In My Hands

1	In My Hands: The Drunken Lady / Amy Sky 4:23
2	Welcome to the Trossachs: Welcome to the Trossachs/Memories of Winston 7:17
3	Gramma: Maudabawn Chapel/Frank's Reel 2:34
4	Blue Bonnets over the Border 4:28
5	New York Jig: The New York Jig/Mrs. Gordon of Park/The Moil in the Wad 4:07
6	Flamenco Fling: Music/Reel for Brenda/Flamenco Fling 3:45
7	Space Ceilidh: The Night We Had the Goats/The Fairy Dance 3:41
8	Olympic Reel 3:20
9	Father John MacLeod's 2:55
10	Get Me Through December 6:31
11	The Farewell: Farewell March/Charlie Hardie Reel/Frank Gilruth ... 5:26
12	Moxham Castle: Moxham Castle/Mr, Thomas Forbes/The Moving ... 4:19
13	Mom's Jig: The Northside Kitchen/Mom's Jig/A Deanadh Im 5:17
14	Flora MacDonald 3:48

Barnes & Noble

In a sensuous lyric spoken over traditional Cape Breton fiddle music, Natalie MacMaster makes her passion clear in the opening track of IN MY HANDS. From there, the lively journey is mostly instrumental and entirely unpredictable -- "Blue Bonnets Over the Border" traces the dancing energy of Cape Breton's highland roots; "Space Ceilidh" takes that Celtic-rooted drive into the future with vision and vengeance. A fiddling prodigy from Cape Breton's MacMaster family of musicians, Natalie pays tribute to the matriarch in "Gramma." Then there's a tune where MacMaster's traditional step dancing moves are echoed by drum hits, and a fiery exchange of Spanish-flavored riffs with flamenco guitar ace Jesse Cook in "Flamenco Fling." Accordion Player Sharon Shannon and fiddler Mark O'Connor also guest, along with Alison Krauss, who provides the vocals in a gentle version of "Get Me Through December." A cornucopia of musical ideas, to be sure, successfully connected by MacMaster's outstanding ability to make traditional music thoroughly contemporary. Kerry Dexter

All Music Guide

The basic approach taken by Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster and her producer, arranger, and guitarist Gordie Sampson is to take a group of traditional tunes, for example, the march and three reels mixed together and called "The Farewell," and come up with a folk-rock arrangement that emphasizes MacMaster's lyrical playing as well as a sturdy backbeat. But the two feel the need to spice things up even more, and so there are several unusual tracks, starting with the lead-off title song, in which MacMaster recites a lyric in tribute to her instrument, and including "Space Ceilidh," which features some appropriately spacy "programming"; "Olympic Reel," a rock workout with new age elements written by Mark O'Connor, who duels with MacMaster on his own fiddle; and "Get Me Through December," a ballad with Alison Krauss on vocals. The result is a hybrid album intended to appeal to a broader audience than the purist Celtic crowd, or perhaps to introduce them to some new sounds without putting them off. William Ruhlmann