SullivanBurton: Kudos

The Reel World-Small Label British and Celtic Music
...Another entry in the suddenly popular "running your names together to name the act" category is SullivanBurton, the Illinois trio of fiddler/keyboardist Shannan Sullivan and multi-instrumentalists Bruce Burton and Robert Moore, who apparently joined the band too late to be included. Monkey Bars [self-released 2005] is an energetic acoustic/electric mix of largely Irish material that goes well beyond the usual pub standards, with crisp playing and strong singing and a good mix of the sensitive and the silly. "Winnie's Morning Tune Set" begins as a quiet acoustic guitar piece that morphs into a hot fiddle reel with resonating bass lines as Winnie presumably wakes up. Among the songs, there are fun versions of the Oysterband's cheerfully cynical "Blood Wedding" and Tommy Makem's bawdy "Town of Ballybay".

"It was such an honor to hear you guys and you were HOT!"

"Hi there, Hope you returned home safely...Your group was terrific and we enjoyed the lovely style of music you performed. Thank you for the memorable day at Celtic Fest (Chicago) 2006..."

Many bands have neatly defined roles. The bassist, the guitarist and so on.

But it's hard to pin down the members of the central Illinois Irish/Celtic band SullivanBurton. On the trio's latest CD, "Monkey Bars", Bruce Burton plays three types of guitars, mandolin, banjo and bodhran. Robert Moore mans the bass, guitar and djembe. And Shannan Sullivan plays keyboards, mandolin, violin and fiddle.

Oh, and they all sing, too.

“I heard you when you were in Springfield at the reception at the Renaissance Hotel on March 7 (’05) and thought you guys were fantastic”