Decimus Rock is resting up from the results of his excesses during the St. Patrick's Day celebration. Perhaps too much beer, perhaps too much hiking, perhaps age has crept up on the Celtic music maven. Whatever. He'll return next month, but in the interim, his assistant has rounded up a selection of interesting Celtic music sites on the web for your surfing.

Ceolas

Ceolas bills itself as the largest Celtic music site on the web and with a hit rate of over 200,000 hits per month, it's hard to argue. The site lists resources, artists, calendars, reviews and samples, tunes and links to instruments. The site also hosts IrishNet, which is "dedicated to helping the Irish abroad and those with Irish interests to get in touch with Irish communities and resources around the world." Log on at http://www.ceolas.org/ceolas.html.

Celticmusic.net

Celticmusic.net touts itself as the "home of Irish music on the web." While they list articles and reviews on their header, this site is really about posting the sheet music for jigs, reels, hornpipes, gavottes, mazurkas, polkas, slides, slip jigs and strathspeys. A good selection of most of those styles.

Celtictv.com

Celtictv.com is more that what it says it is: there's webcast video of course, audio, radio, news, classifieds, links, news and even Irish Food recipes. As a New Jersey-based site, it has a NYC/NJ calendar and list of restaurants and pubs, plus a chat room, for those who have opinions that cannot be kept quiet.

MusicInScotland.com

The Music in Scotland site takes you directly to the source - more or less - of Scottish Celtic music. The links page is particularly good, with links to Celtic Dance, Celtic Genealogy, Celtic Music Sites, Event Directories, Folk Clubs, Highland Games, Instrument Makers, Music Agencies, Music Media, Music Resources, Music Venues, Pipe Bands, Scottish_Country_Dancing, and Tourist Information for Scotland. There's also an extensive list of musicians and acts in Scotland and, presumably, the rest of the British Isles. Just the thing if you're traveling to Scotland and want to connect up with some players. For dancers, there's also a list of Scottish Country Dance clubs. Log on to the site at http://www.musicinscotland.com/.

Liveirishmusic.net/

Live Irish Music.net boasts a links list of over 4,000 sites and a hit rate of 50,000 per month. The link list is a mishmash, with comments about the links but otherwise unsorted. Time-consuming but worth a check if you are looking for something in particular. However, the links trap you in the site's frames.

Imro.ie

The homesite of the Irish Music Rights Organization, this site answers some of your not-asked questions about music rights, at least in Ireland and Britain.

Thistle and Shamrock

The site of the NPR radio show "Thistle and Shamrock." Embedded in the NPR site, this page isn't terribly informative, but if you are a major fan of Fiona, then you certainly should stop by. Log on at http://www.npr.org/programs/thistle/.

CelticMP3s.com

The site to go to download free MP3 files of favorite Celtic tunes. Of course, as this site is trying to be honest, you won't find songs but your favorite major Celtic performers, but, hey, there are some good tunes and performances here anyway. The site also has a good list of Celtic webradios stations and a selection of articles about promoting and marketing Celtic music, just for you players out there. Log on at http://celticmp3.bardscrier.com/.

CelticWays.com

This site is focused on MP3s and CD sales and features an "informed agent" list of well-known acts that ultimately points to other, similar tunes in MP3 format. However, it does have a killer set of Celtic music links. Click to http://celticways.com/.

Celtic-Connection.com

This is the website of tabloid newspaper published ten times per year from Vancouver, BC, Canada. The news and articles lists point to all their previous articles, which are about Celtic music news and Celtic news from around the world, which makes for a good archive to check. Log on to http://www.celtic-connection.com/.

Cincinnati Folk Life

The homesite of the not-for-profit Cincinnati Folk Life group can plug you into what's happening just up the river from Louisville. This is the place to find links to other Cincinnati and Ohio Celtic groups. Log on at http://home.fuse.net/cfl/.

This is just a tiny sample of the Celtic music sites to be found by typing "celtic music" into the Google search engine. For the record, the search function yielded something like 600,000 links.

You are not alone in your love for the music.