Country Acts Join Chieftains

NASHVILLE (Chieftains Fans Website) - As usual, Emmylou Harris nailed it.
"We're all standing back there with our tongues hanging out, it's so amazing," she said, referring to the slew of singers and musicians who packed the wings of Nashville's Ryman Auditorium Monday (Sept. 30) waiting to perform with the Chieftains.

The concert, taped for television broadcast next year, essentially recreated the recent Nashville sessions that produced the traditional Irish group's latest album, Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions. Martina McBride, for instance, sang "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight," a popular 19th-century parlor song. Alison Krauss sang "Molly Bawn," a traditional song about a hunter who mistakenly kills his lover when, at dusk, he mistakes her for a swan.

Other performers at the sold-out concert included Buddy and Julie Miller, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Patty Griffin, Jerry Douglas, the Del McCoury Band, and guitarist Jeff White, whom Chieftains founder Paddy Moloney dubbed the unofficial "sixth Chieftain" for his work on the project and the concert.

Most of the artists performed songs that appear on Down the Old Plank Road, but a few sang tunes that had been recorded but held back for a second release of Nashville sessions scheduled for the spring of 2003. Harris performed "The Lambs on the Green Hills," which Chieftains leader Paddy Moloney taught her. John Hiatt and Tim O'Brien sang "Jordan's a Hard Road to Travel," and O'Brien performed the traditional bluegrass tune "Shady Grove," the melody of which has its roots in Celtic music.