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The Elders
Shay Clarke-IRISH AMERICAN NEWS
24 years of timeless Celtic Rock – “The Elders” passion, great melodies, unique harmonies, unparalleled musicianship and strong song-writing keep them connected with each other and their fans.
That songwriting began in 1998 when two musicians moved back from L.A. to Kansas City to play Irish music. Norm Dahlor and Brent Hoad played in numerous bands but their American and Celtic-folk rock roots were calling and The Elders were born.
The country went through a lockdown and the band decided to retire. During that time the band continued to meet, write, and sing, but never intended to record. That is, until guitarist Steve Phillips asked them to release an album in his honor. (Before Phillips passed in 2020, he recorded all of his vocals and musical parts.) “Well Alright Then”, their 9th studio album was released in April of 2022.The album delivers the unique story-telling the band is known for – stories of love, loyalty and Irish feistiness.
Listen to The Elders on Spotify
The Elders
Screaming Orphans
– Americana UK
Screaming Orphans are a chart-topping all-sister Celtic folk and pop band from Donegal. They are known worldwide for their award-winning sound combining original pop songs with a unique take on traditional Irish music. From an early age, the Diver sisters entertained international audiences around Ireland accompanying their mother, legendary céilí singer Kathleen Fitzgerald. The band has always defied being pigeonholed, having masterfully developed their own unique fusion of folk and pop. The sisters’ trademark spine-tingling four-part harmony and mastery of their instruments combined with their highly energized performances take audiences of all ages on an exhilarating and emotional musical journey.
Screaming Orphans’ pitch perfect harmonies have led them to many collaborations on recordings and stage with artists such as Sinéad O’Connor, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Baaba Maal, and Afro Celt Sound System. The band continues to tour and play extensively across America, Canada and Europe. As of this year, the band has released 16 albums, encompassing both original pop and folk/Irish music, as well as one Christmas album. Their albums Taproom, Life in a Carnival, Sunshine and Moss, and Paper Daisies have topped Billboard, iTunes and World Music charts.
Listen to Screaming Orphans on Spotify
Screaming Orphans
Wake the Dead
“Wake the Dead is a thorough delight from start to end, seamlessly interweaving the good old tunes with the good older tunes – traditional airs, jigs and reels (plus one original dubbed an ‘unreel’). You’ve never heard the songs ‘Bertha,’ ‘The Wheel,’ ‘Sugaree’ and ‘Bird Song’ quite like this, and it’s likely that you’ll never listen to them in quite the same way again.”
– Gary Lambert, Grateful Dead Almanac
When seven top Bay Area musicians realized they shared as deep a love for the songs of the Grateful Dead as they did for traditional Celtic tunes, some brand-new music sprang up and started partying.
WAKE THE DEAD is a romp that flows seamlessly from rock grooves to hot Irish reels, and from haunting airs to achingly beautiful melodies familiar to Deadheads everywhere. Groove jams to keep the tie-dye swirling. Vocal harmonies that float like clouds. The music takes off, and the band follows, grinning all the way. These aren’t worlds colliding-they’re worlds meshing, coalescing creating a whole new world of possibility, and true to the spirits of the Grateful Dead and the eternally hopeful Celts.
WAKE THE DEAD bands together seven of the best-known and most respected players in the west. Harper Maureen Brennan has toured for over 30 years and recorded the acclaimed “Harpistry” collection. Bassist Cindy Browne is equally at home in folk and jazz, touring globally as the musical fusion go-to gal. Singer, fiddler, and octave mandolinist Danny Carnahan is an award-winning songwriter whose original Irish-tinged songs are popular worldwide. Kevin Carr is a musical triple-threat, renowned as a dance fiddler, a pennywhistler, and Irish piper par excellence. Sylvia Herold’s delicious vocal phrasing can also be heard on her solo recordings and her performances with Euphonia. Paul Kotapish is known far and wide for his work with Kevin Burke’s Open House, and for his blazing guitar and mandolin with The Hillbillies From Mars and Euphonia. And Latin percussionist Brian Rice rounds out the band’s groove engine.
Listen to Wake the Dead on Spotify
Wake the Dead
Alasdair Fraser & Friends
“One of Scotland’s most valued tradition-bearers.”
