Years ago, I reviewed Charlie Zahm CDs with some level of dispassion. He was one among many musicians whose recordings crossed my desk. Later, he joined a smaller group -- but still fairly large, really -- of people I'd actually met. Honestly, I can't even recall any more when or where it was that we first started talking.

Charlie, beyond his many talents as a performer, is also a genuinely nice man. And, more importantly for those of you who are considering buying this CD, he's someone who genuinely enjoys performing, and his love for the stage -- and his audiences, who always seem to love him back -- is easy to see.

So it's hard to be entirely unbiased when a new Charlie Zahm CD comes my way. Because, heck, I like the guy a lot. I am proud to call him a friend, and I've even had the privilege of sharing a stage with him on several occasions.

I'm not sure how I'd react if I listened to a new Charlie Zahm CD and was disappointed by what I heard. How could I say anything bad about this guy?? It would be like stepping hard on a puppy's tail, twice.

Fortunately, that is still not a problem I have to deal with. Far Away & Across the Sea, his latest, is as much fun as any Zahm CD I've heard. Maybe more so, since this recording is live (from a show at the Cabin Performance Hall in Pitman, N.J., last April) and Charlie is at his best when there's an audience in front of him.

Besides Charlie, who plays guitar and bodhran and, primarily, sings in that great booming voice, the album features his usual suspects: Tad Marks, his most frequent partner in crime, on fiddle; Steve Hobson on lead guitar; Cheryl Prashker on percussion; and Marc Moss on bass. The final song -- "Standing Stone," a studio-recorded bonus track -- also features Chris Nole on keyboard and John Turner on fiddle. (Turner, unbeknownst to him, is a major reason I'm still playing fiddle today, so it was quite gratifying to find him on this CD.)

Anyway, Charlie often ranges widely in his musical selections, from songs of the Civil War era to the American West, patriotic and spiritual themes, and even a bit of country now and then. This album sticks mostly to his favored milieu, the music of the Celts, both classic and modern, so look for traditional songs ("Lukey's Boat," "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair," "Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie," among others), might-as-well-be traditional songs (Percy French's "Mountains of Mourne," Andy Stewart's "Donald, Where's Your Trousers," Pete St. John's "Fields of Athenry," Michael Considine's "Spancil Hill") and two Zahm originals, "Standing Stone" and "'Til All the Seas Run Dry," based on a Robert Burns poem. There's also "The Battle of New Orleans," best known as a Johnny Horton vehicle (although Zahm rightly points out that the British soldiers in this song are slanderously and unfairly maligned).

All told, it's more than an hour of music, and it's almost -- almost -- as much fun as being there.

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