Review: Cathy Jordan - Glasgow Tron Theatre

There won’t be many debut folk releases this year more keenly anticipated than Irish singer Cathy Jordan’s maiden solo recording, All the Way Home – the very first copies of which had arrived in Glasgow hot from the manufacturers just a few hours before this gig.

The occasion launched not only the CD but also the band assembled from its guest-list: Michael McGoldrick, Eddi Reader, fiddler Tom Morrow, bassist Duncan Lyall, Liam Kelly on whistles and flute, Sweden’s Gustaf Ljunggren on lap steel, clarinet and guitar, and his mighty compatriot Roger Tallroth, of Väsen fame – who also produced the album – on sundry other guitars and mandolin.

As well as her 20-plus years singing with the great traditional Sligo outfit Dervish, Jordan has recently been spreading her wings as one-third of The Unwanted, charting the music of the Atlantic fringe, past and present, with ex-Dervish bandmate Seamie O’Dowd and Californian harmonica maestro Rick Epping.

The new solo material continues this stylistic expansiveness, from exquisitely wrought traditional ballads – among them an uncannily beautiful, and just as beautifully accompanied aisling song that was a favourite of her late dad – to outstanding originals, including the wistful yet forcefully affirmative The Road I Go, and the gutsy, country-tinged title track.

Jordan is a singer of extraordinary unforced intensity, her voice sublimely delicate without being remotely fragile, and she was in her element here, revelling in her own choice of songs, complemented by masterfully fashioned arrangements.

Rating: ****