Well, this takes me back!

It's been a long time since I first saw Cynthia MacLeod perform at the Celtic Colours International Festival in 2002. She returned to the festival in 2003, when I reviewed one of her performances and interviewed her backstage at the Festival Club. And I knew then that this Prince Edward Island fiddler was going to make a name for herself among her Cape Breton peers.

I reviewed her debut CD, Head Over Heels, shortly after it came out in 2002, and her fourth album, Riddle, in 2011. I somehow missed her third album, Hot off the Floor, when it came out in 2007, but during a recent spate of nostalgia for the time I spent in Cape Breton years ago, I spied her sophomore recording, Crackerjack, on the shelf and decided to remind myself why I liked Cynthia's music so very much.

It hasn't dimmed with time. Crackerjack lives up to its name with energetic sets, creative arrangements and Cynthia's own sense of flair.

There's only one song on the album, although Cynthia doesn't sing. Instead, her fiddle provides a lilting foundation for guest vocalist Eddy Quinn on "The Tennessee Waltz." Otherwise, the album offers 12 instrumental tracks, a mix of mostly traditional tunes that she blasts through with vigor and style.

Nowhere is that vigor more evident than it is in track 7, "Live at Myron's," which is a set of five tunes recorded in front of an audience at Myron's Cabaret in Charlottetown, PEI. For the record, the set includes "Space Available," "Stumpie," "Heather on the Hill," "Sally Gardens" and "The Dismissal."

For a good example of a great arrangement, listen to Cynthia's rendition of "Fairy Dance" at the end of track 3. Wow! (As a side note, the liner notes credit the tune to "Neil Gow," but it was actually written by his son, Nathaniel Gow. And the father's name is correctly spelled "Niel," even though that always looks wrong to me every time I see it in print.)

Besides Cynthia on fiddle and, on one track, stepdancing, the album includes Gordon Belsher on guitar, Alan Dowling on percussion, Jamie Foulds on synthesizer (on one track), Ryan MacNeil on piano, John MacPhee on pipes, flute and whistles, and Jeff Matheson on piano and guitar.

I've been listening to Crackerjack all day now, and it reminds me just what an amazing future I predicted for Cynthia MacLeod when I first saw her perform more than (!!) 20 years ago. From what I've heard since, she's only gotten better ... but albums like this are a treasured reminder of her early days as a performer.

[ visit Cynthia MacLeod's website ]