Double Play
Artist:  Liz Carroll  / John Doyle
Label:  Compass Records

So what's the difference between the violin and the fiddle?   I have a theory.  While it may be wrong, its become my own personal myth.   Three hundred years ago or so(add or subtract centuries as you wish because I'm not sure on the dates) the violin was an instrument for the rich and the elite.  Only for those who were fortunate enough to have the training, education, and lessons necessary to master this difficult instrument.   Their music was the 'serious' music of the great masters.  Maybe, some of these instruments were discarded.  Maybe the craftsnman who made them gave a few to the Celtic peasants. The violin fell into the hands of the common man.   With no music to learn from, they made their own.   Thus, the fiddle was born.  It spread around Ireland and was used for celebrations, festivals, births, everyday songs,  and stories and death.   

On this beautifully conceived album, Double Play, Liz Carroll and John Doyle have a re-created, with technical prowess and authentic soul, the essence of Irish folk songs.   Consisting of original jigs and reels alongside traditional folk songs, the feeling is celebrative rising as it were from the Irish earth centuries ago as the worship of the living God in their everyday lives brought them a violin and, not unlike turning water into 
wine, He transformed it into a fiddle.  

Terry Roland