.   Hello all.
                   I did look though the database to see if anyone had started this thread yet. I hope I am not doubling up here.
                   Well I got my copy of "The Notes in the Stones" . When Cara put out there first CD "Asleep Behind the Settee" I was first touched by the friendship one hears in their playing together. This is even more evident in this CD and along the way these guys are maturing as a group.
        It is astounding to find wonderful intuitive new tunes coming out of the air around David Oakley . "The Notes In The Stones" is a perfect name for this CD because you cant get tunes this good all by yourself . The tunes really do have to come from someplace.
        I would use the word intuitive a lot to describe this cd.
            1)Pat and Sarah : Mike Ryan has opened the CD with a wonderful song of love home and life in transition held together by the music.
                  2) Noreen's Waltz : A very joyous lively waltz that I expect dicribes our very own muddcatter Noreen .
          3)Sliabh na Mhann /Munster Cloak /Dusty Windowsills: These three tunes are just amazing and grow in pace all the way to the end. . They talk about the third being from Chicago. Captain ONeel of the Chicago police department gave a lot of great fiddlers from Ireland jobs so he could compile their music so who knows it origins.
                  4) Little Tune : This is a very sensitive tune and Oakley at his best.
                  5) Im On Me Break /Two Red Brick Houses : These tunes sound northern to me and have a great presence.
                    6) Hazel : This is my favorite work on this cd. It shows the very close relationship between these guys and Davis's genius as a tune writer. The guitar work on this the perfect
                     7) The Bittern /Jackson's Jig: These tunes are somewhere between Northern English and Celtic in a perfect spot that belongs to Cara. Just great music.
                     8) Looking Down From Aughagad: This is a tune with Fiddle and a low D whistle ( I think ) . They work great together.
                     9)The Bereaved Fiddler: The balance between the thoughts and words of the song and the addition of the fiddle are just brilliant !
                     10)Till Dawn; I like what Ryan wrote on this one in the liner notes. "Only Oakley understood this tune until John made sense of it for the rest of us ." This quote really explains these musicians. They are after hearing each other to the core first and this is there real strength and why this cd is such a success!
                     11)A Fair day At Athleague: Gentle and far away .
                     12) Cross The Bridge Over The Suck To Castlecoote / The Slippery Hand: These are both great tunes . The waltz is again Northern in feel and I am glad Oakley slowed the reel down (a little ) and cut and dotted it into a hornpipe !
                       13) The Mayfly: And so the CD ends in a introspective place that fits Cara to a tee. Oakley's tune craft opens to Ryan's song with John holding it all together.
                     This is not a CD to miss. Congratulations to Cara all three . If I lived in Great Briton I would be trying to join the band !!