I work crew for the Washington (DC) Irish Festival every year, and have had a chance to hear some great music over the years. Here are some of my favorite Irish musicians...

Bands: the originators of the high energy Irish band style of music were Planxty and The Bothy Band. Green Linnet has re-released most of Bothy Band's albums - try "Best of..." or "Old Hag You Have Killed Me". Planxty's stuff has been been re-released on Shanachie. My two favorites are "The Woman I Loved So Well" and "After the Break".

Look for bands or singers accompanied by or produced by Donal Lunny, an instrumentalist (mostly bouzouki) who was the driving force behind Bothy Band, Planxty, Moving Hearts and other bands, and has good taste in who he accompanies.

Patrick Street followed these groups (they were originally billed as the "Irish All-Stars) - I like their first two albums best, "Patrick Street" and "Patrick Street #2", both on Green Linnet.

Solas is another, younger supergroup - try "Solas" or "Sunny Spells & Scattered Showers" on Shanachie.

My favorite "new" hot bands this past year were Lunasa' and Mary Jane Lamond (from Cape Breton) - both their CDs were on small labels.

Singers - look for any of Dolores Keane's recordings, with or without John Faulkner - my favorite is "Broken-hearted I'll Wander" (Green Linnet)

"Andy Irvine and Paul Brady", re-released on Green Linnet, is a masterpiece of songs and tunes with great guitar/bouzouki accompaniments. Never mind that they look like Charles Manson and Squeaky Fromm in the cover photo...

Frank Harte has two great CD's of traditional songs and ballads (with Donal Lunny), "Daybreak and a Candle End" and "The First Year of Liberty"

Karen Casey's (formerly of Solas) first solo album is a knockout - she has a wonderful, clear voice to die for...

Folk-rock: Mary Jane Lamond, Kips Bay Ceili Band, Eileen Ivers (fiddler from Riverdance)

I could go on - this list doesn't include my favorite fiddlers (Martin Hayes, Kevin Burke, Johnny Cunningham) or box players (Phil Cunningham, John Whelan, Joe Burke) or guitarists (Tony MacManus, Pierre Bensusan, Paul Brady, Martin Simpson)...but you probably don't have that much money!