Double Play has been nominated for Best Traditional World Music Album! Nominations were announced yesterday in ceremonies in Los Angeles, resulting in this honor for Liz Carroll and John Doyle. The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on Sunday, January 31, 2010, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and on CBS.

Recognized as the most exciting duo in the Irish/Celtic music world, Liz and John's recording, Double Play, was released on the Compass Records label in March, 2009. It immediately drew praise.

"'Double Play' captures Liz Carroll and John Doyle at their studio peak, making the album a must-have... virtuosic, imaginative, inspired and inspiring, altogether superb album..."
Earle Hitchner, The Irish Echo

"... features some of the best fiddling that Carroll has ever done. Doyle is equally superb in his playing... This is a masterwork for the pair. Carroll and Doyle complement each other’s playing in unparalleled fashion. Double Play, in a continuation of the language of American baseball, hits a home run."
Brian G. Witt, Irish Music Magazine

"The slow air, Nearby, Long Ago, is a divine embodiment of Carroll’s genius: meditative but never brooding, lightly stepping through the ether, glorying in the oxygen of the tradition that gave it life."
The Irish Times

"This is brilliance. Three songs and a ton of tunes make this an early contender for Album of Year."
Bill Margeson, Live Ireland

"Double Play sings with quiet, conversational dialogues of guitar and fiddle. [Van] Morrison might still wrestle with enlightenment on his revisit to Astral Weeks, but on Double Play, Carroll and Doyle sound as if they've found it."
Lexington Herald-Leader


Liz and John are recognized individually as the finest on their instruments. But it is when Liz's violin is twinned with John's guitar that true magic happens.
 
"There is no better tandem in Irish traditional music today." The Wall Street Journal

Liz Carroll is a native Chicagoan whose fame is worldwide. Since she was 17, when she won the Senior All-Ireland championship on the fiddle, Liz has played on concert stages the world over. She is well-known as this era's most respected composer of Irish traditional music, having contributed many original tunes to the Irish music canon. Liz was honored in 1994 when Hillary Clinton awarded her a National Heritage Award Fellowship in ceremonies in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mayor Richard M. Daley proclaimed September 19 "Liz Carroll Day" for the City of Chicago.

Liz has been honored by many accolades, including being named twice to Irish-American Magazine's list of the Top 100 Irish Americans, honored as the Irish Traditional Musician of the Year 2000 by the Irish Echo, and when her first album, the eponymous "Liz Carroll," was named a select record of American folk music by the Library of Congress in 1988.  
 
"Dazzling...her inventiveness and creativity are astonishing. And her playing is impeccably clean, intense, and altogether brilliant." Sing Out
 
John Doyle is every musician's dream accompanist and producer. After turns with the influential group Solas, and as Joan Baez's current musical director and guitarist, John is now touring the world with Liz and many other amazing artists, including with Liz for several shows throughout the U.S. and Europe, and with singer Karan Casey.

Born in 1971 in Dublin to a family of musicians and singers, John Doyle was surrounded by traditional music from his earliest years. John was playing professionally by the age of 16, and soon moved to New York City, where he began playing with Eileen Ivers and Seamus Egan. He first rose to international prominence with Solas (Gaelic for “light”), the all-star Irish/American band whose emergence heralded the arrival of a new generation of bold, inventive traditional musicians.

Now an accomplished producer as well, Doyle has worked with such artists as Liz Carroll and Heidi Talbot. While with Solas, the guitarist also shared stages and studios with Frank McCourt, Linda Thompson, Kate Rusby, Mick Moloney, Brian Conway, Joannie Madden, James Keane, Karan Casey, and Cathie Ryan. He continues to innovate, finding the seeds of his contemporary approach within the tradition itself.
 
"… a master finger-picker and confident ballad singer." Acoustic Guitar

Shortly after the release of Double Play, Liz and John were honored to perform at the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for guest of honor, President Barack Obama. In addition to the president, the new Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, Mr. Brian Cowen, attended the March 17 luncheon. Previous entertainers at the event include The Chieftains, The Commitments, and Ronan Tynan.

Here are Liz's own words regarding her and John Doyle's appearance in Washington, D.C., at the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon. Hosted annually by the Speaker of the House in honor of the sitting president, Liz was honored to be invited by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to perform for President Barack Obama:

"It was terrific to do the gig!  We got there on time and from that point there was no end to the cool of being there!  We played music as guests arrived, but then we were hustled out because the President was arriving.  He entered the Capitol to the strains of Chicago's own Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band.  We had lunch, off on our own, in the Ways and Means Room.  They grabbed us then and told us to go back in, where we sat just a body length away from President Barack Obama.  Nancy Pelosi gave a wonderful welcome and speech, then the President was introduced to great applause.  The room was full of politicians, senators and representatives from here and from Ireland and Northern Ireland.  Amazing really to see all those folks involved with the peace process over there sitting together in the room.  Anyway, President Obama sat down and then the Speaker introduced the Taoisach of Ireland, Brian Cowan.  His speech was well received, too.  Then Nancy Pelosi introduced us as the best (ahem!) Irish musicians in America.  I leaned
into the microphone and told them we were honored to be there, John from Dublin with Sligo roots, and me from Chicago (at which point the President asked "Oh, White Sox fan?"  I was able to look over at him and reply, "Of course!") with a Limerick mom and Offaly dad.  We played reels from the album, and frankly had no nerves by that point and had fun playing.  We finished to, I think, great applause; shook hands with the President, the Speaker, the Taoisach, and then many more folks before scooting out, breathing again,
and then heading off- John to Kansas to play with Joan Baez, me to the hotel, where I learned quite a lot about allergies from folks attending a convention there.  No green beer for me, just a lovely glass of wine (or was it two!) It was a great experience for which I'll always be grateful."