The body of Celtic music which has emerged from Canada's maritime provinces is so enormous as to nearly defy description. In their latest effort entitled "The Pictou Sessions", celtic-rock pioneers Seven Nations have returned to their acoustic roots planted deeply within the fertile soil of Nova Scotia. Canada isn't the only locality making its presence known on the album however. Front man Kirk MacLeod hails from South Carolina and is a man keenly aware of the Celtic heritage associated with his own background in the American South.

Long before I dreamt up Celtic Grove I was involved with the U.S. Coast Guard in the North Atlantic. Occasion had it several times for me to travel to Nova Scotia on weekend liberty and to ramble as a rounder through the many pubs of Halifax, Yarmouth and Cape Breton Island. It was in just such localities as these cozy sea-side draft-houses that the Pictou Sessions were laid down. The 'Sessions deliver the very essence of these little pubs and do not bely what one would expect to hear on a cold Friday night warmed with naught but a dram.

"A Rare Old Time" is probably the singular track that encapsulates this mood. With it's evocations of rowdy dance halls where it's just as well "a' chara" that the tables are nailed down, and recitations of Celtic-surnamed patrons engaged in all manner of merry making, this track captured my attention early on.

The band dedicated this album to all the fans who'd been with them from the beginning. And with that spirit in mind they have included a few tracks familiar to anyone who has ever seen 7N live. "God" and "Scream" are well known among amongst 7N fans as set openers or wind-ups alike, and indeed they are delivered here in the same spirit. The impression that is left though, is one of the band re-establishing these classics in some more intimate terms.

"All You People" is a misty crowd-pleaser (as witnessed by its recent live performances which CG recorded) co-written by Aiden McGovern whose credits include engineering the album "Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We?" for the Cranberries, and who has worked with such artists such as Altan, Elmer Bernstein and The Irish Film Orchestra, Paul Brady, The Chieftains, Eric Clapton, The Corrs, Elvis Costello, Gavin Friday, HotHouse Flowers, Indigo Girls, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, SineadO'Connor, Stockton's Wing, U2 and The Waterboys. Aiden is currently a recording consultant to the Irish Arts Council and is involved in an extensive re-mastering project for the Irish Contemporary Music Centre.

"King of Oblivion" has all the energetic rifts one has come to expect of the songwriting talents of McLeod, and is laden with urban imagery juxtaposed over wistful thoughts of release. "Seeds of Life" likewise benifits from his talented pen, and similar to Seven Nations' now-standard cover of the Church's "Under the Milkyway" it is a number given to lingering sustains, and I expect will result in impromptu harmonies from fans gathered in open fields.

Dan Stacy's fiddle provides a benchmark between some fleshier tunes and shows that he is developing a style that is at once idiosynchratic and addictive. His deepening accents which augment lively fretwork are a truly unique style in fiddling. Kirk's piano work on "Skyezinha" and "The Egret" evoke the wafting feelings of earlier offerings on Old Ground. Added up this is truly an album dedicated towards the fan and one the Nova Scotian Tourist Board should sit up and take notice of.

Fans have taken note of 'The Pictou Sessions" as an important step in the evolution of Seven Nations. Like all of them, we are intrigued by what the 'Sessions foretell in the way of new major upcoming releases.

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