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Saturday Soundtrack: Brenda Stubbert (Ashley MacIsaac)

Posted on Saturday, at • • 434 views

I've got a few dozen pictures to prep for the site. And it's gorgeous and sunny outside. So I needed something high-energy, something that would make me not hate staying inside sitting in front of my computer.

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of Celtic music, but something sufficiently interesting will get into my brain. I've got music by The Corrs, Silly Wizard, Enya, Anuna...and this guy. Ashley MacIsaac. The guy who flashed a television audience while appearing on Conan's late-night show back in the 90s.

I like musicians who either create incredibly complex layered pieces, showcase amazing vocals, or use decidedly nontraditional instrument combinations. Bagpipes, fiddle, keyboard, drums, bass. Yep, that combination merrily tells tradition to grab a beer and have some fun already.

Saturday Soundtrack: Brenda Stubbert (Ashley MacIsaac)

The studio version:

And a live version of the song:

There is an official video for this song (available on the enhanced CD), but it's not anywhere on YouTube that I could find.

You can argue that Ashley MacIsaac doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before - by bands in the 60s, the 70s, the 80s. You can then turn around and argue that no one's really doing anything new, they're just combining old things in new ways. And if this song doesn't boost your energy levels...I hate to break it to you, but check your pulse because you may be dead.

(I also liked the Eastern European bands who, in the bad old days, were very very strongly encouraged to only play traditional classical music instead of writing their own or - horror of horrors - covering anything written by Western rock and roll bands. So rather than risk going to prison for playing music, they gave Mozart, Beethovan, Strauss, and other classical composers...the heavy metal treatment. The only way I heard about those bands was by listening to cassettes from friends whose families had immigrated to the US from countries behind the Iron Curtain. If those albums are on CD anywhere, I have absolutely no idea how to find them. I don't even remember the groups' names.)

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