Reviewed by Steve Winick in Dirty Linen magazine
#79 ~ Dec '98/Jan '99
p.66
"Next we'll go from the far north to the deep south with Navan [Frozen Whole Productions] by the Mississippi/Louisiana quartet, Legacy. Two of Legacy's members, Justin Murphy (flutes and whistles) and Beth Patterson (bouzouki and vocals), are in the sought-after New Orleans Irish band The Poor Clares. The other two members are Valerie Plested (fiddle) and Don Penzien (guitar, vocal, whistles), and were unknown to me before this disc. Still, there's nothing like discovering new talent ( they're new to me), and this band fits the bill; there are strong performances from every quarter.
Murphy's flute and Plested's fiddle, which lead almost all the tunes, are naturally the most important ingredients in Legacy's sound. Both use a delicate combination of full-speed-ahead attack and subtle finesse. Murphy is particularly impressive for his slow simmer on the air 'Maid of Coolmore,' Plested for her slow take on the reel 'Castle Kelly's,' but both show they can rock out on sets of mostly widely-known Irish jigs and reels.
The accompanists, too, are excellent, providing the lift and the drive that propels these tunes along. In addition to all the great tunes, Patterson sings three traditional songs from off the folk revival's beaten track, always a nice surprise on a scene that tends to recycle songs a little too often." |
