Cherish the Ladies

Last night I saw Cherish the Ladies in concert at the Centrum in Spring, Texas.

I recently moved out to Spring and the Centrum is just down the road from me...literally. So I just could not pass up a chance to hear one of the best Celtic music groups around when they were playing a venue on my street!

I had never seen the group in concert before but was familiar with some of their recordings. Joanie Madden, the leader of the group, mentioned that they had performed in Houston twice before: once with the Houston Symphony and once at the "famous Mucky Duck".

The concert was a nice mix of traditional Irish and Scottish dance tunes and songs as well as some newly composed works and some old favorites. There was even step-dancing. The concert featured a lot of material from the group's latest cd Woman of the House.

The lead singer of the group, Heidi Talbot, also performed a song from the new cd that features the English folk-singer Kate Rusby. Kate Rusby is another of my favorite performers and I could hear a real similarity in the voice of Heidi Talbot.

There were some other songs that I recognized but I am not sure exactly from where. I know I have heard Cherish the Ladies recordings played a number of times on the Thistle & Shamrock before though.

I also remembered that I have Joanie Madden's cd Song of the Irish Whistle and it is an excellent solo recording.

It was a very entertaining concert...the only thing missing was the pints. This is definitely music meant to be heard in a pub.

Oh well maybe next time...