Spinning Wheel

"The distinctive and delightful sound of Spinning Wheel is a consequence of the utterly scintillating vocals provided by Bernhart’s wife Danika, the band’s tasteful acoustic arrangements, and their choice of traditional material. Selection 1999-2005 features fourteen tracks, running just over fifty minutes’ worth of music, selected from the band’s first three albums, The Spinning Wheel, This Time of the Year, and Live in Concerto. Danika Ruso is the primary vocalist. She also plays the accordion and tin whistle and does a bit of percussion work. Andreas Neumeister provides some back-up vocals and plays acoustic guitar and bass. Bernhart Ruso plays flute, whistles, and percussion. Guest artist Stephan Steiner appears on several tracks, playing nyckelharpa, accordion, and fiddle. While the liner notes describing the band are not in English, the CD insert includes a full set of song lyrics, and many of the songs are in English, including splendid arrangements of ‘Bruton Town’ and ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’. Three songs are in Gaelic, one is in Spanish (with a melody I recall from a very old Kingston Trio album), and one is in French. Danika handles all these languages quite well and has a delicate, melodious voice that is a pleasure to hear. The instrumentation complements, but does not overwhelm, the vocals. I particularly appreciated the use of hand drums." (Donna Bird, Greenman Review)