Insight
Music, dancing and having a good time. Halifax’s Kilt was built on those three East Coast traditions, and you can hear all three on every track of this record.
Kilt came up through the Halifax pubs and university bars in the mid-1990s, a band that could turn any Tuesday night into a kitchen party. Tony Ronalds sang lead and played whistle. Bonny Jean MacDonald brought the fiddle tradition of her hometown, Mabou, and step danced alongside guitarist Brennan MacDonald. Justin Stewart played mandolin and electric guitar, Andy Gallant played bass and Brian Buckle drove the whole thing on percussion. They made this, their self-titled debut, with Terry Pulliam at Soundmarket Studios in Halifax. It led to two nominations at the 1999 East Coast Music Awards, and they spent the next few years tearing up towns from Halifax to Victoria.
The album opens with ‘Wreckers’ Den’, Stewart and Ronalds’ dark tale of Sable Island’s shipwrecks. From there it races through jigs and reels like ‘Tripping Up the Stairs’, ‘Speed the Plow’ and ‘McNab’s Hornpipe’, with songs borrowed from Spirit of the West, the Waterboys and Stan Rogers along the way. Then it gets bold. A Celtic band covering Dexys Midnight Runners’ ‘Come On Eileen’ is one thing. Covering a 1979 Kiss disco single sounds like a dare. Kilt played it like they meant it, with fiddle and whistle carrying the hook, and it became the song crowds waited for all night. ‘I Was Made for Loving You’ is my favourite Celtic cover of a rock song, bar none. Play it at your wedding and watch the whole room put their hands together and get up to dance. Now picture it at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou, Bonny Jean’s home turf. What a sight that would be.
-Robert Williston
Gallery
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Kilt
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Credits
Musicians
Tony Ronalds: lead vocals, whistles
Justin Stewart: mandolin, vocals, electric guitar
Bonny Jean MacDonald: fiddle, vocals, dancing
Andy Gallant: bass, vocals
Brian Buckle: percussion, vocals
Brennan MacDonald: guitar, vocals, dancing
Songwriting
‘Wreckers’ Den’ written by Justin Stewart and Tony Ronalds
‘Honest Gamble’ written by Spirit of the West
‘Tripping Up the Stairs’ traditional
‘Johnny Bean Set’ traditional arrangements, including ‘Cawdor Fair’, ‘Frank’s Reel’ written by John McCusker and ‘Speed the Plow’ traditional
‘Fisherman’s Blues’ written by Mike Scott and Steve Wickham
‘Dream of Death’ written by Kilt and Tony Ronalds
‘Forfar Hunt’ traditional
‘I Was Made for Loving You’ written by Paul Stanley, Desmond Child and Vini Poncia
‘South Australia’ traditional
‘Brenda Stubbert’s Reel’ written by Jerry Holland
‘Come On Eileen’ written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams
‘The Drunken Dancer’ written by Francie Byrne
‘Dinky DorrÃan’s’ written by Francie Byrne
‘Sleepy Maggie’ traditional
‘McNab’s Hornpipe’ traditional
‘The Keeper’ written by Justin Stewart
‘Plenty of Hornpipe’ written by Stan Rogers
‘Dylan’s Ghost’ written by Justin Stewart and Tony Ronalds
‘Last Call’ written by Brian Buckle
Publishing
‘Wreckers’ Den’: SOCAN
‘Honest Gamble’: Stony Plain Music, SOCAN
‘Frank’s Reel’: Kinmor Music
‘Fisherman’s Blues’: Dizzy Heights Music Publishing Ltd., Rare Blue Music Inc., ASCAP / Island Music Inc., BMI
‘Dream of Death’: SOCAN
‘I Was Made for Loving You’: Hori Productions America, administered by PolyGram International Publishing Inc., ASCAP / Desmobile Music Co. / EMI April Music Inc., ASCAP / Mad Vincent Music Inc., BMI
‘Brenda Stubbert’s Reel’: SOCAN
‘Come On Eileen’: Colgems-EMI Music Inc., ASCAP
‘The Keeper’: SOCAN
‘Plenty of Hornpipe’: Fogarty’s Cove Music, SOCAN
‘Dylan’s Ghost’: SOCAN
‘Last Call’: SOCAN
Production
Produced by Terry Pulliam and Kilt
Technical
Recorded by Terry Pulliam at Soundmarket Studios, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Artwork / Design
Original Kilt logo by Dwayne Carterry
Design by Seagull Design
Steve Jordan credited in acknowledgements for Seagull Design
Release
Oh Ha Music RDRCD-3719
CD, album
1997
Made in Canada
℗ © 1997 Oh Ha Music
Special thanks
Bruce and Damien at The Split Crow, Halifax; Whitney, Ryan and Glen; Andy ‘Sound Bitch’ Deveaux; Marty ‘Light Bitch’ LeFort; Peter Wilson (ETI); Geoff Doane (Aurora Audio); Steve Jordan (Seagull Design); Dwayne Carterry; Mark Burt; the Lewis family; Stephen and Lynne Francis; Tommy Tigger; Cyndi Locke (Grafton St. Dinner Theatre); Rod Doiron; Jack Ronalds; Rawlin’s Cross; Great Big Sea; Sláinte Mhath; Fine Crowd; MacKeel; Highland Heights; The Accents; Jellybean Square; Jason Carter; Mike Fougere; Maurice Hashie; Mairi Rankin; fans, friends and family
Extra thanks to Terry Pulliam
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