4:01 Slow to quick, Celtic medley : Beautiful Lake Ainslie (Elmer Briand) / The Lass O’Corrie Mill (Traditional) / Millburn Reel (Wilfred Gillis). Moves from hopeful air to a stately march, and finishes with a lively hornpipe composed by Wilfred Gillis (1923-2002) of Antigonish County. With Mac Morin (piano) and Donnie Calabrese (double bass).

Crossing the Causeway

Lake Ainsley to Millburn: Beautiful Lake Ainsley / The Lass O'Corrie Mill / Millburn Reel

3:54 Mid-tempo, Folk, medley : Friendship Song (Traditional) / Memories of Albert Toney (Carty). The Mi’kmaq name for Cape Breton is Unama’ki, translated as Land of the Fog. I made Memories of Albert Toney for the photographer from We'koqma'q and features his nephew Morgan Toney on djembe and vocals, with Jonathan Andrews and Shawnee Paul.

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Friendship Memories: Friendship Song / Memories of Albert Toney

(Ronnie MacEachern) 4:38 Up-tempo, Folk, Contemporary Celtic. The surrealist story of a man who gets the acronym for ‘CB radio’ wrong and winds up in jail for stealing an island. Written in the late 1970s. With Heather MacIssac (Irish whistle), Howie MacDonald (fiddle), and Bradley Murphy (bodrhàn, vocals). Ends with trad reel The Fashion that the Ladies Have.

Come all ye hearty truck drivers
And listen to my tale
And you will know the reason why
I’m sitting in this jail

I drove a truck, I loved my work
I was a mighty driver
Let me introduce myself,
John Alec Hugh MacIvor

Driver MacIvor
When will I be set free
Locked up in the jailhouse 
For moving old CB
CB to them meant radio
To me it meant Cape Breton
I put the island in my truck 
Now it’s twenty years I’m gettin

The company that I worked for 
They shipped out of Halifax
A place up on the mainland
Where at lent they never fast

I did not want to work there 
But I had to raise the cash
For the wife was eating turnip
And the kids had only hash

They called me in one morning 
Said "John Alec?” I said, "That's me!"
They said, "We'll let you drive for us
If you will use CB

With CB in your truck 
Then you can drive for us for sure
But be back here by next week with it 
or don't come back no more!"

CHORUS

I walked out of the office then 
Not knowing what to do
They wanted CB in my truck 
Before the week was through

To put an island in the truck
Is not an easy thing
But I swore that I would do it 
For the money it would bring

My family would eat well again 
Potatoes, tea, and fish
So I packed Glace Bay into the van
D’Escousse and then Creignish

I thought of all the money 
And all the work that I could do
So I jammed New Waterford into the van
And then through in Mabou

They said I was a mighty driver
Well I proved it on that day
I put Whitney Pier, Whycocomagh,
And Cheticamp away,

I thought of my poor family 
And I knew I could not stop 
Til Inverness was in the cab
With Arichat tied on top

With CB in the truck
I went straight to the company
They told me I was crazy
But I’m not as you can see

A mounted police came up to me
And threw me in the clink
And that’s why I’m in this jail
And that’s the truth… I think

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Driver MacIvor / The Fashion that the Ladies Have

(Rita MacNeil) 3:21 Waltz, Folk. The late Rita MacNeil is one of Cape Breton’s most famous song-writers. Enjoy the male ‘doo-wop’ singers on this, Jonathan Andrews, Iain-Charles MacDonald, Mike Bankhead, and Patrick Reynolds, along with Colin Grant (violin), Mac Morin (piano) and Donnie Calabrese (double bass).

Down to the hall the setting was moonlight and clover
She was dressed up and feeling just like the belle of the ball
The music would play, she'd turn her eyes toward the ceiling
And pretend not to notice she's left all alone once again

Somebody please, don't let the band play the slow songs
Her heart is so broken, you know where she's longing to be
In somebody's arms with her head resting safe on a shoulder
When the night and the music are all that she thought it would be

Out through the door she knows there's nobody waiting
And on her way homeward the music still rings in her ears
And in every song she's lost in the arms of a stranger
Come moonlight and clover she'll make her way back here again

Donnie Calabrese : Double bass | Colin Grant : Violin | Mary Beth Carty : Accordion, guitar, percussion, vocals | Mac Morin : Piano | Group Vocals : Jonathan Andrews, Iain-Charles MacDonald, Mike Bankhead, Patrick Reynolds, Bill Cameron

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Moonlight and Clover

(Traditional) 3:20 Up-tempo, Celtic instrumental medley : Way to Judique / I Won’t do the Work / Miss Gordon of Park. Three common Cape Breton fiddle tunes adapted to the accordion. In the second jig, you hear an old-time Pearl washboard played with silver thimbles. Bradley Murphy plays bodhrán, aka. the Irish drum.

