Hands Across The Water

News Archive

02/18/05 Jim and Maura Get Together

Maura O Connell and Jim Lauderdale (C) John Cutliffe 2005

Maura O'Connell and Jim
Lauderdale at Brent Truitt's
studio.

Jim Lauderdale and Maura O'Connell joined John and Andrea at yet another studio in Nashville today to record a track for the project. The studio is owned by ace mandolin player and Grammy winning engineer Brent Truitt who also kindly donated his time to run the desk.
Jim wrote the song around a tune he was given by the Duhks' fiddle player Tania Elizabeth. "This World's Family" is yet another wonderful piece by Lauderdale, a Grammy winning performer who is one of the most loved and respected musicians in the roots and country music worlds.
Joining Jim on the track is Irish songstress Maura O'Connell who has made Nashville her home. Maura has been a huge star in Ireland since her days with De Dannan with whom she had a huge hit with "My Irish Molly" and her many top 2o solo albums. Since moving to Nashville she has become a welcome fixture in the music community and has recently released a critically acclaimed album on Sugar Hill Records called "Don't I Know".

02/16/05 Vince Gill Does His Part

John, Vince and Erick (C) Andrea Zonn 2005

John Cutliffe, Vince Gill and
Erick Jascowiak during
the" Let's Heal" session

Vince Gill arrived at the Compass Records studios today to record his vocal and guitar tracks for the song "Let's Heal" The collaboration is with Irish band Altan who are one of the most successful traditional bands in the world.
Altan recorded their parts some weeks back in Dublin with special guests Triona Ni Dhomhaill, Jimmy Higgins and Steve Cooney. The song is a traditional song called "Mo Choill Choill" and was on an earlier Altan CD "Harvest Storm". For this version though, Mairead translated and rewrote the lyrics in English. The combination of Altan's Donegal sound and Vince's haunting voice and signature guitar style have made even the rough mix of this track a very inspired and beautiful piece of music.
Altan are no strangers to working with their American friends having appeared on two Dolly Parton album as well as Dolly appearing on their Blue Idol album. The band have also had artists like Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien and many others featured on their many CDs.

02/14/05 Mixing Has Begun

Andrea Zonn and Erick Jascowiac (C) John Cutliffe 2005

Andrea Zonn and Erick
Jascowiak at work.

The first stage of mixing for the Hands Across the Water project began today. For John, Andrea and our overworked engineer Erick Jaskowiak, Valentines Day was spent in Compass Records' studio in Nashville sifting through the first batch of songs for the CD. With tracks already in from Altan, John Cowan, Tim O'Brien, Lúnasa, Solas, Beth Nielsen Chapman and many others, it was time to make a start at unraveling the hours of music we already have to work with.

The first mixing stage will take two days and should result in at least a couple of finished tracks. Then we get back to more recording with artists scheduled to be in studios in Ireland, England, Scotland and America in the next few days.

02/10/05 Solas Fly In

Seamus Egan of Solas
recording at Bil VornDicks's
studio in Nashville

>Celtic band Solas flew into Nashville for two days to record a brand new song for the Hands Across the Water project. The band was due to leave from Nashville for a 6 week tour but flew in two days early to help us with this CD. Despite some jet lag for most of the band, we all spent a very enjoyable and productive couple of days at Bil VornDick's laid back studio way out in the Tennessee countryside.

Bil is one of the most successful engineers in the music world and has worked with the likes of Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss and Ralph Stanley and has earned himself and those he has worked with every award worth winning, including 8 Grammys. The fact that Bil gave us his studio and his time for two days is another example of the real generosity of everyone involved in this project.

With the track almost complete Solas packed themselves into the tour bus and headed off for a long trek to Montana to kick off the tour. The final tracks will be recorded from the road and with the wonders of the telecommunication age will be sent back here to Nashville for mixing.
or more info on the Solas tour schedule click HERE

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