Patrick Street - Live From Patrick Street (1999)

When you wanted to hear traditional, straight-ahead, all-acoustic Irish/Celtic music (as opposed to contemporary Irish/Celtic pop and rock), one of the obvious places to turn was Patrick Street. The quartet wasn't out to compete with the Pogues or Luka Bloom -- in the '80s and '90s, Street was the type of group that appealed to Celtic purists. Street is in fine form on Live from Patrick Street, which was recorded at various November 1998 shows during a tour of England and Ireland. The material ranges from traditional instrumental jigs and reels to Irish folk ballads such as "Wild Rover No More" and "My Son in Amerikay," a poignant number about an Irish parent whose son has moved to the U.S. in search of opportunity. These songs require someone to be an expressive, convincing storyteller, and singer Andy Irvine is exactly that. Listeners who have savored Street's studio recordings owe it to themselves to hear how great the band sounds on stage.