Bodhrán Dreams: Cathie Ryan and "You and I in the One Bed Lie"

Years ago, my first forays into world music were explorations of Irish, well...make that Celtic, music. I hit all the up and coming world artists of the day, especially The Chieftains. Megan took me one night to a concert by Cherish the Ladies, and I was instantly smitten by the auburn-haired bodhran player. Up until then, I had never seen an Irish band made up of all female members. Sure, I'd seen a band or two where there was a female fiddler, or perhaps a female piper. And there were lots of bands with female vocalists. But never a bodhrán player. Yet there she was, stroking and beating that goatskin with a sound that was indistinguishable from all the other males I'd seen play the instrument.  And then, she came up to sing, and even her voice was lovely.  It's fair to say that I was smitten.

That was my introduction to Cathie Ryan.  I've seen her again, in Connecticut, doing her own solo work, and her first two solo albums are among the first albums of world music that I purchased.  To this day, I still love her song A Mhaithrin, A'Leigfea 'Un An Aonaigh Me? (Mother, will You Let Me Go To The Fair), and she's done some remarkable collaborative work with other Celtic musicians.

Cathie Ryan is a second generation Irish-American who was born in Detroit and moved to New York City at 17 to attend Fordham University. She was raised on Irish music such as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the music of Johnny Cash and country by Hank Williams. In Detroit, she was also exposed to the music of Appalachia by migrant workers in the auto factories. A singer, songwriter and bodhrán player, in 1987 she joined the Irish group Cherish the Ladies, and in 1995 she began her solo career. She has five solo albums. A former teacher of literature and composition, she still loves teaching and gives workshops on traditional Irish singing and Irish mythology and folklore. This song, You and I in the One Bed Lie is from her 1997 album Cathie Ryan. I don't normally use a video from hand-held camera, but the quality of this one is better than most.