Talisman: Just Up the Hill

Talisman's second CD shows off the variety of the band's repertoire in over an hour of traditional and original tunes and songs.
© 2004, 14 tracks / 63:36 total time

Product #: TAL-04D Price: $15.00

Talisman's musicians sail their instruments across a 300 year reach of dance music and songs from the Celtic tradition, along with their own original music, often creatively weaving old tunes into modern songs. Talisman can be soothing, even hypnotic, but they also regularly turn listeners into dancers with expertly tackled jigs, polkas, and reels.

Just Up the Hill, released in 2004, features inspired arrangements and accomplished, good-humored playing by Carl Thor (hammered dulcimer, vocals, percussion), Sara Martin (flutes, penny whistle, vocals), Jeff Kerssen-Griep (guitar, vocals) and Laura Bissonette (fiddle, vocals). Talisman's music stirs the feet and gives the brain's pleasure receptors a friendly nudge.

“Talisman is a classy group of veterans of Celtic music, and their recent CD, Just Up the Hill is a classy, spirited hour plus of Emerald Isle classics and originals done in the tradition.”
--Victory Review

“The group's sound is centered around Carl Thor's hammered dulcimer, but unlike similar ensembles, in which the supporting musicians try to match the lead's delicate sound, Talisman has the guitar roaring and the fiddle charging... There's no avoiding that ‘St. Anne's Reel’ and ‘Morrison's Jig’ started out as dance tunes, and Talisman isn't going to try to hide it.” -- Victory Review

“This is a long-awaited release from the band... they are still going strong. The musicianship on this album [is] superb.”
--Green Man Review

Track List:

1. Behind the Haystack / The Blarney Pilgrim / Moon and Seven Stars (7:01)
2. Munster Bank / Ballydesmond #3 / Church Street / Bill Sullivan's (5:10)
3. Sandpoint © Rodney Miller (4:56)
4. The Roseville Fair © Bill Staines / Road to California (5:21)
5. Foxhunter's / Boys of Ballysadare / The Butterfly (6:09)
6. Tourner á Trois © Paul Machlis (3:31)
7. Star Above the Garter / Reverend Brother's / Out on the Ocean (5:04)
8. Silver Falls Interlude © Carl Thor (4:50)
9. Banks of Inverness / St. Anne's Reel / On the Carpenter's Porch © Princess Harris (4:42)
10. The Moss Grows Thick / Morrison's Jig / Scollay's Reel (4:37)
11. The Friendship Waltz © Carl Thor (5:04)
12. Andy de Jarlis / That Jig © Carl Thor / Fair Jenny's © Peter Barnes (5:14)
13. Flowers of Edinburgh / Green Mt. Petronella / The Kitchen Girl (4:11)
14. The Parting Glass (2:40)