The button box playing on this CD is excellent. The tunes are Scottish and Irish, and the style is Scottish, along the lines of Fergie MacDonald (it looks like Fergie may have produced it). It was "recorded, edited and processed" by Addie Harper in Wick. John has a lot of lift in his playing and he plays very fast. I will eventually listen to it more closely with "slow downer" software so I can hear everything he is doing in the tunes.
From the photo it looks like he plays a two and half row. It sounds like CBC# to me.
Does anyone here know of a way to remove back up from a CD? The backup, especially the piano, is so far forward in the mix it is often difficult to hear the accordion. The piano player is very good, but he has that jazzy style that it seems every graduate of the Scottish Academy must employ. I knew he had been through the Academy the minute I heard him. Playing on the back of the beat, which is what jazz pianists do, it often feels as if he's dragging. I would really like to hear Seonaidh Domhnallach (as he is known in the West Highlands where he lives) without all the frosting.
I can recommend this CD for Seonaidh's playing alone. But when is trad music in Scotland going to shed jazzy production values? Does it really sell more CDs? Granted, I'm an old purest snob, often grumpy.
