LINK: Interesting Troy Donockley Review

Here is a particularly insightful little review of Troy Donockley. I particularly like the way that the review claims to have folk music in his/her genes.

http://www.shakefire.com/reviews/cd/troy-donockley-messages

Being from West Virginia I was born into liking folk music, it’s in my genes. I’ve heard a wide range of folk music and there’s not many times that I don’t like it. Folk music has a way of getting to the heart of the listener, being able to find the nerve center of having fun, as well as making you slap your knee and give an occasional yee haw yell out. However, the music of Troy Donockley might not make me want to have sudden out bursts of yelling, his Celtic folk still gets to the core of emotional music.

The songs on Messages are warm, mellow, and dramatic as well as being well composed and played.I’ve listened to the album Messages by Troy Donockley 3 times now and each time the music becomes grander and grander. These songs are epic, they have this sound that made the moment I was in feel as if it was going to be the most important moment of my life. When I wasn’t feeling I was going to make a choice of my lifetime, I felt like I was falling in love with my soul mate. This grandiose feeling is in every song that’s played on this album. It’s because of this feeling the songs give off that I liked listening to them.

When there are vocals used, they are as mellow as the instrumentals are as well as having the same impact. Both vocals and instrumentals are very strong giving the songs their power. This is not the Celtic folk that will make you want to jump up to dance, grab some large mug of ale, or start singing some sort of limerick, instead it will make you stop what you are doing so you are only in the moment of your life right then. Here is one of the few times that I actually enjoyed that the songs blended together creating one long song. More amazing is that even with this blending the songs are able to stand out on their own where I was still able to notice that the track has changed to the next song. Of course what stands out the most are the pipes. They are not overbearing where they try to be heard over the rest of the instruments, but they do stand out in the songs.

Being the first time I have heard Troy Donockley, I wasn’t familiar with the style of his music and when I saw that it was Celtic folk I had a more faster, upbeat tempo in mind. What I was listening to turned out to be songs that I will enjoy listening to when I want to feel right in my place in the world at the moment.