There's a running joke among my friends that one day I'll “sell out” and record my Celtic rock album.  It's true I'd love to release a Celtic rock album.  I started out as a rock musician after all, not a Celtic folk musician.  I played guitar with Skander and Breastfed before I found my calling with Celtic music.  So I can't help but think it might be big mistake to go Celtic rock.

I think of all the brilliant Celtic folk musicians I love who recorded rock albums, like Christy Moore and Brian McNeill.  Did you hear them?  They're tragically bad.  Such brilliant songwriters and singers… then they recorded rock albums.  Ouch!

One of the worst things is they frequently resort to generic electronic drum sets (or it sounds like that at least).  In fact, I should release a mix I made of “Whiskers in the Jar” with that same generic drum set.  It sorta sounds cool to the folk musician.  It's only later I wiped my forehead and said, “Whew!  That was close.”  It just sucked.  Of course, that was coming from a folk recording turned rock.  If you're gonna do a rock album, you should at least commit.

I abhor fake drum sets.  They sound horrible.  I think the only person I've heard pull it off convincingly was Jonathan Coulton with his Thing A Week series.  Most sound just bad.

Who knows if I'll ever record that Celtic rock album.  If I do, I hope to do it right, true to myself, true to my vocals, true to the music, much like Black 47 and The Elders.  Until then, I'll stick with acoustic Celtic folk music.  I love that best!