My Roots Are Showing

1	Hey Johnny Cope! /March: Johnny Cope/Reels: the Dowd's Favorite/Pares 5:38
2	Willie Fraser/ Strathspeys: Willie Fraser/Thomas MacDonnell's/ ... 4:15
3	The Boys of the Lake/ Jigs: the Detroit Jig/The Mucking of Geordie's Byre 3:06
4	The Wildcate: the Wildcat/Little Nipper's Hornpipe 2:14
5	Balmoral Highlanders/ Pipe March: The Balmoral Highlanders/ Strathspey 7:37
6	The Shakin's O' the Pocky 2:20
7	Captain Keeler/ Hornpipes: Miss Wharton Duff/Jimmy Linn's Hornpipe 5:12
8	E Flat Set: the E Flat Reel/The Recluse/James D. Law 3:08
9	Glad You Made It, Howie!: Mary Scott/The Ewie Wi' The Crookit Horn/Lor 6:39
10	Close to the Floor/ Jigs: Scotty Fitzgerald's Jig/Close to the Floor 3:07
11	Queen of the West/ Hornpipes: Ferry Bridge Clog/Queen of the ... 5:54
12	A' Chuthag (The Cuckoo) 2:34
13	A Glencoe Dance Set: the Castle Hornpipe/Sean Maguire's ... 6:55

Barnes & Noble

One should take the title of Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster's album seriously: Her roots in the traditional fiddle music of Cape Breton Island are highlighted here. Gone are previous experiments with flamenco, bluegrass, and new age music. What remains is a striking set of medleys in which MacMaster demonstrates her virtuosity over simple piano and guitar accompaniment. Much of the Cape Breton style is dance music, and from the fiery first notes of "Hey Johnny Cope!," MacMaster draws the listener into the dance. Her attack and rhythmic intensity propel the trio through a selection of jigs, reels, hornpipes, and strathspeys including "The Wildcat" and "Queen of the West." These are balanced with the slower air "The Shakin's o' the Pocky" and her own arrangement of the Gaelic folksong "A'Cuthag (The Cuckoo)." The cover of MY ROOTS ARE SHOWING pictures MacMaster standing in front of a tree composed of photographs of members of her own musical family going back several generations. For the finale, one of the pictures comes to life, as she and her uncle, master fiddler Buddy MacMaster, join for a set recorded live at a Glencoe dance. The two inspire each other to new melodic heights. This is sweet and joyful music performed by a master of the style. Kerry Dexter

All Music Guide

Since Natalie MacMaster is basically a traditional Cape Breton Island Celtic fiddler who sometimes adds more modern elements to her music, a traditional album is an ideal way to hear her in her most natural environment, and My Roots Are Showing, finally issued in the U.S. by Rounder in April 2000 after having been released by Warner Bros. in Canada in 1998, is that album. On most of the 13 cuts, MacMaster combines a series of either public domain pieces or originals by the old masters, including reels, marches, strathspeys, and jigs. For example, "Glad You Made It, Howie!," which probably owes its name to the arrival of pianist Howie MacDonald, who plays on the track, consists of the strathspeys "Mary Scott" (written by J. Scott Skinner), "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn," "Lord Kelly," and "Sir Harry's Welcome Home" (written by Peter Hardie), plus the reels "The Dismissal Reel" (written by Sandy MacLean), "Paddy on the Turnpike," and "The Yellow Tinker." The exceptions to these lively medleys are two slow, mournful airs, "The Shakin's o' the Pocky" and "A' Chuthag (The Cuckoo)." The best is saved for last, as "A Glencoe Dance Set," a performance live at Glencoe fades up, featuring MacMaster and her fiddler uncle Buddy MacMaster. Natalie MacMaster was only in her mid-twenties when she made My Roots Are Showing, but it proved her sense of the music went back long before her birth. William Ruhlmann