Tony Christie - Is This the Way to Amarillo? 

No! This time he’s wending his way to Dublin, Limerick, Tullamore and Carrickfergus. 44 years after the release of his million-selling hit “Amarillo”, Tony Christie rounds off his long career with a nostalgic trip to his family’s Irish roots – and has produced an Irish folk album of the very highest musical and audio quality. For this project he was able to acquire the services of the band “Ranagri”, who have worked with such international luminaries as Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder and Ennio Morricone.

12 of the most beautiful Irish folk classics including for instance „Wild Mountain Thyme“ and „Carrickfergus“, were recorded by Christie and the band in the grammy-nominated Stockfisch Studio in Northeim, where producer Günter Pauler has earned an international reputation for the unusually high sound-quality of his work.

This album is not an idiosyncratic whim dreamed up over a few “jars” at the local pub, but brings to light an aspect of Tony Christie the artist (real name: Anthony Fitzgerald) which many won’t have expected. The songs have profited immensely from the contemporary arrangements, making the “golden oldies” shine with a new brilliance.

Various successful albums tipped the vote away from naming the production „Simply in Love with Irish Music“ or alternatively „Made in Northeim“. Quite deservedly, this album has been called „The Great Irish Songbook” – the current album of the „Great Irish Singer“ Tony Christie.

Tracks on this Live Recording:

Stop Those Bells
Trust Somebody
He Got You *
What’s A Little More Rain *
Horse I Used To Ride
Ivory Cage
Gipsy Eyes
Turned My Upside Down *
What Matters *
Burning Both Ends *
If You Close That Door
After There Is A Blizzard
Like A Rolling Stone

David Roth is a musical portrait artist who conveys a wealth of stories, anecdotes and remembered scenes with a physically felt intensity. This album is reminiscent, too, of an much-loved anthology of poetry, like one of those marvellous books which one can simply open at any page. That extraordinary feeling of warmth and familiarity that takes us by surprise when listening to this music comes from the sheer magic of the melodies, the mellow harmonies, the irresistible guitar sounds and David Roth's voice.

The rich natural atmosphere - including birdsong and sounds from the vegetation - fits wonderfully to Kerstin’s haunting Norwegian folk ballads, her crystal clear expressive mezzosoprano and her modern virtuoso guitar playing.

“Out of the Woods” is a collection of favourite songs about the loveliest season of all – springtime, featuring re-recorded repertoire from formerly released CDs as well as brand-new material – including three spontaneous improvisations, where the musicians sat around the microphones and just started to play…

Opulently modern, minimalistically folky, bizarre and beautiful, passionate and pure, melancholy and dreamy, soulful and sad, tongue-in-cheek and humorous – Kerstin Blodig takes us on a musical journey from Norway across the North Sea to Scotland and back home again to the land of the trolls, elf kings and wood nymphs, of breath-taking landscapes and mysterious myths.

While Stephenson’s earlier works exude the excitement of “something’s gonna happen”, the sweet bird of youth is “on the way to Santiago” – since then, life seems to have taken the artist on the long and rocky road. In the same way, "Girl With A Mirror" is darker; more composed, and more reflective – but hope does not desert us.

Ranagri sound like a precious, unspoiled spot of beauty – the Irish village of Ranagri that gave the band its name. The four Londoners marry musical influences ranging from classical, folk and blues. If their story did not exist, it would have to be invented. A get-together in the pub – a band's story comes into being. Guitar and flutes, harp and bodhran, bouzouki – and each time these melodious voices oscillating between melancholy and pure joie de vivre.

„I am a man upon a road, It doesn’t have a name, In my pockets only dust, But in my heart a flame…“. This flame brought him back - with 14 new songs and arrangements - to the Stockfisch Records studio. In this new material you might discover traces of the Steve Strauss of “Just Like Love”, but the striking thing is a new more courageous style.

Taylor plays his favourite Martin guitars with the same sensitivity for body, expression and autonomy which one finds in his vocal performance – always moving, and never merely vague.

The singer/songwriter duo who bewitches us with the rule of three: their roots: Belgian, Greek and Australian, their music – akin to the Chinese symbol for listening which is made up of three symbols: head, ear and heart – holds delights for each.

Brooke Miller´s guitar teamed with her distinctive artistic and personal charisma – these alone suffice to make a lasting impact on the listener. This is also her passport to Northeim. The Canadian artist with a difference whose music, like an oak tree from Prince Edward Island, is regionally rooted, branching out into universal appeal: authentic, real, upfront.