Rackett includes amongst its members a world expert on Milton and a scholar of renaissance polyphony, but most famously its songs are composed by Pulitzer prize-winning Irish poet, Paul Muldoon.

There’s a lot of great new music this month from Irish artists with decades of experience and those just starting out.

The Mighty Stef, a singer and songwriter from Dublin who has been celebrated in the U.K. press for the storytelling in his songs and for his passionate live shows, has release a new album, "100 Midnights."

As the youngest of those Clancys who lowered the boom on folk music scene, Liam Clancy remains a vital link to those halcyon days when Irish America was feeling its roots.

Legendary American rock band The Eagles has been forced to cancel their major June 28 concert in Galway due to poor ticket sales.

“I come from Wexford, where small noses are looked upon with suspicion,” deadpanned Pierce Turner as he began a truly memorable show at Joe’s Pub in New York City on

The Chieftains have just marked the 35th anniversary of their first North American tour – with another tour.

Jimmy Fallon grew up in an Irish-American home in New York State that was always full of laughter, music and fun. Now that Fallon is the new host of NBC's "Late Night," the venerable talk show that made stars out of David Letterman and the newly departed Conan O’Brien, he plans to draw on his roots - both standup and Irish.

Author Clinton Heylin interviewed more than 100 people for "Can You Feel the Silence?" his new biography of Belfast-born music man Van Morrison. The result? Morrison, as with so many talented artists, is clearly brilliant and clearly troubled. Heylin is the author of a number of music business books, including Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades and Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry.

Already a sellout star in Ireland and Britain, Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan's new special on Comedy Central will finally introduce him to a nationwide U.S. audience.

THERE are times I dread bringing out the nails and wood to crucify an artist, which makes this a truly dark day at the office. There is no nicer man than Brian Kennedy. Though we've never sat down for a formal chat, we have rubbed shoulders at various Irish events over the years.

ROLLING Stone magazine has just come out with an interesting list of the 100 greatest singers of all time, and the Irish are all over it!

Unlike some of the other best of lists produced by magazines, which are mostly created by the editors in a vacuum, Rolling Stone actually got the artists to vote on their choices for best singer. They even published the artists' rationale, which makes for great reading.

"Bob Dylan did what very, very few singers ever do - he changed popular singing," opines Bono.

Music Reviews

By Ian Worpole

On the CD front, there are two new offerings from great young Irish-American women this month. First up: Heidi Talbot. A recent alumna of Cherish the Ladies, this is her second solo album on the Compass label, titled In Love and Light.

Jackie Hayden is a titan in the Irish music journalism business, with a career on both sides of the fence. He got his start in the record industry with Polydor Records in the 1960s and for most of the '70s was marketing manager with CBS Ireland, where he signed a little known band called U2 to their first record contract.

He left in 1983 to start a career as director and general manager of Irish music magazine Hot Press, and ran his own music consultancy company.

Why in God's name are you taking her to Cleveland for her birthday?!? That was a recurring question when I told people of my plans to celebrate my wife's milestone birthday (a husband's code of conduct forbids me from printing her age) this past weekend. I was just following orders; the missus always wanted to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Did I marry the right woman or what?

Walking up to the hall is an experience guaranteed to raise more than a goose bump or two.

If Shaz OYE's voice could be woven into a fabric, it would be a rich velvet; soft to the touch, elegant yet warm.

Her velvety voice envelopes the acoustic, jazzy arrangements of her fantastic debut CD, Truth According to Shaz OYE. A cross between the supple stylings of Sade and the tough, gritty poetry of Joan Armatrading, shaz provides a sophisticated alternative to the sensitive strummers that Dublin has been producing in recent years.

April showers not only bring May flowers, they also bring Damien Dempsey back to our shores.

Damo will be hitting the road this month, playing dates through the East Coast and Midwest. He's back for the second U.

"You don't want to write about that," wrote Luka Bloom in an e-mail when I asked him for an interview on "Tribe," the album he released a few years ago that has finally made its debut online over here.

"I'm already onto other things. I'm just mixing a new album in New York, so let's save up the ink for that!"

Fair enough, but when you are as talented as Luka Bloom and incapable of recording a dud album, a music critic will never have a shortage of ink in which to sing your praises.