– BBC Radio Scotland
Alasdair Fraser is one of the greatest carriers of the Scottish fiddle music tradition, a fiddler whose warmly expressive playing, mastery of his instrument and deep understanding of his native music as a venerable and continually evolving art is an inspiration to generations of musicians on both sides of the Atlantic.
As a fiddler equally capable of playing haunting Gaelic airs and rumbustious dance tunes and improvising endless variations on traditional themes, Alasdair has worked in a variety of successful partnerships, including his duos with pianist Paul Machlis and guitarist Tony McManus and his acclaimed band Skyedance. He has also guested with The Chieftains, The Waterboys, Itzhak Perlman and Los Angeles Master Chorale, appeared on innumerable broadcasts including A Prairie Home Companion and CBS TV’s Kennedy Center Honors and performed on film soundtracks including The Last of the Mohicans and Titanic. His compositions have featured in works by the Richmond (Virginia) Ballet and Shiftworks Dance Ensemble and his commissions include Fettercairn Suite. Fraser has also founded and directs programmes such as the Californian Valley of the Moon Fiddle Camp (1984), Isle of the Skye Fiddle Course (1987) and the more recently established Sierra Fiddle Camp near his home in California.
Since 2003 Alasdair has featured in a duo with cellist Natalie Haas, restoring the wee fiddle and big fiddle partnership that flourished in eighteenth century Scotland to contemporary prominence at the cutting edge of tradition-rooted creativity. Their debut album, Fire and Grace, was voted Album of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards 2004, adding to Alasdair’s North American Independent Record Distributors award for his Dawn Dance album in 1996, and they continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.
Listen to Alasdair Fraser & Friends on Spotify
Alasdair Fraser & Friends
Fraser has spent the last 20 plus years teamed up with Californian cellist Natalie Haas. In additional to performing, Fraser has motivated generations of string players through his teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.
Tempest
“Be prepared to stomp your feet, maybe even break into an impromptu jib, ‘cause these guys are brash, bawdy, and brilliant.”
– Bam Magazine
Celebrating 35 years of Celtic Rock! Since forming in 1988, Tempest has delivered a globally-renowned hybrid of high-energy Folk Rock, fusing Irish reels, Scottish ballads, Norwegian influences and other world music elements. An ever-evolving line-up has enabled musicianship and creativity to progress in delightful ways with each new member.
Hailing from Oslo, Norway, founding member and lead singer/electric mandolinist, Lief Sorbye, is recognized as a driving force in the modern folk-rock movement. He started Tempest after years of touring and recording on the folk circuit.
San Francisco native fiddler Lee Corbie-Wells, comes to the band with a special passion for Celtic and Scandinavian music and Gaelic language traditions. A touring and performing child of a musical family, she plays fiery traditional fiddle tunes, and is also known to keep a bit of Blues and folk improvisation up her sleeve.
Nikolay Georgiev, studied modern rock guitar under Martin Goulding at the Guitar Institute of Technology in London, U.K. and classical guitar performance in his native Bulgaria. Nikolay brings a fresh and global flavor to Tempest’s brand of Rock-driven World Music.
The latest addition to the band is the seasoned Bass Player Hugh Caley. He is a Michigan transplant, who brings energy, genuine enthusiasm and a damn fine kilt to this frisky iteration of Celtic and roots music.
Cuban-born drummer Adolfo Lazo, an original Tempest member, thickens the band’s sound with inventive rhythms, and rock-steady drumming.
Tempest is busting out of a two years’ pandemic-enforced hiatus from extensive touring with a new, powerful release. “Going Home” is the band’s first studio album of new material in four years, and one of their best to date!
Listen to Tempest on Spotify
Tempest
Reverie Road
“The music here reflects the achievements of all involved, but also a collective vision – it is virtuosic, carefully conceived and wonderfully arranged.”
– Daniel Neely, The Irish Echo 2023
Reverie Road is a fresh, eclectic celtic combination, featuring fiddler Winifred Horan and accordionist John Williams (founding Solas members) alongside former Gaelic Storm fiddler Katie Grennan and Jazz and Raga pianist Utsav Lal (Young Steinway Artist). This powerful combination is made up of four of today’s leading traditional and virtuosic folk artists who have captured the hearts of international audiences from studios to stages over the last three decades.
