back to his mid-1930's recordings with the Quintet of the Hot Club de France, I found Stephane Grappelli parenthetically referred to as "still playing well at age 53" on a 1961 album release.
Grappelli's popularity, like that of an Andres Segovia, has nothing to do with nostalgia. Genius must eventually be recognized, even if it takes three or four decades of proving it."