And Even the Sheep Shall Dance / A Little Bit Slanted (with Molly Donnery) / Tales of Colonsay (with Jessie Summerhayes)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The Ciderhouse Rebellion must be the most prolific outfit in folk music today. Are the duo of fiddler Adam Summerhayes and accordionist Murray Grainger trying to break some sort of record? And what is fuelling this incredible creative output? Cider? Whatever it is, they have beaten their own dizzying standards this time with the simultaneous release of three studio albums, each accompanied by a book. Firstly, the memorably named And Even the Sheep Shall Dance, which finds the duo in familiar territory, recording an instrumental response to global turmoil in the space of 24 hours, in a virtuosic and improvisational way. The accompanying graphic novel, penned by Summerhayes, mixes the pastoral (sheep and rabbits) with the apocalyptic (Putin and climate change). The second album, A Little Bit Slanted, reunites the duo with Irish singer Molly Donnery in a collection of Irish folk favourites from her childhood sung in English and Irish Gaelic. And the triptych is completed by another regular collaborator, Summerhayes’ daughter, poet Jessie Summerhayes. Tales of Colonsay is a collection of poetry she wrote about a trip to the Scottish Hebridean island with her father. As always with The Ciderhouse Rebellion, a deep sense of place is ever-present, be it the sheep of the Derbyshire hillsides, the Galway pub session that sparked the collaboration with Donnery, or the open vistas of Colonsay and the deep connection between father and daughter. May the music never run dry.