Martin Hayes - Martin Hayes (CD)

The album that started it all. Released on Green Linnet in 1993, the self-titled debut from the East Clare fiddler arrived quietly and went on to change how a generation heard Irish traditional music. While the rest of the country was speeding up, Hayes slowed everything down, drawing out the lonesome shape of each tune and leaving space for it to breathe.

Accompanied with great sensitivity by guitarist Randal Bays, this is the bare-bones, deeply felt approach that would define his career. A record of reels, jigs and airs played not for show but for feeling.

Includes "The Morning Star", "The Star of Munster" and a closing pairing of "Tommy Coen's Reel / The Swallow".