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Way to Judique / I Won't Do the Work / Miss Gordon of Park

(Traditional) 3:57 Up-tempo, Acadian. Translation : spring is here, all the young lovers will gather, but mine is in Paris. When he returns, what will he bring? A golden ring, a fiddler… Pastelle Leblanc of Vishtèn joins in on vocals with Colin Grant, (fiddle) and Bradley Murphy (piano).
Voilà le printemps qui vient d’arriver

Tous les jeunes amants vont s’y rassembler

Je l’ai vu voler, le ruban, le ruban
Je l’ai vu voler, le ruban d’la mariée

Le mien n’y est pas, il est à Paris

Quand il reviendra, quoi m’apportera

Une bague d’or pour nous fiancer

La main du curé pour nous marier

Le lit à maman pour coucher dedans

Un jouer de violon pour nous faire danser

Un bon verre de vin pour nous mettre en train 

Chanté par Joséphine Roach de Chéticamp. L’enregistrement archival se trouve à l’Université de Moncton dans la Collection Père Anselme Chiasson.

Colin Grant : Fiddle | Bradley Murphy : Piano | Mary Beth Carty : Guitar, bass, synthesizer bass, percussion | Keith Mullins : cajon | Group Vocals : Michelle Deveau, Nicole Deveau,  Pastelle Leblanc, Véronique Brisebois, Kim Drouin-Ratcliffe, Simon Gaboury | Handclaps : Michelle, Nicole, Carter Chiasson, Rusty James. 

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Voilà le printemps

(Traditional) 4:12 Mid-tempo, Celtic. Gaelic song about a person in distress. If they had a boat, they would sail the unknown green seas and reunite with their true love. Bradley Murphy (piano), Colin Grant (fiddle), Robyn Carrigan & Sìne Maìri MacDougall (vocals). Official video is on YouTube!

‘N àm dhomh teàrnadh Beinn a’ Cheathaich

Fail ì, fail ò
O hìrì horo éro
Fail ì, fail ò

Cò thachair rium ach na fearaibh

Bha ann Dòmhnall Òg ‘ic Ailein

Agus Aonghas Mòr na h-Àirigh

Sin an sgeul a rinn mo charadh

‘S goirt a’ chis tha ‘n diugh air m’aire

Tha mo rian air leam gach latha

Chan fhaigh mise tàmh no cadal

Ach aig gruagach cinn gun amas

Dh’fhàg mo ghràdh air long na mara

Nam biodh agamsa bat’ aiseig

Agus gillean gion na fairge

Shiùbhlainn an cuan uain’ air m’aineoil

Bradley Murphy : Piano, vocals | Colin Grant : Fiddle  | Robyn Carrigan : Vocals | Sìne Maìri MacDougall : Vocals | Mary Beth Carty : Guitar, Accordion, Percussion, Vocals 
Learned from a recording of Margaret MacLean of Boisdale, Cape Breton Co. recorded by John Shaw on May 31, 1982. The archival tape is located in St.F.X.’s Gael Stream / Sruth nan Gaidheal.

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Òran Boisdale (Fail ì fail ò)

2:38 Up-tempo, intense Celtic. An original tongue-twister song that paints the scene of a crew finally getting rid of a rusty old truck by taking matters into their own hands. With Mac Morin, (piano), Donnie Calabrese (bass), Bradley Murphy (bodhràn), and Colin Grant (fiddles). Ends with Trip to Windsor reel by Dan R. MacDonald.

Tony had a pick-up
Not too young
Drove it around
Workin’ hard, havin’ fun

But rust grew in, 
Rust grew on,
Rust grew under
Left it sittin’ on the lawn

Tow a Toyota
Tow it into town
Turn it into tiny tidbits
Turn it into hash browns

One day, 
We said “That’s it!”
This truck’s gotta go
Or we’re burning it

Called up Jimmy,
Called up Cash
Strongest men
Arrived in a flash

Put it in neutral, 
Pushed it into town
Harder going up 
Than it was going down

Wheel flew off 
On Cameron’s Hill
Decided to take
That tow-truck bill

Now we drink to the wheels
Drink to the clutch
Drink to the bumpers 
And the steering wheel touch

Drink to the suspension
Which was long-gone
Wrote this little
Tow truck song

Colin Grant : Fiddles | Mac Morin : Piano | Donnie Calabrese : Double Bass | Bradley Murphy : Bodhràn, group vocals | Group Vocals : Mike Bravener, Callum Gaudet, Helen Avakian, Sara Jelley, Jan MacKay, Bill Cameron |  Mary Beth Carty : Accordion, Jaw Harp, Triangle, Shaker, Vocals

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Tow Truck Song / Trip to Windsor

(Traditional) 3:37 Up-tempo, Celtic instrumental medley : Tea Gardens (Angus Chisholm) / The Old Dutch Churn / Come Under my Plaidie. You hear antique cowbells borrowed from the neighbor’s farm on the last jig!

