Laura Cortese is doubly blessed. After enjoying her debut album, Hush, I am hard pressed to say if she's a better singer or fiddler -- she juggles both talents so well.

She carries a rich Irish-Italian blend in her American blood, so she's likely someone you do want to share a pint with but don't want to make angry. Fortunately, she seems to demonstrate mostly good humor, romance and melancholy on Hush. And did I mention her voice is lovely? Did I tell you her fiddle is sweet?

Oddly, this Massachusetts native follows the traditional paths of neither the Irish nor the Italians; heavily influenced by renowned fiddler Alasdair Fraser, Laura has adopted the Scottish style as her own.

That doesn't mean her playing is limited to a single tradition, however. On the first track of Hush, "The Green Wedding," Laura took the tale of a woman's love torn between her own chosen lover and her father's arranged partner and, unable to decide between differing Irish and Scottish melodies, wrote her own delightful version. The following instrumental set blurs the edges between tunes from Cape Breton, Ireland, Scotland and the States.

"The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington," a traditional song from the Alan Lomax collection, gains a frolicsome air with Laura's new melody and additional lyrics. Just try to get the chorus out of your head. Then, perhaps reeling after an acrimonious breakup, she dances her fiddle through "The Rejected Lover/The Lopsided Lover/The Clumsy Lover."

Hush boasts 12 tracks, a mix of tunes and songs, and not one is a throwaway piece. Besides Laura, on fiddle and vocals, the music benefits from the playing of bassist Corey DiMario, guitarists Ted Davis and Brian Hanlon, cellist Natalie Haas, Matty Metcalfe on accordion, Hanneke Cassel and Oscar Utterstrom on piano, and more. Heavily laced with traditional music, the entire album soars with Laura's stylish arrangements.

The album closes with my favorite track, spinning the melody of "The Mist Covered Mountains" together with new lyrics by Canadian Jim MacLean describing the Highland Clearances; the song combines the longing of one with the bitter resentment of the other for a song heavy with emotion -- primarily love and care for the children swept up in their parents' hardships.

Hush is highly recommended, especially if you're curious what an Irish-Italian-American can do with Scottish music.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
25 March 2006

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