Whachacallit

I listen to a lot of Irish music, probably surprising you not one bit. And while I still love straight-ahead trad and the amorphous genre commonly lumped as "Celtic Rock", lately my real passion is with music that for lack of a better term I'll call Innovative Trad.

No, that's not right. How about New Trad? Not exactly it either. Anyway, what I'm talking about are bands that are using traditional acoustic instruments and sometimes traditional tunes and structures in new ways, while still maintaining the "feel" of Irish music. It's Irishness, if you want to call it that.

Bands like Kila. Flook. Gráda. Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul. And 2007 Kansas City Irish Fest headliners Solas. I can't wait to see them. I hope you're excited too, 'cause you should be.