Kathleen Keane, who wowed me with her self-titled solo debut back at the turn of the century, proves herself still to be a three-trick pony with her follow-up release, Where the Wind Meets the Water, released a mere decade later.

As I noted before, Keane is something of a renaissance woman of Irish music, and she puts her varied talents to work here on vocals, whistles and, the means through which I first got to know her, fiddle. She is her own one-woman band, although she doesn't play entirely alone -- she's joined here by Dennis Cahill, William Coulter and Al Day on guitar, James Moore on bass, bouzouki and guitar, James Conway on harmonica and jaw harp, Jackie Moran on bodhran and her own granddad, John "Johnny-O" Joyce, on accordion, a closing track recorded in part by Keane on a handheld cassette recorder in his kitchen in Luggary, Co. Galway, some 20 years earlier.

Keane's instrumental and vocal skills remain strong. Her fourth trick, as if she needed one, is composition; the album includes several songs and tunes by this talented performer. (I could go on about her other talents, including Irish dance, movie scoring and acting, but if you want the full story, click on this Chicago native's website below and read her bio.)

Kathleen Keane is a force of music, and my only regret is that I didn't listen to this album sooner. When's the next one?

[ visit the artist's website ]