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SCOTT MACMILLAN & COLIN GRANT - Good2Go 

SCOTT MACMILLAN & COLIN GRANT - Good2Go 
Private Label SM0716

Fiddle and guitar from Cape Breton Island, mostly written by Macmillan and Grant, and played by the duo with no outside assistance. Macmillan is a little older, with a long list of tunes to his name: he plays fingerpicked guitar and accompanies the younger fiddler who is no mean composer of tunes either. Together they deliver the entire Nova Scotian fiddle spectrum: reels, jigs, clogs, hornpipes, strathspeys, marches, waltzes and airs. Many of the compositions here came from trips to Scotland, where agent provocateur Mary Anne Kennedy encouraged the lads to indulge in competitive tune-writing, Argyll's alternative to speed-dating. All-night sessions on the Corran Ferry may explain some of the more unusual pieces here: the opening Ferry Cool set of strathspeys and reels, the frankly Ferry Unusual sequence of hornpipes and clogs, and the even odder Tico Squared which commemorates the legendary on-board Corran cabarets.

In terms of more traditional music, there's plenty to please any fan of Scottish or Canadian fiddle here. Sara Lee's Trip To Ottowa is a gorgeous slow strathspey, smooth and creamy with layer after layer to appreciate, perfectly chilled. Lord John Campbell, Geordie MacLeish, Duncan Johnstone and Molly McGuire's are all grand old tunes well driven on fiddle and flamboyant guitar, with Scott Macmillan playing melody, harmony and accompaniment, often simultaneously. Colin and Scott showcase a set of their own jigs each, and there are some great slower moments too: Scott's 60th Birthday Waltz by Colin, and the traditional lament, Heavy Is My Fate. The title track is a rockin' rendition of the 18th century reel, Lady Georgina Gordon, and there are plenty more reels and strathspeys before the end. One other notable piece is Ashley MacIsaac's composition, MacDougall's Pride, quite flowery-sounding but a lovely air in these hands. Good2Go is full of fine tunes well played, and plenty of them - that's all you can ask.

www.scottmacmillan.ca 

Alex Monaghan


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This album was reviewed in Issue 116 of The Living Tradition magazine.