December, 2016: Martin Hayes and his collaborators gather in Bantry House, an historic 18th century house on the edge of Bantry Bay, West Cork. The four sit in a circle in the Library with fires blazing at both ends of the room. In the recording process they play each traditional piece a number of times and each time something different emerges. Martin Hayes (fiddle) is arguably Ireland’s most influential traditional musician known for his soulful and minimal approach to the music. Dennis Cahill (guitars) is Hayes’ longtime duo collaborator. Doug Wieselman (bass clarinet) is composer, arranger and musician from New York best known for his work with Anthony and The Johnsons, Wayne Horwitz and Laurie Anderson. New Yorker Liz Knowles (hardanger d’amore) plays with the finesse of Irish fiddle music combined with the tonal richness of the classical violin. The Blue Room is a recording of those sessions. Each piece played a number of times and recorded live in the room. The Blue Room is Martin Hayes’ first new project since the massively successful, The Gloaming. With that project securing two Number One albums in Ireland, a Choice Music Prize and selling out a seven-night run at the National Concert Hall last year, Hayes’ now another new step. Intimate in feel and panoramic in scope, The Blue Room is traditional music one might expect to know but is a sublime surprise.
