This week I’ve got Caitlin Finley and Will Woodson’s newest album “Once Through the Hall” in the media player. The follow up to their 2019 “The Glory Reel” (with Chris Stevens), “Once…” is a masterpiece of fiddle and uilleann pipes/flute duet playing that I think any lover of pure drop traditional music will enjoy. The music here is brilliantly executed, has superb lift and has the kind of drive that would rouse any dancer to their feet. Finley and Woodson have done something special with this one, I have been enjoying it intensely and think readers of this column should give it a listen.
Based in, Maine, Woodson and Finley (who run an excellent weekly session at the Continental bar and restaurant in Portland) are, in my opinion, two of the finest musicians in the scene right now. A married couple, they have, of course, spent plenty of time playing together and do so with a closeness that shows a marvelous mutual understanding of the nuance in each other’s playing, but they’ve both been important participants in the session scene in places like New York and Boston as well and have a reputation for great music.
Born in Philadelphia to parents with Connemara roots, Finley is a top fiddle player and has been involved with traditional music from a very young age. As a teenager she immersed herself in the New York Sligo tradition as a student of both Rose Flanagan and Brian Conway and when she was just a little older, she performed regularly with Mick Moloney’s Green Fields of America. As a tutor, she’s taught at places like the St. Louis Tionól, the Patsy Touhey Weekend in Boston and, with Woodson, presented original research at the Ward Irish Music Archives’s “Archiving Irish America” conference in 2024.
Woodson is both an uilleann piper and flute player. His piping influences largely draw from the first generation of Irish immigrants who became recording artists in the 1910s and 1920s, while his flute playing influences include the flute players of North Connacht of the same era. In addition to being an excellent musician, Woodson is a well-known maker of uilleann pipes and is not only known as one of the finest in the country, but is building an international reputation. In addition to leading workshops at the Northeast Tionól, the St. Louis Tionól, the Patsy Touhey Weekend, he’s has been over to Ireland, most recently to lead a workshop at the Na Píobairí Uilleann Tionól in Termonfeckin, Co. Louth. In addition, Woodson and Finley were at the Cobblestone in Dublin last month to launch the album.
The music here is stunning. Although Finley and Woodson’s playing sounds very fresh, virtually every tune on the album can be traced back to a wax cylinder or 78rpm recording from Irish music’s first golden age of recording. Sourced from the likes of James Morrison, John McKenna, Patsy Touhey, the Four Provinces Orchestra, Lad O’Beirne, the Toms Ennis & Morrison, the Paddies Killoran & Sweeney, and the Michaels Carney, Coleman & Gallagher, each of the settings they’ve chosen, often of fairly well known tunes, has an intrinsic character and complexity that the pair do a fantastic job of bringing to new life.
Fans of an old-time traditional music will enjoy every track here. I love the “Peeler’s Jacket / …” and “Tom Busby’s / ….” The lift on “The Pride of Clyde / …” is particularly nice. I love how they recreated one of Ennis’s recordings of “Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel / Trim the Velvet” where he plays the two tunes together “as one big eight part reel,” as they put it in the liner notes. It’s delightfully done, a great nod to Ennis, and demonstrates how artists from that era exercised innovation. Tune choices like “Willie Taylor's March / …,” which comes from Touhey (and which they’ve done some nice research on in the notes) and O’Beirne’s version of “Silver Spear” (which has cool touches that differentiate from the bog standard session version) are interesting, unusual, and well done.
There are solo features, as one would expect. Finley is absolutely on fire on “Rakish Paddy / …,” as is Woodson on “McKenna's Fermoy Lasses / …,” which delivers on a flute in the key of F. Woodson also has a piping feature on a slow air version of “The Blackbird.” There, he plays with great control, using his chanters effectively over the course of the performance to add variety and depth. These tracks are great overall inclusions.
“Once Through the Hall” is a fantastic album. The playing is well thought through and richly executed and there’s nothing I don’t enjoy. If you are a fan of traditional music, especially that inspired by the more rhythmic old timey approach of the 1920s – and by this, I thinking not only of the era’s original recordings but also of more modern players steeped in that era’s music like Andy McGann, Frankie Gavin and others – you’ll do well to check this one out as it’s a keeper. Top recommendation! To learn more and to purchase, visit here.