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Dutch Tea Jigs: Tea Gardens / The Old Dutch Churn / Come Under My Plaidie

(Traditional) 4:08 Slow, Celtic. Written by Neil MacLean during the Spanish Flu. A song in praise of mothers, about being far away from home, and longing to be a child once again. With Mac Morin (piano), Robyn Carrigan (harmony), Colin Grant (first fiddle), and on violin chorus, John Pellerin, Anna Ludlow, Chrissy Crowley, Joe MacMaster, and Bradley Murphy.

Thoir mo shoraidh nunn thar chuantan
Gu mo mhàthair, 's fhada bhuam i
Cha chùm astar mòr a' chuain a gaol o m' chridhe
'S i rinn m' altram 's mi nam phàiste
'S ann na gràdh a fhuair mi m' àrach
O, chan fhàillinnich gu bràth mo spèis-sa dhi

Ged a tha mi seo air faondradh
Ann an tìr taobh thall an t-saoghail
'S ged tha cuantan sgaoilte eadar mise 's i
'S e mo dhùrachd a dhol dhachaigh
Gu mo mhàthair anns a' chlachan
'S a bhith 'g àileis bhith nam chailiag bheag a-rìs

Tha mo smuaintean oirre nam dhùsgadh
Na mo chadal tha i dlùth dhomh
Tha i daonnan air mo chùram anns gach nì
'S tha a pearsa aoigheil shunndach
Na mo shùilean fad na h-ùine
'S e bhith faighinn null d' a h-ionnsaigh rùn mo chridhe

Mac Morin : Piano | Robyn Carrigan : Harmony Vocals | Colin Grant : First Violin | Group Violons : John Pellerin, Anna Ludlow, Chrissy Crowley, Joe MacMaster, Bradley Murphy | Mary Beth Vocals, Accordion, Guitar, Meditation Bell, Pitch Pipe

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Mo Mhàthair

(Traditional) 3:24 Fast, Celtic medley : Clear the Track / Pige Ruadh / Angus Chisholm’s Favorite / Sea and Land (adaptation of Beulah Land, lyrics by Mary Beth) / Jenny Dang the Weaver / Ho ro ghoid thu ‘n nighean. Between two Gaelic mouth-music tunes is a tribute to the African community of Whitney Pier. With Mac Morin (piano), Howie MacDonald (fiddle).

Fhuaras am pige ruadh
Fhuaras na glaineachan
Fhuaras am pige ruadh
Ann an crònan éireagan

U goraidh gìridh goraidh
Goraidh gìridh goraidh
U goraidh ché goraidh
Ann an crònan éireagan

Làn taighe dh'fhìdhleirean
Làn taighe chaileagan
Làn taighe luba dubha
'S làn a' mhuidhe mharagan

Thàinig 's gun tàinig
'S ma thàinig na maraichean
Thàinig 's gun tàinig
'S ma thàinig cha d'fhairich mi

Brierly Brook is chilly and cold
Chills my body but not my soul
I’m not so particular ‘bout Brierly Brook
But once you’ve been there you’re gonna be hooked

Sea and land, sea and land
I got a home here, by sea and land

Look out the window on the third floor
I don’t know if I’m gonna see the shore
I’m not so particular bout the third floor
I’ve got more places I long to explore

Put my boots on and walk downtown
Turn my frown way upside down
I see my neighbors sitting on the bench
I got a thirst that can’t be quenched

Shiod agad mar ghoid thu ‘n nighean
Shiod agad mar shlaod thu i
Shiod agad mar ghoid thu ‘n nighean 
Thug thu leat fo ‘n aodach i

Ho ro ghoid thu ‘n nighean
Ho ro shlaod thu i
Ho ro ghoid thu ‘n nighean 
Thug thu leat fo ‘n audach i

Mac Morin : Piano | Howie MacDonald : Fiddle | Group Vocals : Jan MacKay, Callum Gaudet, Bradley Murphy | Mary Beth Carty : Bones, Guitar, Jaw Harp, Percussion, Voice. 

