The New England based band, Kalos, is graced with three stellar musicians, namely, Eric McDonald on Guitar, Jeremiah McClane on Accordion, and Johanna Hyde on violin. On the show, Eric McDonald, the apparent ringleader and main vocalist, leads the group through a string of beautiful pieces, many taken directly from the Celtic ballad book. Throughout their appearance, Johanna and Jeremy produce beautiful blends of fiddle and accordion creating glorious swells and sweet melodies, while Eric’s spirited and earthy tenor voice soars over a steady and sometimes lilting rhythm guitar. This New England-based trio included the well-regarded Johanna Hyde as a substitute for legendary Ryan McKasson (out on medical leave), and Johanna clearly steps up to the challenge. Their first song, The Brakeman’s Daughter, tells the story of a man who falls for a woman who lives in a different world from himself, one that he could ever inhabit—the melancholy runs deep and deeper and the song marches on almost insistently until it comes to an abrupt and startling end. Next up the beautiful instrumental, Brooklee -- penned by Ryan McKasson and dedicated to his wife. The piece is exquisitely built in a remarkable trance-like fashion—growing from strong passionate bass swells in counterpoint to the guitar, morphing into a sprightly violin dancing a jig then turning into a driving fury of the fiddle and resolving in a slow decay of all the instruments. After the break, music producer, John Bahler renders a song inspired by an early memory of his young brother in love, She’s a Girl. What starts as an innocent ballad of longing transforms itself into something dramatic and archetypal.
She’s a girl and she’s waiting,
And her heart is caught in a world that’s parading.
And she sees it all.
She’s all that I can think of,
And her heart is cold
As a stream I could drink of,
But I’ll be no fool
Of love I never speak of her
Or like a glass she would break,
No, she may sleep for a hundred years
Before she awakes . . . before we awake.
After the game show, featuring South Bend guests, Ashley Matthews and Mark Snell --during which the audience learns the river’s name that flows through Limerick Ireland (where Johanna Hyde studied Irish fiddle), the band Kalos returns with two more songs. The first is to be a “Child Ballad,” a term, Eric explains, that is named for Francis Child who collected many Celtic folk songs. This particular “Child Song,” is entitled, Fare Thee Well. In it, strong guitar notes are arpeggiated to sound bell-like, ala gamelan music, driving the piece until it crescendos with Jeremy joining harmonically in the song’s beautiful plea.
Oh, come back My own true love
And stay a while with me
For if I had a friend All on this earth,
then you'd be That friend to me.
In the final number of the show, Jeremy leads the group in a medley of two tunes called Fanny Vanille/Kerry Poska which unwinds as a beautiful dance of accordion and fiddle, melding together in a great celebration of Eastern European dance fun! All in all, it’s a splendid evening of fun—full of thoughtful and sonorous music rendered with exacting precision, loving tonality, and remarkable musicianship. It’s like being swept away from shore on a sea of song.