Quinlan Road

One of the most successful independent releases ever in McKennitt's native Canada, the self-produced 1989 album Parallel Dreams is also her first recording to feature the artist's own lyrical contributions. From the poignant traditional ballad “Annachie Gordon” to the fiery Native American/Celtic fusion of “Huron 'Beltane' Fire Dance” to the evocative tale of a child's yearning for home in “Dickens' Dublin (The Palace)”, Loreena's third recording shows a marked evolution beyond the realm of traditional Celtic music and heads down the road on an eclectic musical journey.

Loreena’s second, self-produced recording presents seasonal music with a fresh and serendipitous approach. This collection of traditional and lesser-known winter and Christmas carols was recorded in 1987 on location at The Church Of Our Lady in Guelph, Ontario, and, in Ireland, a Benedictine monastery and The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig.

The album features a cast of over two dozen musical collaborators, and the eight songs contained therein, including North American hit single “The Mummers’ Dance”, leads the listener on unexpected journeys. Follow the music from ancient Byzantium to a puppet-maker's theatre in Sicily, or from the rocky island of Skellig Michael once inhabited by Irish monks in the Dark Ages to Venice and the journeys of Marco Polo, or from the tragic narrative of “ The Highwayman” to the thunder of hooves across the Caucasus and the echoes of Dante’ s words found, unexpectedly, in a train journey across Siberia.