Kevin Burke, born in London to parents from Ireland's County Sligo, is well known as one of the great Irish fiddlers of our time. He played with Christy Moore and The Bothy Band in the Seventies, and is a founding member of the supergroups Patrick Street and Celtic Fiddle Festival.

A longtime resident of Portland, Ore., in 2002 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship, this country's highest award for folk and traditional music. In 2006, the Irish Gaelic television channel TG4 awarded him the Gradam Ceoil ("Honor of Music"), a similar mark of distinction.

Some listeners, therefore, might be surprised to discover that his latest recording, The Pound Ridge Sessions (Loftus Music, 2016), a collaboration with the guitarist John Brennan, features not only traditional Irish jigs and reels, but American country and blues; a song (written and sung by Mr Burke himself) about Irish immigrants in post-WWII London; two Bach minuets; and a cover of the Allman Brothers instrumental "Jessica."

Although the combination of fiddle and electric guitar might be unexpected, the end result is organic and well worth hearing.

Ultimately, the project grew out of the strong musical friendship between the two men. After years of conversation and music, a version of "Tempest Reel," a common session tune, was the seed of the album itself.

"John already had most of it recorded and asked me to put fiddle on it," Mr Burke said by e-mail. "I think it was during that session we thought it might be fun to reverse the process - we had just played a traditional tune in a rock setting so what about taking some rock music and playing it on the fiddle.

"We didn't decide to make a CD and then record it," Mr Burke added. "We did some recording together, just for fun really, and eventually we realized we had a CD!"

John Brennan, a veteran rock guitarist, now lives in Pound Ridge, N.Y., but he grew up in San Diego, steeped in soul, R&B, folk, Latin, and surf music. One of his childhood friends, Bernie Leadon, was the original guitar player with the famed country-rock band the Eagles.

"We played our first gig together when we were 12," Mr Brennan said. "It was a church Bingo party, and we played Kingston Trio songs on nylon-string guitars."

By the age of 20, he was working as a studio player in Los Angeles. He went on to tour extensively with Graham Nash, Chris Hillman (a founding member of the Byrds), and the band Poco.

In 2001, after Mr Brennan moved to the East Coast, "I had written something that sounded Irish to me and I was looking for an Irish fiddler to record it," he said. "Someone suggested I speak with some guy named Gregg Burnett about it."

That was Gregg Burnett of Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society, based in Fairfield County. On Saturday, November 19, at 8 pm, the society will host the world premiere of The Pound Ridge Sessions at Newtown Meeting House.

In the years since then, Mr Brennan has become heavily involved with Irish traditional music as a producer, sound engineer, and musician. He describes his experience as "a kind of immersion back into my tribe. And I liked it!"

"Both John and I are thrilled with the way the CD turned out," Mr Burke said, "and quite tickled by the fact that contains so many different genres but still manages to hang together really well."

Traditional Irish concerts at the meeting house have a history of selling out, so early reservations are recommended. Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children under 16. Newtown Meeting House is at 31 Main Street (at the flagpole).

Visit shamrockirishmusic.org or call 203-362-5912 for reservations or additional information.

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