The Saloon Sessions marks the 10th anniversary of the first Cowboy Celtic recording, released in late 1995. That recording was the culmination of several years of  looking into the Scottish and Irish rigins of various well-known traditional cowboy tunes. This was not a new concept, but I had wanted to bring some of my favourite old cowboy songs together with their original Celtic style of music. in addition to the musical connection between the Celtic world and the West, there is also a 'cattle connection'. The Scots and Irish have a centuries-old cattle culture, and they played a large part in developing the cattle industry in North America. So for me, this music forges a link between the ancient Celtic cattle culture and the more recent one of the North American West. 

This disc is a compilation of our favourite instrumental tunes from the three Cowboy Celtic CDs, Cowboy Celtic, Cowboy Ceilidh and The Drover Road, and it also includes seven new tracks. Many of the tunes are the ones we love to play after our gigs, when we get together in an Irish pub or a cowboy saloon for a session and a pint or two.

Over the last 10 years, the Cowboy Celtic band has crossed the United States, Canada and Scotland, playing both cowboy and Celtic music festivals. they have slept in manors fit for royalty one night, and on the floor at a poet's home the next. They've taken the stage in grand concert halls, pig barns and livestock markets in Scotland, and dusted the dung, dirt and hay off their instruments on countless occasions all over the West. some of them have even been attacked by jumping shrimp on Scotland's Arran Island. Here's the current lineup. Denise Withnell (guitar and vocals) and I have been in the band for 10 years, Keri Lynn Zwicker (harp and vocals) and Scott Ring (whistles) for eight years, and Joesph Hertz (fiddle) for four years.

Cowboy Celtic's musicians are not only troopers, but musical adventurers - classical, folk and Celtic musicians willing to venture forth into the Cow-Celt Cosmos. Let's face it - how many Newfoundland whistle players and Celtic fiddlers are out there playing cowboy music? And how many symphony harpists are willing to take their harp on a trail ride in New Mexico - and play cowboy music around the campfire at night? The last 10 years have been a great adventure, and every member of Cowboy Celtic brings a special talent. They're a pleasure to travel and play music with, and are by far the best group I've ever been a part of.

We hope you enjoy the tunes.  ~David Wilkie, October 2005

SPECIAL THANKS

Special thanks to all the talented musicians who have performed and recorded with us over the years. Terry, Jeremiah and Solon McDade and Shannon Johnson for agreeing to record cowboy music and for starting us out at a high standard, and John Hyde, Amelia Kaminski, Fiona Coll, Matt Woodward, Ben Beveridge, Nathan McCavana, Shru De Li Ownbey, Stew MacDougall, Wyatt Wilkie, Christine Hanson, Jacqueline Dolan, Bob Konevich and Michael Martin Murphey.

Also thanks to Rob Smith and Colin Lay in the studio. Thanks to Tom Gamm for being the first to hire us in the U.S., in Bend, Oregon, and to Rod McCreary and Sue Wallis for bringing us to Elko, Nevada. Thanks also to Rob Gibson and Eleanor Scott for their help in organizing our Scotland tours. And special thanks to Scott O'Malley and Associates and to Western Jubilee Recording Company for putting us on their cowboy roster and making us feel welcome.

Also, thanks to Phil Cunningham, Arthur Cormack, Laoise Kelly, Johnny McCarthy and Matt Cranich for their fine musicianship on our recording sessions in Scotland and Ireland. And a very special thanks to Michael Dangelmaier of Karo Design Calgary, who has designed the fabulous artwork for all of our Cowboy Celtic CDs, including our Cowboy Celtic beer label.

Mixed and recorded at:  Rocky Mountain Recording Studio, Calgary, Alberta. Sundae Sound, Calgary, Alberta. CAP Studios, Old Smiddy, Crask of Aigus, by Beauly, Inverness-shire, Scotland.  Sulan Studios, Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland. Beta Sound, Edmonton, Alberta. Recording engineers - Rob Smith and Colin Lay. All songs produced by David Wilkie.

Centerfire Music:  Box 868, Turner Valley, Alberta, Canada T0L 2A0  Tel: (403) 933-2210  Fax: (403) 933-2244  Email:  centerfi@telus.net  www.cowboyceltic.com