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Trinity Avenue

(Traditional) 3:17 Uptempo. A lively, harmony-filled interpretation of an old French song in which a young girl hides in a well and tells off a group of soldiers on horseback. I learned this from an archival recording of singer Peter Chiasson, collected in 1944 by folklorist Helen Creighton. Featuring Peter’s grand-daughter, Hilda Chiasson on piano, his cousin, Nicole Deveau on vocals, Colin Grant (fiddle), and Bradley Murphy (bodhràn), you can hear the archival recording at the end of the track!

Quand j’étais chez mon père
Roulons là la bouteille
Petite à la maison
La bouteille bon bon bon 
Petite à la maison
La bouteille bon garçon 

Je m’en vais à la fontaine 		
Pour remplir mon cruchon 

La fontaine est profonde  		
Couler je me suis au fond 

En chemin il y passe   		
Trois cavaliers laurons 

Que donneriez vous belle   		
Qu’on vous triez du fond 

Mon petit coeur engage    		
La belle que nous voulons 

Mon petit coeur engage    		
Ce n’est pas pour des laurons

Hilda Chiasson : Piano | Nicole Deveau : Harmony Vocals | Bradley Murphy : Bodhran | Colin Grant : Fiddle Mary Beth : Bones, Guitar, Percussion, Bass, Accordion | Voice of Peter Chiasson included with permission from the Chiasson family and the Helen Creighton Royalty Trust

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Bon garçon

(Carty) 4:47 Slow, Folk. A love-letter to an island, written during the pandemic when border restrictions were in place and we were “dreaming of the day” when we could travel again. The chorus is composed of vocable sounds. With Cassie and Maggie (harmonies), Morgan Toney (fiddle), Bradley Murphy (piano), Robyn Carrigan and Shawnee Paul (vocals).

Dear Island, 
I’m writing you to say 
That the feelings that I have for you
Will never go away, away
I’ll send them across the bay

Dear Island,
Your moods they fall and rise
Glowing in my mind, misty
On the horizon line oh aye
Today they evade my eye

Way ah hey 
Hi ri don den 
La dee da day do 

Dear Island,
The birds fly overhead
No ocean, bridge, or flooded ridge
Could keep them from your stead, away,
If the skies are blue or gray

Dear Island, 
We slept upon your hills
Where the rising tide would not abide
The fields where we lay, oh eh
At sunrise would we wake

Dear Island,
May this letter find you sane 
All the nights and days since we parted ways
Can not escape my mind, away
On a printed heart they’ll stay, oh eh
On a printed heart they’ll stay 

Dear Island,
I’m dreaming of the day
Of a sweet return to you I yearn
‘Til our schemes gang aft aglay, oh eh
You’ll welcome us to stay

Cassie & Maggie MacDonald : Harmony Vocals on verses | Morgan Toney : Fiddle, Vocals, appears courtesy of Ishkōdé Records | Bradley Murphy : Piano, Fiddle, Vocals | Robyn Carrigan : Harmony Vocals on chorus | Vocals : Shawnee Paul, Helen Leger | Mary Beth : Guitar, Accordion, Bass, Percussion

CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY  is my second solo CD, and it fuses traditional songs, instrumental tunes, and original songs.  The album could be categorized as Canadian Celtic, folk, and world music, and is perfect for St Patrick's day programming as well as general airplay. I play multiple instruments on the album including accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, feet, cow-bells, and washboard, and the project also features some of Cape Breton's best Celtic musicians and singers.

Dear Island

Sparkling spirit & veritable vagabond Mary Beth Carty paints with a rainbow palette of roots-music motifs, fusing traditional song, instrumental tunes, & songwriting. An accordionist with a bag of pocket-sized instruments & a dedication to cultural-ecology, she brings joy to audiences of all ages, drawing them into an upbeat journey of emotions, times, & places.

Mary Beth is currently in production for her second solo album featuring Cape Breton’s best musicians and sound engineers. Stay tuned for album theme, title, and release date!

Mary Beth has performed well over 500 shows in her long-spanning career, and has had the opportunity to tour in North America, Europe, and Africa. Her debut solo album, 2017’s Les biens-nommés, earned nominations at the Nova Scotia Music Awards and the ECMA’s. It features original, accordion-fueled songs in French and English, with Donald MacLennan on violin and the Melchin brothers on double-bass and percussion.

As a member of now defunct duo Bette & Wallet, Mary Beth was nominated Traditional Singer of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Her voice has been described as passionate and mesmerizing. Their most popular song, “Squeegees,” transforms a public domain French-Canadian song into a humorous, bilingual anthem about urban winter hardships.

In addition to her work as a solo artist, Mary Beth is in demand as a guitar accompanist for fiddlers and has performed with many of the best. She is known for her distinct, rhythmic style, keen ear, and mastery of the unusual DADGAD tuning.

Mary Beth Carty

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