Paleontology by Beyond The Pale

Beyond The Pale likes to explore the musical connections between the traditional music of the immigrants that came to America from Ireland, Scotland and other parts of Europe, and American folk music. The title of our latest CD, Paleontology, refers metaphorically to this process of searching in the past for connections to the present. Each of the tracks on the CD contains elements of these past connections, unearthed and cast in the light of the present day.

Beyond The Pale are:

Gordon McLeod; fiddle, guitar, vocals, mandolins, bodhran, bass guitar, clarinet, piano, percussion, string arrangements.

Christy McLeod: guitar, vocals, harmonica, bodhran, percussion

Betsy Cummings: accordion, vocals, bodhran

John Delaney: flute, hammered dulcimer, whistles, saxophones, concertina, vocals

We would like to note the presence of some very eminent musical guests on this CD:

Matt Cranitch, one of Ireland’s best known traditional fiddlers, a recognized authority on Irish traditional music with a doctorate in the Sliabh Lauchra fiddle tradition, and a dear friend joins us on fiddle on Track 2 , “Eoin Murphy’s Slides and Polkas” and on track 11, “The Ghost of Willie Clancy”.

Mickey Dunne is among a very small group of authentic Irish traveling pipers, one of the last to be born on the road in a caravan. He in the line of Felix and Johnny Doran, Finbar Furey and Paddy Keenan. Mickey is a great musician, a master of the uillean pipes, the whistle and a fine fiddler as well as a great friend. He joins us on uillean pipes on track 11, “The Ghost of Willie Clancy”.

Dirje Smith joins us on cello and cello arrangements on track 6 “The Turning Away”.

Morgan McLeod joins us on drums on Track 3 “Conjugal Visit”.

We are humbled and honored to have such fine musicians join us on our recording.

True to their name, Beyond The Pale delivers a wild musical ride outside the boundaries of convention. Delighting audiences for over fifteen years, the band is grounded in the traditional roots music of America, Ireland and Northern Europe with imaginative ventures across musical borders.

beyond-the-pale.com