POOR MAN'S GAMBIT

In Philadelphia on the east coast, the trio Poor Man's Gambit was founded in 2015. The band was formed by Corey Purcell, an accordionist who also plays the cittern, bodhrán and is a singer. Initiated into Irish culture at an early age, he devoted himself to dance. He began learning diatonic accordion from John Whelan at the age of 16, discovering his true vocation. His two acolytes at the beginning having gone, he is now assisted by Deirdre Lockman on fiddle and singing and Federico Betti, an Italian who has been living in the USA since 2017, on guitar and fiddle.

Land of Sunshine is their third album and features ten mostly traditional tracks, mostly Irish but also Scottish, English, American and even Breton with a ridée six temps. It starts with the standard The Rocky Road to Dublin and continues with The Land of Sunshine also known as A Jacket of Batteries, the title of a record by Dé Dannan released in 1988. The tracks include The Butterfly, The Brocken Pledge, The Ballad of Accounting composed by Ewan MacColl, or Andy De Jarlis and The Curlew from Altan's repertoire.

More original is a revisited version of John Lennon's Imagine, taking up a trend set in his time by Frankie Gavin, who "iridescent" several songs by the Beatles, Freddie Mercury or G.F. Händel. And then two songs composed by Corey, Bear Mountain and by Deirdre, House on the Ridge. This album is a small treasure of tradition.

Autoproduit - www.poormansgambit.com