Firmly grounded in their collective Irish roots, Reverie Road embraces humor with musical insight and natural abilities. Original textural adventures weave the roots of Irish musical traditions with new departures and curated gems including distilled airs, continental waltzes, and upbeat reels and jigs. The band chemistry of two accomplished classically-trained fiddlers who share a common history as award winning Irish dancers along with two instrumentalists who have sought to redefine traditional accompaniment and rhythm sections amount to a compelling concert experience that will lift audiences’ hearts and have them on their feet.
Reverie Road released their much anticipated debut, self-titled album in early 2024, which immediately made waves in the Irish Traditional music genre. Even before they completed their 25-city album national launch tour across the United States, the album was awarded the coveted “Debut Album of the Year” title by Ireland Tonight.
Listen to Reverie Road on Spotify
Reverie Road
San Miguel Fraser
“San Miguel Fraser presents Castilian, Celtic and original music featuring Violins, Vocals, Cittern, Pandareta. Their music is exquisite, exhilarating, effervescent, expressing the joy, warmth, and beauty of our shared humanity.”
– Culburnie Records
San Miguel Fraser is a Celtic + castilian fiddle duo. María San Miguel and Galen Fraser, are multi-instrumentalists and educators who celebrate the values of community and traditional music in their unique chamber music style. Galen is a Berklee graduate and son of renowned Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. He combines the traditional music of Scotland with contemporary and original tunes. Maria, a native of Castile and graduate of Oviedo Conservatory has deep family roots in the traditions of her homeland. Together, they combine dynamic fiddling and string arrangements with the soaring, life-celebrating singing of Maria and the exciting, oh-so-sensitive cittern accompaniment of Galen. Surprises abound in this project, with fresh compositions and startlingly touching and deeply thoughtful arrangements.
Their new album “Dots of Light” sparkles with life and creativity, as they explore traditional music from their combined homelands as well as new compositions in their own unique chamber music style.
Their music is exquisite, exhilarating, effervescent, expressing the joy, warmth, and beauty of our shared humanity.
Listen to San Miguel Fraser on Spotify
San Miguel Fraser
The Jeremiahs
“This is the most creative and important group we have heard in Irish music in years, they are special.”
– Chicago Irish American News
The Jeremiahs is an Irish folk band that comprises four musicians who have come together with the common goal of writing, composing and performing folk songs and music. They have traveled extensively, bringing their music far and wide and are heralded as a live band not to be missed. With a wonderful mixture of newly composed songs and tunes in the folk genre and a well selected catalog of older folk songs, they are sure to rouse all the emotions.
Hailing from County Dublin is singer Joe Gibney on vocals. Joe, with his instantly recognisable timbre, offers a diverse repertoire of songs, from rousing sea shanties to emotional traditional songs of hardship, love and loss. A talented Dublin born singer and songwriter with a melting pot of influences. On fiddle and vocals is New York born Matt Mancuso. New York born, Matt Mancuso is an extraordinary musician. His playing is spirited and exuberant, yet underpinned by deep technical mastery. On flute from County Clare is Conor Crimmins, who has gigged extensively and recorded on several esteemed albums. On Guitar is Dublin born James Ryan who draws on a wide a range of influences from different genres and traditions which is evident is his unique percussive backing style. Together they create a powerful, emotional and unique take on traditional Irish music.
Listen to The Jeremiahs on Spotify
The Jeremiahs
TRÚ
“The trio blur the lines between contemporary and traditional forms with such sleight of hand that it is sometimes difficult to discern whether a song is freshly minted, drawn from the archives or otherwise gleaned somehow directly from myth or nature.”
– KLOF Magazine
Making folk music in a time of global sickness and war, TRÚ draws on traditional wisdom for their newest record.
On their second album, the trio sings of timeless folk characters in hand-picked trad songs and original compositions inspired from the worlds of sean nós, Scots poetry and Americana ballads. “Eternity Near” explores the intersection between traditional folk material, original songwriting styles and contemporary production techniques.
