CD REVIEWS
CD Review "The Last Day of the Faire" Renaissance Magizine
Summer 2008
The title of this CD was inspired by The King Richard Faire, a renaissance festival held each autumn in Carver, Massachusetts. The song attempts to capture the essence of the bittersweet feeling felt by performers on the last day of faire season. The Harper and The Minstrel have tapped into a certain muse that was familiar to the ancient Celtic Bards. Their music is enchanted; imagery of elves, fairies, sacred glades, dragons and damsels can be found everywhere.This recording consists of part original compositions, part English and Irish traditional balladry, and part traveling minstrel music.
The musicianship is superb and this is the primary reason why this record would be perfect for your fairy tale-themed wedding. This is indeed music for the May Queen.
CD Review "For A Moment" Motif Magazine
Fall 2008Jay and Abby Michaels, who perform as The Harper and the Minstrel, are resplendent and refined on their fifth release, For a Moment.According to Abby, the pair was greatly influenced by Sting’s recent volume of John Dowland’s seventeenth century lute compositions and they have inverted that concept by applying the Renaissance ethos to a trio of familiar, contemporary songs.The first of these, their reading of Sting’s Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, is both faithful and timeless. Hidden harmonies and a longing that belongs to no time are teased out and laid over a simple acoustic guitar arrangement.Among the finest songs on the disc is their take on the Led Zeppelin classic The Battle of Evermore. Performed with a combination of harp and a soft acoustic guitar, they retain Zeppelin’s menace by allowing their voices to step alternately to the front, before retreating into a flowing harmony, followed by a punchy wire-strung harp that pulls everything into the celebrated denouement.Jay and Abby are at their best here, singing with just enough force to elicit a visceral response without tipping over into a clumsy caricature of Robert Plant’s sometimes heavy-handed vocals. When I saw them perform at The Mediator Stage, their version of Sting’s Fields of Gold was stunning.It is the disc’s best example of how skilled musicians can make a contemporary composition sound like a two hundred year old traditional ballad that your grandmother used to hum. No tricks to tell you about, no insights: just Jay’s harp and Abby’s vocals; a great song expertly performed.The title track, For a Moment, was inspired by a California countryside that evoked for Jay, the duo’s principal songwriter, the rolling emerald hills of Ireland.Jay plays the harp with an elegant passion on this track, and a spry pennywhistle lead pairs well with their careful harmonies.Abby’s fluency with the exotic bowed psaltery is something to behold on Rosemary Faire, and, at just under a minute and a half, much too brief.Jay’s songwriting is at its best on The Man that I Remember. Jay’s cindery baritone and the six- and twelve-string guitars effectively achieve a cool clarity in which the mundanity of memories is elevated to something singularly sublime and permanent.The narrative swings between straight biography and an even simpler exposition of memories that begin to seem random but by song’s end are revealed to be echoes: points relative to all of us, events that could be from the singer’s life, his father’s life or yours or mine.For a Moment contains a pair of beautifully rendered Robert Burns ballads. Green Grow the Rashes, O and the unforgettable Comin’ Through the Rye, which features a melody that is a slight variation of the Scotch ballad Common ’ Frae the Town.Abby’s loyal and bold reading of Burns’ exquisite ode to youth and alienation is a highlight of the album and perhaps the most satisfying version of Comin’ Through the Rye that I’ve heard.You can best judge a musician’s acumen by the way they interpret music, whether that music is familiar to you or obscure. On For a Moment, Jay and Abby Michaels’ deft adaptations of songs from Sting to Robert Burns are thrilling, and they reveal the pair to be artists of some skill.By G. W. MercureCD Review "The Last Day of the Faire" Faerie Magazine
Fall 2006
The Last Day of the Faire is the fourth CD from The Harper and the Minstrel. Jay and Abby Michaels, a husband and wife duo based in New England, perform at area Renaissance Festivals, Irish Pubs and coffee houses.
With lilting vocals, hypnotic harp, and occasional guitar and flute evoke the sensation of a warm spring day spent in an enchanted place, or perhaps a wooded glade conjured in fantasy. The lovely material is performed in traditional styles and keys, lending to an old-world feel to the arrangements.
While many artists strive to appeal strictly to the modern ear, the Michaels adeptly create the feel of the ancient traveling minstrels with their simple and soulful sounds.
Of fifteen tracks on this compilation, five - including the title song -- are composed by the Michaels, and transport the listener to a land of faeries and fantasy. The remainder are traditional English and Irish folk songs, including such favorites as "Once I Had a Sweetheart", "The Blacksmith", "Carrickfergus" and "The Wild Rover."
CD Review "Evening In The Enchanted Glade" Celtic Beat
Fall 2006
I have to admit I like this new CD by The Harper and The Minstrel among the best from local artists. The tunes here are well integrated with each other, from Jay Michaels' own compositions, to traditional Scots tunes to O'Carolan standards. Among the latter I particularly like the excellent "Fanny Power" and "Planxty John Irwin." Also an appealing "Planxty Burke." And "Irish Washerwoman," and "The Aire of Londonderry" where the duo take these time honored tunes and does something a little different here. Also in the now oldie "Scarborough Faire" where Jay has a nice harp solo. And as in the opening and title cut where he sets the tone. This release comes to a great finale with a haunting beautiful "Skye Boat Song" showcasing Abby Michael's flute.This is an excellent CD for anyone who appreciates musical craftsmanship. The kind that gives you serenity.
-AK
