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2006
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Cowboy Celtic
One of our most innovative and creative musicians, Wilkie has had his hand in more important acoustic and/or country projects than perhaps any other musician in Albert's musical history. The music of David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic has been called a "beautiful evocation of just how much Celtic music inspired the melodies played around the campfires in the wild, Wild West." Over the last ten years, David Wilkie has devoted much of his time to one of his favorite passions -- the seeking out of Celtic origins of traditional cowboy music. The result has been the release of three highly successful Cowboy Celtic CDs, The Drover Road (2001), Cowboy Ceilidh (1997) and Cowboy Celtic (1995). David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic are becoming well-known for the connections they are making between Western (traditional cowboy) music and the music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. The "Celtic and cowboy" musical marriage on their recordings has struck a chord with music lovers on both sides of the ocean. As one reviewer put it, "This is more than music. It's theatre and imagery and history and storytelling and more, all wrapped up in sagebrush and tartan." These musical and historical connections, and the influence of Celtic music on traditional cowboy songs, come to light in the group's music where they combine old world Celtic instrumentation and music with cowboy songs. One Celtic melody that has survived the centuries and the distance across the Atlantic is that of The Cowboy's Lament (also called The Streets of Laredo), popular among cowboys and fans of Western music. The melody is that of the old Scottish song The Unfortunate Rake and the Irish song The Bard of Armagh. The cowboy song's melody and theme are the same as the older Celtic songs, but the words differ in all three songs. Many more of the old Celtic songs were refitted with new lyrics by Celtic men and women and their descendents who made their way West (some to be cowboys) and told the stories of their new lifestyle through song. Tunes from home were easier to remember than the words, and hence, the new lyrics. And so, David Wilkie has taken many of these 'cowboy' songs and a few of his own and recorded them in the Celtic style. The result -- Wikie's own brand of Cowboy Celtic music that ranges from hauntingly beautiful to foot-stompin' lively. As one critic said, it's "enough to make you shake the trail dust from your jeans and wash it down with a jug of Irish whiskey." Among the successes that David Wilkie has had in his foray into the Cow-Celt Cosmos is a Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma. His Cowboy Ceilidh CD was voted Outstanding Traditional Western Music Album for 1998 and the award was presented in 1999 in Oklahoma City. A 25-year veteran of the North American music scene, David Wilkie has been called Canada's premier mandolin virtuoso, and an elder statesman of Alberta music. In addition to his Cowboy Celtic CD's he has two solo CD's to his credit - an acclaimed release with the Cold Club ( an off-the-wall group that also includes renowned blues guitarist Amos Garrett and Chilean guitar wizard Oscar Lopez), and three with his former group, the Great Western Orchestra (GWO). Wilkie's songs Wind in the Wire and Cowboy Boogie, co-written with Stewart MacDougall, were recorded by Randy Travis on Warner Western, and Travis also featured Wilkie's music on his ABC TV special Wind in the Wire. David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic, based in Turner Valley, Alberta, features the beautiful, pure voices of Denise Withnell on guitar, Keri Zwicker on vocal and harp, Scott Ring, of Newfoundland on whistles and Joe Hertz on fiddle. Cowboy Celtic's touring includes the cowboy gatherings of Elko, Nevada, Monterey, California, Santa Clarita, California and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Celtic Festivals from Denver, Colorado to the Scottish Highlands and various arts centers in the United States and Canada. In 2001, David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic released The Drover Road for Western Jubilee Recording Company. Wilkie has also performed to sold-out audiences with the world renowned Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. An animated film of his song Cactus Swing was produced by Canada's prestigious National Film Board, and in late 2000, Canada's national CBC network broadcast a television documentary on Wilkie, his Cowboy Celtic group and the connections he is making between traditional cowboy music and the music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. David Wilkie has toured in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, Ireland, Scotland and all over the United States and Canada. On the western plains of nineteenth century North America, intoxicating Gaelic melodies drifted through the evening air at many a cowboy campfire and during lonely shifts at night guard. These songs were brought over from the old country and often refitted with lyrics to suit the singer's new occupation. The Celtic origins of cowboy music are well documented. Traditional Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh folkmusic served as the foundation and model for countless cowboy classics. Cowboy Ceilidh melts the rolling hills of Ireland into the dusty trails of Texas; the rugged Scottish Highlands into the majestic Alberta Rockies; and the gentle English chalk streams into roaring rivers of Montana. ***The band entertained us with their highly accomplished western adaptations of traditional Scottish and Irish songs and tunes which had been taken to the New World by entrepreneurs and emigrants. The band performed with such energy and panache that they deserved to be rewarded by an audience dancing. The Living Tradition (Scotland)*** ***Many of us who play 'traditional' country music do it without thinking to much of its origins. However, one man who has made a study of it for the past 7 years or so is David Wilkie, a brilliant Canadian mandolin player and guitarist from Alberta, Canada. David has researched the source of many of the 'Cowboy' tunes and produced two albums, Cowboy Ceilidh and Cowboy Celtic. These two CDs are quite superb and to my mind are 'the missing link' between Celtic and Country. Traditional Music Maker (England)***
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