The Chieftains achieved their widest audience to date with with the release of Long Black Veil in 1995. This very cool CD has many rock and pop musicians (most coming from the British Isles) singing lead vocals on mostly traditional songs.

The music makes you feel as if the guest pop stars and rockers lived with these folk songs on a daily basis because, to their credit, the Chieftains don't try to sound like a modern rock band. They play these songs with their traditional Irish folk instruments using their own natural style and special gifts.

Van Morrison sings his classic "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You." The Rolling Stones sing "The Rocky Road to Dublin," while Mick Jagger alone tackles the title track. Mark Knopfler lends both his singing and producing skills to "The Lily of the West," while Welshman Tom Jones does "Tennessee Waltz" in such a distinctive, yet natural style you momentarily forget his Vegas lounge-lizard image. Sting, Ry Cooder and Sinead O'Connor are also among the participants on this fine disc.

The only track I could live without is Marianne Faithfull's lead vocal on "Love is Teasin'," and that is because the years have not been kind to her voice.

Other than that one misstep, Long Black Veil offers us some excellent music. In addition, it is important to the traditional Irish folk world because it opened up the genre to a whole new audience that would have normally ignored this stellar Irish band.