Green Grass Blue Grass

There've been many attempts to meld Ireland's traditional music with the disparate conflation that forms modern-day American bluegrass, most recently in the BBC4 TV series The Transatlantic Sessions. However, none so far has come even a badger's whisker close to the sheer exuberance and new-shoes tightness of the blend purveyed by the Brock McGuire band and their assorted guests.

Those in question – Paul Brock of accordion renown and Manus McGuire of similar fiddling fame – formed the bedrock of one of Ireland's most devilishly foot-tapping bands Moving Cloud and, with banjo-mandolin virtuoso Enda Scahill and pianist Denis Carey, released a stonking eponymous debut album as the Brock McGuire Band in 2006. Though the savvy ones have long known of Brock and McGuire's shared interest in other musical traditions, few would have predicted the wonderfully eclectic and invigorating collaboration that is Green Grass Blue Grass. The band recorded at home in Ireland for six tracks and at Ricky Skaggs’ home studio in Nashville for the remaining nine. And those latter tracks feature not only Skaggs himself (providing a titillating mandolin solo on ‘Because It's There’), but also Aubrey Haynie of Bluegrass Fiddle Album accord, along with guitarist and clawhammer banjo man Brian Sutton and two acclaimed Nashville sidemen (Jeff Taylor on accordion and double bassist Mark Fain). And, boy, is this a traditional album that rocks. Whether it's on the raunchy version of the reel ‘The Moving Cloud’, a raucous rendition of the Hiram Stamper-associated ‘Chinquapin Hunting’ or the frenetic Scahill/Carey workout ‘American Polka’. Utterly endearing and absolutely fabulous.