Reviewed by Tom Lennie

Ric Blair is a US-based singer/songwriter with Irish descendency on his mother's side and Scots on his father's (his father's ancestors owned the noble Blair Castle in the heart of gorgeous Perthshire). A couple of fascinating tit-bits from Ric's biography - he once was roommate with the late Rich Mullins and he played guitar on Rich's first album, which they recorded in Amy Grant's basement studio! Also early in his music career, Ric served as personal guitar instructor to rock singer Sheryl Crow, while, among the songs he's written is "Never For Nothing", which became a number one hit for Grammy nominee Margaret Becker. Given his Scots/Irish ancestry, it's perhaps of little surprise that Ric's music is deeply entrenched in the Celtic tradition. 'Fields Of Freedom' is a 45-minute arrangement of traditional hymns, instrumentals and several Scripture meditations (read by Sheila Walsh). Most of the hymns are well known (and, in the case of "Be Thou My Vision", a bit over-recorded). "Nothing But The Blood" is given upbeat jig-like treatment in the vein of Ceili Rain. I knew that "Near The Cross" reminded me of another version, but after wracking my brain to think what that was, realised I was thinking of Ric's take of the same song on his first album 'Always By My Side'. Blair's mellow vocals sound to me like Fernando Ortega meets Phil Keaggy. The instrumentals are Irish jigs and reels (plus one gorgeous lament) - all expertly played on all types of Irish tools - whistles galore, Uilleann pipes (Patrick D'Arcy), fiddles and bodhran, along with guitars, drum loops and djembe (Ric alone uses a vast array of aids). Revealing the respect this man carries, the aforementioned Phil Keaggy plays all instruments on "Alleluia", which track he also produced (the rest of the disc is produced by Blair). Despite the obvious talent throughout, one does get the impression that much of this has been ably done before; there's nothing terribly new here. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable listen.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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