Greentrax Recordings / Compass Records, February 2002.

Eagerly anticipated by guitar fans worldwide, Ceol More resoundingly confirms McManus’s standing as one of today’s most gifted and groundbreaking instrumental artists.

Continuing on a successful relationship with Scotland's leading record label, Integral Music has licensed Ceol More to Greentrax Recordings for the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. Greentrax released the album on February 1st 2002.

Steered by Grammy award-winning musician Alison Brown, along with co-founder Garry West, the Nashville-based company Compass Records has been applauded as one of the most progressive and diverse roots labels in North America. Compass Records released Ceol More throughout North America and Asia on February 12th, 2002.

McManus celebrated the release of his new recording with a few key concerts in Scotland and Ireland in February. In association with the Scottish Music Information Centre, the official launch of Ceol More took place in Glasgow, at St Andrews in the Square, on February 24th.

Requests for interviews, press packages, bookings and further information are welcomed

Innumerable reviewers and fellow musicians have deemed Tony McManus to be one of the greatest acoustic guitarists in the world. Establishing such a reputation is certainly an honour, yet poses itself as a challenge to live up to. With his latest recording, McManus executes this challenge with a humble grace and indisputable passion.

Following up on the highly acclaimed 1998 recording, Pourquoi Quebec?, the breadth of mastery and vision is now revealed with the February 2002 release of his stunning third album, Ceol More.

Featuring artfully sparse, subtle accompaniment from Capercaillie’s Ewen Vernal (bass) and Salsa Celtica’s Guy Nicolson (tablas), its eleven tracks continue to extend McManus's musical explorations both within and beyond the Scottish tradition.

The title is a pun on the Gaelic phrase ceol mhor, or 'big music', referring to the noble piobaireachd tradition of the Highland bagpipes, a form rendered here with hauntingly stark grandeur in 'Lament for the Viscount of Dundee'. Other tracks range from Burns’ 'Ye Banks and Braes' to Charles Mingus’ 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat', with Breton and French-Canadian material again featuring prominently alongside Scottish and Irish tunes.

Having opened with a tenderly lyrical sean nos song air, 'Sliabh Gheal gCua na Feile', the album closes in exquisitely contrasting – though equally spine-tingling - fashion with a 17th-century Jewish hymn-tune from eastern Europe, 'Shalom Aleichem', a greeting to the angels traditionally sung before the Sabbath.