Track Listing

1. Down The Old Plank Road - Chieftains & John Hiatt/Bela Fleck
2. Country Blues - Chieftains & Buddy Miller/Julie Miller
3. Sally Goodin - Chieftains & Earl Scruggs
4. Dark As A Dungeon - Chieftains & Vince Gill
5. Cindy - Chieftains & Ricky Skaggs
6. Molly Ban (Bawn) - Chieftains & Alison Krauss
7. Don't Let Your Deal Go Down - Chieftains & Lyle Lovett
8. Ladies Pantalettes/Belles Of Blackville/First House In Connaught - Chieftains & Bela Fleck
9. Whole Heap Of Little Horses - Chieftains & Patty Griffin
10. Rain And Snow - Chieftains & Del McCoury
11. I'll Be All Smiles Tonight - Chieftains & Martina McBride
12. Tennessee Stud - Chieftains & Jeff White
13. Katie Dear - Chieftains & Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings
14. Give The Fiddler A Dram - Chieftains & Various Artists

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48907 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Now that bluegrass is (again) momentarily cool, leave it to the Chieftains to (again) plunge an all-star country cast into the Celtic wellsprings of old-time music on Down the Old Plank Road, just as they did 10 years ago with 1992's Another Country. It's no surprise that the Chieftains can handle the rapacious rhythms of a hot fiddle tune; whether they can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Tim O'Brien, Béla Fleck, Ricky Skaggs and Del McCoury is another matter. Rest assured they can, and they even coax some inspired jamming from Earl Scruggs--who sounds like he has something to prove on "Sally Goodin"--and a chilling vocal from Alison Krauss on "Molly Ban", the Celtic equivalent of "Fair and Tender Maidens". The Chieftains' only miscue comes in wasting Vince Gill's talents on a busily arranged "Dark as a Dungeon". While this set will likely appeal more to fans of contemporary Irish music than to hard-core twang fans, anyone who loves acoustic roots music will find these collaborations refreshing, if not down-right bracing. --Roy Kasten

CD Description
Those eclectic ambassadors of Irish music are at it again, this time taking their act to Nashville for sessions with some of country music's most popular artists. On the one hand,you'd think that the most famous Irish folk group in the world would spend more time simply playing Irish music insteadof guesting with artists from and dipping into seemingly every other conceivable genre. On the other, when you've recorded as much amazing Irish traditional music as exists in these guys' back catalogue, you've pretty much got carte blanche to do whatever the hell you want.
Anyway, Irish music played a major role in the coalescing of early country music,so DOWN THE OLD PLANK ROAD turns out to house a pretty goodmusical fit. Still, there are plenty of musical surprises afoot. It might not be a revelation to hear Lyle Lovett singing a traditional tune like "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down", but to hear it with added Celtic flavouring is quite an ear-turner. The lads work similar magic with everyone from GillianWelch to venerable bluegrass patriarch Del McCoury, showingthat this is one Irish outfit that refuses to be pinned down to a predictable sound.

Customer Reviews

brilliant
ONCE AGAIN THE CHIEFTAINS HAVE PROVED HOW VERASTILE THEY REALLY ARE. WHEN I BOUGHT THIS DVD I DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT THE FIRST FEW TRACKS WERE OK FROM THEN ON IN IT WAS EXTRAORDINARILY BRILLIANT THE PERFORMERS MUSICIANS DANCERS ENDING IN AN MASSIVE SESSION AT THE END THE WAY ONLY THE CHIEFTAINS CAN DO IT. WITH STARS LIKE EMMYLOU HARRIS BUDDY AND JUDY MILLER RICKY SKAGGS JOHN WAITE DEFINITELT 10 OUT OF 10