A Celtic Fair

Maggie Sansone has created a niche for herself playing Celtic music on the hammered dulcimer. She's an excellent, if not truly virtuosic, instrumentalist, and also quite handy on the Scottish smallpipes. While the main audience for this might be Renaissance revivalists and members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, it's a disc that delves quite deep into Celtic music, going well beyond the usual Irish and Scots tunes to dig into Brittany, and even move to England for "Maiden Lane." That doesn't mean it strives to be authentic, by any means. She's happy to utilize modern technology, like samples of bodhran and snare drum or soprano sax, along with guitar, accordion, and fiddle. There's a real swing to a set like "Dancing Reels," but she can deftly find the emotion at the heart of a tune like "Highland Boat Song." She's established a faithful audience for her work, and although some of the image might be new age, there's real substance to the music, a true love of the genre, and plenty of research to complement the musicianship.