Bill Whelan
An in-demand producer
(U2, Patrick
Street) and keyboardist during the 1980s and early '90s, Bill
Whelan launched his solo career in the mid-'90s as the composer of 1995's Riverdance,
an experimental fusion of traditional Irish music. With over 80 dancers attached
to the revue, Riverdance
toured America -- appearing in several sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall
in New York -- during 1995 as well as Europe and Australia. John Bush, All-Music
Guide
David Wilkie
During the 19th-century
pioneer days of America, immigrants brought traditional European folkmusic to
their new homeland, influencing the audio melange that became country &
western music by the 1920s and '30s. Half a century later, mandolin player Dave
Wilkie attempted to bring authentic Celtic melodies back to the cowboy music
they had influenced, on his Celtic Cowboy LP. He first began playing the
mandolin in 1970 near his home in Victoria, British Columbia. Wilkie's
first album, 1977's The Mandolin Player, showed no traces of country/Celtic
fusion, however; it was straight-up country swing, as was 1985's Shoebox. Aside
from his infrequent solo recordings, Wilkie
also played with Ian
Tyson, Amos
Garrett, Maria
Muldaur and Jethro
Burns during the '80s.
In 1989, Wilkie founded the
Great Western Orchestra with vocalist Cindy
Church and guitarists Nathan
Tinkham and Stewart
MacDougall. The group backed up Katy
Moffatt, released four albums of their own, and in 1993, toured Great
Britain with Moffatt.
Inspired by the similarity between British folksongs and the country &
western repertoire with which he was familiar, Wilkie decided to work on a
country album with Celtic influences. Recording with the Edmonton Celtic band
the McDades, he released Celtic Cowboy in 1996. John Bush, All-Music Guide
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