The band’s name nods to their shared heritage. The trú was a mythological trio of poet-musicians in ancient Ulster. They were revered throughout the Celtic world, some believing their songs and stories came to them from the future. Others maintained that the trú were possessed by spirits during performance. As such, they were considered gatekeepers to the Otherworld.
It’s here where this Northern Irish trio draws their inspiration. Michael Mormecha, Zachary Trouton and Dónal Kearney grew up with different musical palettes, but also came from distinct cultural identities as children of the Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland. The trio has mixed heritage (British-Ukrainian and Irish Nationalist) and together they have fostered an unusual and fruitful collaborative ethos based on respect and exploration. Leaning into their individuality, an eclectic repertoire of influences (from Clannad to Nine Inch Nails via Joni Mitchell and The Beatles) makes for an intriguing chemistry.
Listen to TRÚ on Spotify
TRÚ
Hanneke Cassel Trio
“She is already a rising star in the Celtic skies…her musical ideas are savvy and sophisticated, but her throaty, gusting style is deeply banked in the Scottish and Cape Breton traditions.”
– Boston Globe
Effervescent and engaging, Boston-based fiddler Hanneke Cassel’s fiddle music fuses influences from the Isle of Skye and Cape Breton with Americana grooves and musical innovations. Hanneke’s music is a blend of the contemporary and traditional, described by the Boston Globe as “exuberant and rhythmic, somehow wild and innocent, delivered with captivating melodic clarity and an irresistible playfulness.”
The Hanneke Cassel Band features Tristan Clarridge on cello/vocals and Keith Murphy on guitar/vocals. Multi-instrumentalist, 5 -time Grand National Fiddle Champion, and pioneering cellist, Tristan Clarridge creatively synthesizes traditional folk influences with rhythmic vocabulary from jazz, rock and pop music, and is leading a revolution among adventurous young cellists throughout the USA and beyond. Newfoundland-born guitarist Keith Murphy is a rhythmic powerhouse on guitar and a traditional singer of rare finesse. He has lived in New England for many years where he has been an influential presence in the traditional music scene through his work with many respected bands, as a tune writer and as director of the Northern Roots Festival in Brattleboro, VT.
Together, the Hanneke Cassel Band creates a cutting-edge acoustic sound that retains the integrity and spirit of the Scottish tradition.
Listen to Hanneke Cassel Trio on Spotify
Hanneke Cassel Trio
The Hanneke Cassel Band features Keith Murphy on guitar and vocals and Tristan Clarridge on cello and vocals.
Together, the Hanneke Cassel Band creates a cutting-edge acoustic sound that retains the integrity and spirit of the Scottish tradition.
The Unipiper
“Can you really imagine Portland without the Unipiper?”
– PDXParent.com
Of all of Portland’s colorful characters, none are as easily recognized as Brian Kidd, aka The Unipiper. With his fire-breathing bagpipes, colorful costumes, and unicycle, reports of Unipiper sightings stretch back to 2007. Ever since, he has roamed the streets of Portland, protecting its citizens from all that is normal and standing up to those that would seek to silence the weird. The Unipiper has earned his place as the city’s unofficial ambassador of weird, having represented the Rose City in a variety of foreign lands from Scotland to Japan. Named Portland’s ‘Best Local Celebrity’ by Willamette Week for 6 years, the Unipiper solidified his position as a true Portland legend with appearances on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’, ‘America’s Got Talent’, and ‘The Gong Show’, among others. When asked about the enduring appeal of The Unipiper, Kidd says, “don’t think too hard about it. If you don’t understand The Unipiper there’s a lot you probably won’t understand about Portland. Keeping Portland Weird isn’t a one-person job, but as they say, with great volume comes great responsibility.”
Listen to The Unipiper on YouTube
The Unipiper
Colin Cotter & Sumaia Jackson & Friends
Colin Cotter is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and creative-at-large from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has played gigs across the USA, as well as internationally in Canada, Ireland, and Spain.
Colin grew up immersed in Irish, Finnish, and American folk music. In addition to being a fine fiddler and singer, Colin is an accomplished self-taught guitarist. Over the years, he has crafted a unique approach to expressing on the instrument that he brings to collaborations with artists from across the musical spectrum.
