aaamusic | On 02, Apr 2012

Roscommon born, Cathy Jordan grew up with seven siblings and a lot of traditional music. It seems she started singing when she was three years old, together with her parents, both singers.

Self-taught musician (she plays guitar, bouzouki and bodhran), from 1991 to 2007 she has been the lead singer of acclaimed multi award-winner folk band Dervish and toured extensively the world (memorable concert at the Great Wall of China).

Following years promoting her beloved music, performing in hundreds concerts and festival and radio shows, she formed a second group called The Unwanted exploring the deep connection of Irish and American music.

Cathy Jordan, finally ready to share with the world the traditional songs loved and sang by her family (together with four new ones too), presents now her first solo album, All The Way Home. Cathy went to Sweden to work and co-produce the album with her friend Roger Tallroth. He’s a Swedish folk musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist, who arranged with Cathy many of the songs and played together with Sweden’s Gustaf Ljunggren, Norway’s Lars Andreas Haug , Ireland’s Andy Irvine and Dervish members Liam Kelly, Michael McGoldrick and Rick Epping and Seamie Ó Dowd.

The music. Eleven harmonious songs, a beautiful voice that amalgamate with timeless melodies. I imagine a journey, a long journey. In a time that I can’t define. It can be yesterday, it can be history, it can be today and tomorrow. It is a long way home, across countries, or maybe just across your thoughts. The sound of the guitars, the banjo, the tube, the pipes and the fiddle lead us All The Way Home. Cathy Jordan is sure about it. Home is where your heart is.

You find the beautiful traditional Eileen Mc Mahon, where Cathy’s voice is a sensational, highly emotional pure engagement, her original instrumental song The River Field Walts, Ould Ballymore a more upbeat love song.
It’s easy to guess this is Cathy’s life soundtrack, a film that ends with the title-track All The Way Home co-written with Enda Cullan and Ian Smith.

This debut album is a little gem.

Pietro Nastasi

★★★★★