CATHIE RYAN

A new generation of Irish-American musicians, expertly trained by tradition's best teachers but determined to honor all the music swirling inside them, is helping to maintain the purity of tradition at the same time as they are reinvigorating it. Among the instrumentalists are the likes of Seamus Egan, Eileen Ivers, Liz Carroll, Joannie Madden, and step dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler of Riverdance fame. In the vanguard of vocalists is Cathie Ryan, for over seven years singer with the renowned women's ensemble Cherish the Ladies and now staking out a solo career with the release of her premier Shanachie CD Cathie Ryan. Despite growing up in Detroit, Michigan, the traditional Irish influences around which she grew up are heady enough to make a folklorist genuflect. But Ryan grew up in Detroit, and her achingly clear soprano honors all the influences around her. She is expert at the ancient art of sean n--s (pronounced "shan-nos") unaccompanied singing, and its traces can be heard in her delicate trilling and subtle ornamentation. Listen closely, though, and you'll hear more of Detroit, in a soft country-crack underlining a tender lyric, a plaintive bluesy moan aching through a lonely line, and the driving r&b groove of her merry quick-step numbers.

Somewhere Along The Road
SH 78047