Laugh, Dance & Sing

You’ve got to love fiddler Gordie MacKeeman. In his recent video for the ‘Barbershop Sessions’ on YouTube, he takes you into a barber's shop on Prince Edward Island, is heard chatting about the music while he gets clipped, and then lets you watch his fast bow-work and fancy stepdancing as he's backed up handsomely by his Rhythm Boys.

It's not too hard to picture all that as you listen the band's energetic performance of the traditional tune ‘Black Mountain Rag’ on this album, which nicely showcases their user-friendly and often eminently danceable spirit. Some of the original material – notably the album's closing track, MacKeeman's own ‘Pickle King Polka’, stands well alongside the traditional material. MacKeeman is very able with bow and rapid fingering, but neither he nor his mates are particularly innovative in their soloing, and he takes his Scottish slurring a wee bit too far on ‘A Maritime Lullabye’. Other numbers channel bluegrass, 60s surf rock and Western Swing, and there's a cover of ‘King's Highway’ which enhances Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ original with strong shots of country fun.