Local Spins Guest Playlist for St. Patrick’s Day: Curt Tramel of Fonn Mor

With St. Patrick’s Day approaching, Celtic music is being uncorked everywhere. Fonn Mor, with frontman Curt Tramel, is helping lead the way. He offered up this playlist of favorite songs for the season.

 

Guitarist and banjo player Curt Tramel knows — and loves — traditional Celtic music.

As frontman for West Michigan’s Fonn Mor, he’s sought to deliver some of the region’s finest examples of that for years, surrounding himself with top-notch players who share a love for that same music.

And this weekend, as many venues start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day early, fans get a chance to revel in Fonn Mor more than once: The ensemble will unleash a special show at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo at 9 p.m. Saturday, featuring the dueling fiddles of Grace MacMaster and Rachel Gribben, with the Quinn Irish Dancers joining in for several tunes. Get ticket and details online at bellsbeer.com.

The band follows this on Sunday night with a 7 p.m. performance at Salt of the Earth in downtown Fennville. Get details about that more intimate, weekend-ending performance online at saltoftheearthfennville.com.

But before all that, Tramel offered up his Top 10 picks of Celtic-hued tunes as a soundtrack for the upcoming Irish holiday. And it’s an impressive list to give the weekend and the entire week an Emerald Isle-styled vibe.

CURT TRAMEL: THE LOCAL SPINS ST. PATRICK’S WEEK PLAYLIST

1. “Fisherman’s Blues,” The Waterboys – This is one of my all-time favorite feel-good songs. This song came out in 1988 right when things started to change in the music scene. They were one of the first bands I heard to blend Celtic music with folk rock. I love this album (including the cover). I studied the instrumentation and listened to how they arranged their songs. It was, and still is, an inspiration to me.

2. “Martin Wynne’s/The Longford Tinker,” The Bothy Band – This band helped fuel the Irish folk revival in the ’70s and they set the bar. I love their instrumentation. I immediately fell in love with their sound the first time I heard them. The rhythm section, the bouzouki and guitar interplay is outstanding and the clavichord is brilliant. The melody section — fiddle, flute and uilleann pipes — flawlessly blazing and then there is Triona’s beautiful vocals. They are top-notch players that will always be legends in the Irish music world and huge influences for Fonn Mor. Just listen to how they layer in instruments and build dynamically.

3. “When Fortune Turns Her Wheel,” The Drovers – This is a great song written by an old bandmate, Mike Kirkpatrick. Both the lyrics and arrangement are outstanding. This version was in the movie “Blink” and is sung by our percussionist, Winston Damon AKA (Stone). This band was such a huge influence to me in the early ’90s. After they went on hiatus, I wound up playing with several of their members in various line-ups of Fonn Mor.

4. “Craigie Hills,” Caladh Nua – I love the arrangement of this. One of our fiddle players, Rachel Gribben, is friends with these guys and used to play with them when she lived in Ireland. The group has a great groove and beautiful vocals. They will be performing here in March at the Dalton Center at Western Michigan University and I’ll be there.

5. “The Wanderer,” The Gloaming – I’ve been keeping an eye on this group, which first was brought to my attention by Ian King, another one of our fiddle players. Their guitarist, Dennis Cahill, is from Chicago and is amazing. In this track, I love how it builds dynamically while giving you a great variety of sounds. It’s almost like they were able to squeeze a whole show into one track.

6. “Home for a Rest,” Spirit of the West – Every time March rolls around I have to give this one a listen. This Canadian group helped pioneer the Irish folk/rock crossover scene in the early ’90s. I first heard this in a bar in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Some guy was covering it, just him and an acoustic. I went up and asked him if it was his, and he told me whose it was. I immediately went out and bought the CD. I just love the energy and fun lyrics.

7. “Ballad of Accounting,” Ewan MacColl (sung by Karan Casey) – Our singer, Simone Keenan, brought this wonderful song into our group. I just love this version of it. It’s a song about social injustice and keeping the working class down. Ewan MacColl was an English songwriter, labor activist and poet. I have a lot of respect for this guy.

8. “Battle of Waterloo,” Old Blind Dogs – I tear up when I listen to this song. Jim Malcolm is a great songwriter. Whenever I write a song, I strive to have the listener feel what I felt when I heard this.

9. “Brownie’s Lament,” Mason Brown – Beautiful song. This tuneg was written by Fonn Mor band member Aaron Brown’s brother, Mason Brown. It was written about their uncle they called Brownie, who always said, “You know, that’s the road of life.” Mason has always been an inspiration to me as a songwriter and a musician. Plus, he’s a really nice guy.

10. “Dear Christy,” Wendy MacIsaac – I always have some Cape Breton music in my playlist. I’ve been there and just love it! Wendy MacIsaac is one of our fiddle player’s (Grace MacMaster) favorites. This track just nails it. It’s what you’d hear if you were in Cape Breton and stopped at
a ceilidh (social gathering that involves music).

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