Irish Music Magazine: "Kinnfolk's Star is Rising Above the Mountain"
- Kinnfolk
- Apr 1
- 5 min read
It's not every day your picture appears on the front of Irish Music Magazine, the definitive voice of Irish music worldwide! We were excited to chat with Sean Laffey about our third album, "Star Above the Mountain" and to hear his thoughts in the form of a review.
We've transcribed the interview and album review below for your reading convenience. You can also purchase a physical copy of the April 2025 issue on the Irish Music Magazine website.
Interview: Kinnfolk's Star is Rising Above the Mountain
Husband and wife, Josh and Julie Kinn, who perform as Kinnfolk, have recently released their third album Star Above the Mountain. Seán Laffey put in a zoom call to Appalachia to find out how they are keeping it Celtic on their new recording.
Their Star Above the Mountain album celebrates their home region of Roanoke. It’s a departure for them, in that most of the tracks on the album are originals, with the traditional songs The Parting Glass and Highland Laddie, in their mix.
For many people in Ireland, Roanoke is a name in that song Wagon Wheel, but for Julie and Josh it is home, and its people, its history its geography have inspired them to create Star Above the Mountain as a coherent body of work.
I began by asking Josh is the album’s title an oblique reference to that classic Irish LP The Star Above the Garter? He smiles back agreeing in a way it is. “It’s a familiar phrase, that tells you this is going to be a Celtic music album.” However, as Julie explains, there is indeed a star above the mountain in Roanoke. “It is called the Mill Mountain Star and it’s near us on the Blue Ridge, it is the world’s largest free-standing illuminated star, and is a feature of our local landscape.” Later on we’ll find out about another industrial feature of the area that is recalled in one of their songs. For now, let’s explore how the album came to be recorded.
Julie gives a clear outline of the album’s concept. “It began in 2022 with an Art Matters Grant from the City of Roanoke and the National Endowment for the Arts. We would pen a collection of Roanoke-themed songs and tunes that embraces the Celtic motif of place, exploring our city, its history, its people, and its stories through traditional music.”
The couple got to work and brought in a number of their friends from the sessions scene in Roanoke: Paul Brockman (fiddle), Brandon Davis (uilleann pipes, small pipes), Burt Mitchell (flute), Mitch Petersen (tin whistle), and Tim Sauls (banjo, bouzouki). The album slowly emerged with 9 new tunes and 5 new songs.
To promote the project they performed the new album live as “Kinnfolk Presents: Star Above the Mountain” at The Spot on Kirk on June 30, 2023. The following year, The Roanoker Magazine awarded the show Platinum for “Best Local Artwork Project” for 2024. The ball was rolling and their Kickstarter funding was more than successful. “Kickstarter is an all or nothing way of funding a project,” says Julie, adding, “we reached 114% of the target and it did help us front the production costs of the album and generated a lot of excitement! The album was recorded at the Fainting Goat Studio in Bedford, Virginia.”
On listening to the album, I was immediately impressed by two things, first the quality of Josh’s octave mandolin. He tells me it is tuned GDAE and was made by James Wilson at Red Valley Mandolins in Idaho. “He uses a radial bracing system that fans out from the E string, this gives great high end presence as well as deep bass to the sound.” Talking of sounds, the second thing to note is the song Old Gabriel. This refers to a factory whistle that used to blast
out 6 times a day for work-shift changes. It’s been researched by Beth Macy who wrote Dope Sick, who says it’s an inverted D7 (D, C#, and an F# in the bass). As the steam goes out of the whistle, it lowers to an A major chord. That would perhaps echo with the Scots-Irish settlement of Appalachia. Josh is a keen kilt wearer, and he has a particular fondness for the Cavan tartan, which he thinks is one of the finest around.
Kinnfolk’s music has resonated way beyond Roanoke, in 2023 they won the Robinson Emerging Artist Award at the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival in Ontario. It was a huge honour for the couple, who not only performed at the showcase but also taught Celtic songs and sea shanties to groups of children at the week-long Celtic College in Goderich.
The whistle has blown to kickstart Star Above the Mountain, and Kinnfolk’s musical career, like that star on Mill Mountain, is shining bright.
Head on over to their impressive website at www.kinnfolkmusic.com
Album Review: Star Above the Mountain
Josh and Julie Kinn have expanded their Celtic music horizons on this album, co-opting a bunch of excellent players from Roanoke’s active session scene: Paul Brockman (fiddle), Brandon Davis (uilleann pipes, small pipes), Burt Mitchell (flute), Mitch Petersen (tin whistle), and Tim Sauls (banjo, bouzouki).
Still at the heart of the album is the chemistry between Josh on octave mandolin and Julie on bodhrán. They both sing, have strong resonant voices and harmonise beautifully together. You can judge their Celtic credentials on the song Highland Laddie; the words are as close to the Robert Burns’ version as possible and the combination of melody on mandolin and the deep bass of the bodhrán, brings out the martial essence of the story.
The concept album focusses its creative energy on new songs, putting Roanoke front and centre; this is an album about place. The Water's Rising / Gwendal is a ballad about a flood in the town, played by the full ensemble. The band do a fine job on the title track, an instrumental dance tune anchored by Josh’s octave mandolin. Josh takes the vocal lead on Ghost of Old Crozet, with its banjo setting the song firmly in the Blue Ridge Mountain of Virginia. Old Gabriel takes us into the rusty industrial heartland, named after a factory whistle. Julie sings of the march of progress and the silence when the last whistle blew – it’s a sensitive song backed by Josh on the guitar.
Roanoke Puirt à Beul is a new song in Scots Gàidhlig, where Josh is singing the praises of the Appalachian landscape. Julie sings Song for The Valley, just her voice over a pulsing drone, adding atmosphere and the chance to ride the dynamics of the song.
They end the album with a highlight, two voices in perfect harmony, singing The Parting Glass, a universal Celtic favourite, and a touchstone of tradition from Roscommon to Roanoke.
Seán Laffey
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