Through Wind And Rain With Cathie Ryan

By Gwen Orel

Back in September, we reported here that Cathie Ryan was working on a new CD.

It's not out yet, but should be available in a few months, and a few lucky devils got advance copies at recent gigs in Chicago.

Cathie's still working on the CD, which means those early versions will someday be as rare as The Beatles' "butcher" cover of Yesterday and Today.

The new CD, Through Wind and Rain, will be released in September, Cathie's first studio recording in over seven years.

The album will reflect the Detroit native's time in Ireland and her return to America last year, after eight years in Dingle.

Cathie wrote to us, "I am an Irish American singer. The roots to Ireland within me are strong, but everything that has grown from them has mostly happened here in America. So both forces flow through my singing and through every song I choose to sing."

Through Wind and Rain includes some traditional songs, and originals from Cathie and others. One thing Cathie's excited about is that many of the song-writers are women.

"Women have a hand in every single song on the CD. I love that - and it makes a difference. You can hear it."

In the past, Cathie wrote, she wanted to avoid comparison to other great singers-she's now realized that that was "nonsense.

I decided to open this CD with one of my favorite songs by Kate Rusby.

And I follow it with another by Mairead ni Mhaonaigh [of Altan: read our interview with her here). She graciously allowed me to do a translation (from the Irish) of one of her songs, a lullaby. It came out beautifully."

For the first time on one of Cathie's album, there's also a set of tunes, from her band which features Matt Mancuso on fiddle, Patsy O'Brien on guitar, and Brian Melic and percussion: "I love the way Patsy, Matt and Brian play tunes, they have such lift in their playing - full of life and spirit. I thought it was high time to add their tunes to a CD. Our live shows mix tunes and songs so it seemed overdue."

Guitarist John Doyle, who's busy playing with The Teetotallers, produced the album with Cathie and also plays on some of it. But that's not all.

Cathie explained that others on the album include Donogh Hennessy (two of the tracks were recorded in Dingle at Donogh's studio), Michelle Mulcahy, Joanie Madden, Seamus Egan, Pauline Scanlon, Eilis Kennedy, Fiona McBain, Aoife O'Donovan, Michael McGoldrick and more.

Oh Cathie, Cathie, Cathie. How are we ever going to wait until September?

Gwen Orel runs the blog and podcast New York Irish Arts