Ayreheart drives the music at a light, dancing pace, constantly stepping just ahead of expectations to delight and entertain
ClevelandClassical.com

A Look Back at Our Roots: "One Morning" and "Barley Moon"

Every band has a map of its evolution, and for us, that map is etched into our recordings. If you’re diving into our catalog for the first time, our first two studio albums show exactly how we learned to weave our two favorite worlds—historical art music and traditional folk—together.

Every band has a map of its evolution, and for us, that map is etched into our recordings. If you’re diving into our catalog for the first time, our first two studio albums show exactly how we learned to weave two of our favorite worlds—historical art music and traditional folk—together.

  • Indigo Road (2007): Indigo Road is the Grammy Nominated recording of all-original music for lute by Ronn McFarlane. On several tracks the lute was accompanied  by various instruments: bass, percussion, flute, harp, cittern, harmonium and string quartet. This was the springboard for the creation of Ayreheart. 
  • One Morning (2011): Our debut statement. Focused entirely on original compositions written by Ronn, this was our playground to test how the lute could front a modern acoustic ensemble, blending lyrical melodic lines with driving rhythms and contemporary roots-music syncopation. 
  • Barley Moon (2016): For our next recording, we turn our gaze backward to Renaissance Britain. We recorded classics by John Dowland and William Byrd alongside anonymous, ancient ballad tunes like "Henry Martin" and "Nottamun Town." We also had the incredible talents of Brian Kay on vocals and lute for this era, helping us prove that storytelling of early English folk shares the exact same DNA as the acoustic music we love today. 

Looking back at these albums reminds us that we aren't just playing historical artifacts; we are keeping a continuous musical lineage alive.

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