Hey, c'mon. These ladies may not be typical of the ethnic folk music of Ireland but they have great voices and can sing. They are highly produced but quite musical and David Downes should be credited for this. Mairead is a fine fiddler, also.

Your criticisms sounds like "folk snobbery" to me.

My only gripe is that they veer toward Catholic crowd-pleasers with which I can't relate.

But please give them credit for knowing their craft, being effective performers beyond the narrow scope of folk snobs and creating much better popularized music than you hear on the airwaves today.

Frank Hamilton