Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Katie Howson]

Excellent new CD! Press and Draw by Benny McCarthy.

Benny plays 15 different diatonic accordions on 15 tracks featuring 15 different tune types.

Most of the boxes are semi-tone accordions, some melodeon (one-row) tracks. A great selection of lovely tunes, played with astonishing dexterity, great sensitivity and drive.

Among the boxes featured are an unusual Bertrand Gaillard one-row, a grey Hohner Erica in A/Bflat. a miniature Saltarelle and an old Globe.

Benny is from Waterford, you might know him from Danu, Tin Sandwich Band or Raw Bar Collective. If you don't know his playing, you've a store in treat!

Sorry can't seem to load a picture up on here, but here's the link to his website where you can buy the CD:

https://boxbenny.com/

[Matthew B]

Thanks for the tip Katie.  The album is also on Spotify.  It's brilliant.  The set that starts with Peter Feeney's Dream is particularly dazzling. 

[Katie Howson]

I agree, that track is the standout one in terms of technical virtuosity!

Please buy the album direct from the artist, folks - you can download it from his website too, if you prefer. He'll get tuppence ha'penny from any Spotify downloads and the poor lad evidently has a serious melodeon habit to support! ;-)

I know there's another thread going elsewhere about Spotify, my comment is just a plea to support the artists, not a critique of Spotify.

[mory]

Great biography on Bennys site too, a great read. Lovely lad, lovely album. AtB mory
Buy it 

[Matthew B]

Please buy the album direct from the artist, folks

Noted.

[Stiamh]

2015 Gaillard one-row... Benny obviously has leverage others don't. In 2007, when I commented on the one-row sitting on top of his "museum" of older models, BG told me it had been an experiment and assured me that he wasn't going to make any more.

[melodeon]

I contacted BG  back in 1998 to order a 1 row.. He sent me a copy of his brochure. (which I still have) There were two models, a 2 bass and a 4 bass.  Photos of each are shown , so they have been made at one time pre 1998.   
I sent an e mail  to him to place an order.. he said 4 months and gave me a figure.
I told him I would make all the financial arrangements within a week.
I did so, but he then replied that  his 4 month waiting list had jumped to a year and he had no time to make a one rows.

I contacted him in 2006 and he said he was making a list of people who expressed a desire to get a one row and when he had enough orders to make it worthwhile he would re-contact.  I never heard back..I am wondering how many 1 rows he needed to make at one time to make it profitable. My guess is that the price would be prohibitive.
I would still be interested, given that the lead time would be a couple years and I may be able to play again by that tim


I suspect that much like a famous mandolin builder in Australia who prefers to make F models rather than A models, which he says sound and play as well as the F, he openly admitted to me ( face to face in Carmel Calif in 1993)  he makes considerably more money for not so much more work.

Thanks for the heads up on the CD.. off to order. .. back in a minute.

Thanks Katie, ordered directly from boxbenny.com

[Pearse Rossa]

I see he plays unaccompanied on this album. That's interesting. There hasn't been an Irish box album like that for a long, long time as far as I know.

[melodeon]

I appreciate, and would like to see more solo melodeon CDs.

[Clive Williams]

I appreciate, and would like to see more solo melodeon CDs.

Totally agree.

On an unrelated thought, as I browsed his site I thought his main audience is people who like melodeon music, which are usually melodeon players. And melodeon players are interested in other people's melodeons. Why don't artists put pictures of their melodeons on their websites? And lo, and behold, https://boxbenny.com/photo - Benny's had that thought first! :-)

[Stiamh]

Yer man is doing a live concert on facebook at this moment:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=821299045030287&ref=watch_permalink

[smiley]

Yer man is doing a live concert on facebook at this moment:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=821299045030287&ref=watch_permalink

Woohoo, that's my morning taken care of