'Strange Wonders, The Wexford Carols, Vol. II' Announces Release

The carols represent the astonishingly rich, yet rare, tradition of Irish Christmas music. Strange Wonders, The Wexford Carols, Vol.II by Caitríona O'Leary & Ethan Johns will be released November 12th on Heresy Records.

In 2014 Heresy Records released the first volume of the carols to international critical acclaim. Titled The Wexford Carols, the album reached #1 on both the Billboard and Amazon charts.

Preorder the album here.

The songs on the first Wexford Carols focused on the best-known episodes of the Christmas story. Produced by Joe Henry and featuring singers Caitríona O'Leary, Tom Jones, Rosanne Cash and Rhiannon Giddens, the album musically linked Irish traditional music with its Americana cousins.

Strange Wonders, The Wexford Carols Vol. II, is the highly anticipated follow up to the previous album. Strange Wonders, The Wexford Carols Vol. II features another 11 carols from the tradition that focus on the spiritual and mystical aspects of the Christmas story - Gabriel's visitation to Mary, the humble stable, the meeting of Herod and the Magi, the Fall (of Lucifer and of Adam), the Mystery of God as Man - as well as less familiar aspects of this narrative including carols to the saints whose feast days fall within the 12 days of Christmas (24th December - 6th January). These includes carols for St. Stephen, St. John, St. Sylvester and the Holy Innocents.

For Strange Wonders, The Wexford Carols Vol. II singer/arranger Caitríona O'Leary and producer Ethan Johns have adopted an intimate interpretation of these remarkable and moving carols that marries early music, folk music and classical styles, bringing together an ensemble of luminaries that include Seth Lakeman (voice, viola), Clara Sanabras (voice, baroque guitar), John Smith (voice, guitar), Stile Antico (Choir), Alison Balsom (trumpet), Olov Johannson (nyckelharapa), Simone Collavechi (lute & renaissance guitar), Deirdre O'Leary (bass clarinet), Mel Mercier (percussion), and John Hearne (bassoon).