Tulca Mor – In the Morning Early

CD REVIEW – Tulca Mór – In The Morning Early
by Jane Harding

Brisbane based Tulca Mór bills themselves as “one of Australia’s top Irish bands” and they prove it yet again with this marvelous recording!

In The Morning Early is a collection of mostly Irish songs and tunes, the exception being a cover of the Don Henderson song “Rake and a Rambling Man” for which the band has created a lovely Celtic arrangement that suits the song beautifully.

To my mind, Jenny Fitzgibbon’s stunning vocals are the stand-out feature of this recording.
Fans will recognize “Bríd Óg Ní Mháille” which she performs unaccompanied on her solo album Temple Bare.

Once again, the Tulca Mór musicians have created an accompaniment that shows off Jenny’s voice to perfection. In the tune department, there’s a nice mixture of jigs, reels, hornpipes and a slow air, many of which will be familiar to session players.

I particularly like “The Woodford Set” because it contains “MacArthur Road”, a current personal favourite, and the “Plough and the Stars” set.
Fred Graham’s high energy fiddle leads on both these tracks.
My favourite track has to be “The Whistling Thief”.

Slip jigs are hard enough to play rhythmically, let alone sing a song to.
Tulca Mor has nailed it with this one!