The Bagpipe Society

Review: The Welcome Companion by Dick Hensold and Patsy OBrien

Review

The Welcome Companion – by Dick Hensold and Patsy O’Brien

This is the first recording by this duo, with Dick playing Northumbrian Pipes, reel pipes, and whistles and Patsy on guitar and vocals. Their website says ’the songs are from Britain and Ireland, and the tunes from Cape Breton Island, Scotland. Ireland and Northumberland, with a good measure of original music in the traditional style’. Half of the tracks are songs, with instrumental tracks making up the rest. I came to this CD after a morning’s listening to French folk music. This CD is very different, almost seeming a bit of a ’throwback’, especially in its approach to the songs. Overall, it’s a different sound from the pipe and gurdy, or the pipes ensemble sound we often hear. However, the tracks are cleanly played and beautifully sung.

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