Chieftains, south of the border

It's been a long time indeed since The Chieftains, the Beatles of Irish music, have released anything new.  Well, the wait is over this week.  They are back with a new album entitled San Patricio.  If those two words look familiar, yet not familiar, they should.  San Patricio is the story of a group of Irish immigrants who deserted the US Army during the Mexican-American war to fight for the Mexican cause.

Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains take this little-known chapter in history and make what sounds to me like great music from it.  They have many special guests on the album, including Ry Cooder, and the music has a decidedly Mexican flavor.  They've explored the sounds of the Latin world before with Santiago, and this album takes a different approach to that sound.  Listening to the previews, I hear a great deal of beauty.  I can tell this is an album I'll be wanting to buy sometime this year, perhaps very soon.

If you'd like to listen to the album in full, go to this NPR website.  Also, here is a Youtube video about the project: