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AUGUST 19 at 7
p.m.
Switchback
WHEN
THEY MET IN 1984, Switchback’s
Martin McCormack was a college student and in a pop band
with his siblings, and Brian FitzGerald was moonlighting as
a house painter and was part of an Irish quartet. Over the
next few years, the pair played together in three different
bands (two of them traditional Irish), to whom McCormack
contributed bass and his classically trained tenor;
FitzGerald supplied guitar and fleet mandolin. Finally, the
tug of their own songwriting talents and love for American
roots music inspired to them to break away and form their
own duo – Switchback – in
1993.
Their
partnership has produced nine albums to date, ranging from
the lean and energetic debut, “Ain’t
Goin’ Back” (1994), to the honky-tonk jukebox
medley “Dar’s Place” (1998), to the
critically acclaimed Celtic twang of “The Fire that
Burns” (2002). But these men, whose Americana
creations alternate between sentimental ballads to
blistering rockers that deliver the full-band experience
with an efficient acoustic duo set-up, never abandoned
their trad roots.
Switchback’s 2005
release, “Bolinree,” was their third
traditional Celtic album. Produced by Texas legend Lloyd
Maines, it was the first recording to truly reflect the
band’s unique interpretation of original and
time-honored Irish music, a perspective formed by the
lifelong experiences of their ancestral roots from this
side of the Atlantic.
Currently,
the band is touring to promote its recently
released "Falling Water River," a sparse
and powerful work sure to surprise long-time fans and
move the hearts of new ones.
At
once eliciting praise and frustration by critics who find
it difficult to pigeonhole their eclectic sound, Switchback
continues to be driven by their mission to create and bring
music to far-flung places and unlikely audiences. The
audiences, in turn, pave the winding road for the
band’s well-worn wheels with the soles of their
dancing shoes.
Press
reviews for Falling Water River
(See full text here):
"Immediately
skeptical of this band solely on the too-close-for-comfort
resemblance of its name to the nauseating hard rock group
Switchfoot, I was pleased to learn not only that Switchback
had been together since 1993 but that they are an acoustic
outfit with roots in Celtic and bluegrass music. On
Falling Water River, Brian FitzGerald
and Martin McCormack take a minimalist approach, sticking
strictly to acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass and the
occasional stompboard. However, they aren't above using
ethereal sound effects, which give the album an inviting
dreamlike quality. "Looking at Love" is a bluegrassy tune
that recalls Nickel Creek, while "The Loneliest Road" may
remind listeners of Simon and Garfunkel. "Requiem," sung
entirely in Latin, is something you might take out of an
early Moody Blues playbook."
-
American Songwriter Magazine, October
2006
"In tracking the
life, turbulent times and violent death of Private William
Henry, (Falling
Water River) feels
like an elegy, not a screed. It takes the measure of the
times, and the measure of a life, in beautifully drawn
scenes that betray both McCormack’s and
FitzGerald’s Irish roots—in buoyant harmonies,
winsome melodies, in lyrics that reflect a deep love of
life in all its varieties and a profound connection to and
abiding love for the land—even as they establish a
point of view that is less about lashing out than about
understanding the human toll violence extracts, how one
death resonates and ripples through the multitude of
suddenly altered lives of family and
friends."
— David McGee, country music editor for
barnesandnoble.com
and regular contributor to The
Absolute Sound
"Rather than
focusing on the politics of this on-going conflict in the
Middle East, McCormack and FitzGerald turned their laser
vision and powerful pens to the individuals who are
actually on the frontlines. Don’t let this
description fool you. This is vintage Switchback, toe
tapping tunes that illustrate the powerful melodies and
belie the emotional lyrics."
—Mary Palmer, High Plains Public
Radio
This album comes
packaged in a triangular case, folded with the white stars
showing on a blue field. It's a familiar image to anyone
who has had a veteran in the family, who has a
similar-looking item in a glass-topped box on a
mantlepiece. Inside this cardboard folded flag is a tribute
to a single soldier, from life to war to death, told in
subtle, beautiful, agonizing music which speaks of the
foolishness of war - any war - and its toll on the
ordinary, average person.
Guide Rating - 
—Kathy Coleman, about.com country music
guide
Falling Water
River is a beautifully performed, powerful story about our
times, and man's inability to escape from his basest
instincts. Any songwriter would wish they had conceived
such a work.
—James
Talley,
singer/songwriter, Nashville