If you had to sum up Transatlantic Sessions tonight in one word, then it’s actually quite easy: warmth.
There’s 13 of the finest folk, Americana and Celtic musicians on the planet on this stage tonight, but that’s, to be honest, only part of the story. If ever there was a thing that was even greater than the sum of its parts, then it’s this.
Arguably the headline act, if you will, is Paul Brady. He’s returned to the fold after a long time away: “Anything is worth it to play live” he remarks, jokingly before he gets up to sing his first pair of tunes. “Money To Burn” is a cracker too, and it begins what is essentially a revolving cast of singers all with such a brilliant backing band.
Siobhan Miller (“she’s won awards all around the world for being the best singer” says Phil Cunningham, the accordion player who is de facto one of the two frontmen here, along with Musical Director Jerry Douglas) proves her gorgeous voice with a pair that includes the Trad folk of “May Morning Dew”.
Leyla McCalla acknowledges herself that she “has stretched the Transatlantic name” with her presence, but my, her mix of world sounds (she is of Haitian heritage) and New Orleans gumbo flavours is most enjoyable, “Ain’t No Use” is English language, but is rooted in her homeland, and it seems to be entirely what these nights should be for.
There’s a big hole, as the usual co-musical Director Aly Bain is missing, poorly, but he’s still teased good-naturedly: “this is usually where Aly would play his songs, but we’re going to do some we like instead” laughs Cunningham and the Celtic nature of the work turns the night into a wonderful cèilidh and you just know that if this wasn’t all seated then there’d be dancing in the aisles.
There’s a wonderful appearance of Dirk Powell, who brings his southern stylings to “Bright Light Of Day”, there’s a proper Irish folk slot from Joe Doyle, and Sarah Jarosz sings a glorious “Orange And Blue”.
This is a night that is split into two halves and the second is nothing more and nothing less than more of the same. That means Dirk is back for a banjo infused “Waterbound” – written for his grandad who despite being a music obsessed player all his life “never got to play live to people” – and done with a real poignance.
But it also means a lively instrumental “Lightly Swims The Swan” – dedicated to Aly – and sees Miller return for “While The World Sleeps” which she’s keen to stress was written before the pandemic, but has a real different meaning in 2022. A real highlight is McCalla taking centre stage with her Cello for “A Day For The Hunter And A Day For The Prey”. That one should have been played on a banjo, but it broke yesterday, but no matter.
It’s worth saying here that the musicianship throughout is incredible. Absolutely from the top draw, some of the finest players in the world are here as we’ve said, but even allowing for that it is incredible just how versatile everyone is.
That is especially true of the last couple, with Brady first playing “Harvest Time” then everyone lets their hair down for the rock n roll of “Rainbow”, one which is a real hoedown and you can almost feel a festival atmosphere.
They come back for an encore of a traditional folk instrumental, and that brings home the key point about all of this – and back to that word “warmth”. By that I mean that in other hands this gig could have been cold, clinical and an exercise in technical proficiency at the expense of all else. This is anything but. A simply lovely evening brings everyone along for the ride, both onstage – where there seems to be no ego – and off, in the seats, where it was impossible not to be moved.