With driving groove and a smooth, open sound, fiddler and tunestress Sumaia Jackson is a quintessential modern West Coast fiddler. Jackson weaves together Old-Time, Bluegrass, Swing, and Celtic traditions with an easy virtuosity and melodic elegance.
Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Jackson was surrounded by many innovative and inimitable coastal string players and she studied classical violin intensely. On a full scholarship, she holds a Bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in the American Roots Music department. Now living in the Bay Area, Jackson tours all over the world with a few different musical projects.
Jackson and Cotter weave together tunes and songs both original and found with an easy virtuosity and electric interplay.
colincotter.com
sumaiajacksonmusic.com
Listen to Colin Cotter on YouTube
Listen to Sumaia Jackson on YouTube
Colin Cotter & Sumaia Jackson & Friends
With driving groove and a smooth, open sound, fiddler and tunestress Sumaia Jackson is a quintessential modern West Coast fiddler. Jackson weaves together Old-Time, Bluegrass, Swing, and Celtic traditions with an easy virtuosity and melodic elegance.
Jackson and Cotter weave together tunes and songs both original and found with an easy virtuosity and electric interplay.
Elias Alexander’s RAMBLXR
“Ramblxr ‘puts fiery dance tunes from the Scottish, Irish, and American traditions in conversation with dance productions influenced by disco, house, and lo-fi hip hop.”
– Lauren Daley, Boston Globe
Elias Alexander is a producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who’s work weaves together traditional music, electronic production, and songwriting around themes of belonging, connectedness, and liberation.
His new project “Ramblxr” (pronounced Rambler) features Elias’s instrumental playing (bagpipes, fiddle, guitar, percussion, whistles and synths) alongside his catchy, pop-influenced dance production. With “Ramblxr,” Elias reaches into traditional music to find something ancient, and uses it to build connection in our fractured world.
Elias grew up in Ashland Oregon, where he cultivated deep roots in Scottish traditional music, studying bagpipes, fiddle, whistle, and guitar from a young age. When the pandemic changed everything, he turned his attention to songwriting and production. The results of two years of seclusion in home studios in LA and Portland, he has so far released three tracks with electronic/traditional fusion project Ramblxr, and is currently working on a pop music EP coming sometime later in 2023. The most recent Ramblxr track “Wildflower” with Maura Shawn Scanlin, was released June 1st 2023.
Listen to RAMBLXR on Spotify
Elias Alexander’s RAMBLXR
Adams, Martin & Linahon
Adams, Martin & Linahon are a hard strumming, foot stomping Celtic folk trio hailing from the Oregon Coast. Fans will be delighted by their intricate vocal harmonies telling stories of old, accompanied by Irish bouzouki, tin whistle, bodhran drum, banjo and more traditional instruments. Hear crowd favorites, songs of the Scottish Highlands, sea shanties alongside folk tunes new and old.
Listen to Adams, Martin & Linahon on YouTube
Adams, Martin & Linahon
Elias Alexander’s Trad Trio
“The performance was wildly successful and he developed a sound that…people connect with almost instantly. By bringing forth the age-old, moving experience of listening to live traditional music, and adding a contemporary twist, Elias is appealing to a new generation of listeners.”
– Alana Loftus, Irish Star
Elias Alexander is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter whose work swells from the intersection of traditional music, electronic production, and songwriting. Using electronics, he alchemizes tradition into something healing, deeply personal, and of this moment.
Wielding bagpipes, fiddle, guitar, whistles, and keyboards on stage while deftly looping and sampling to build energy, Elias weaves together melodies from the Scottish and American traditions, with catchy beats, and original songs that discuss themes of alienation, belonging, and queerness.
Elias Alexander grew up in Ashland, Oregon, where he studied pipes and fiddle from a young age. Moving to the east coast in 2009, he made a name for himself as one of the foremost exponents of traditional Scottish music in America, touring with numerous groups and playing many of the top Celtic festivals including Celtic Connections (2017 with Gillebride MacMillan) and Celtic Colours (2019 with Farsan). He currently tours as the pipes and whistle player with Scottish legends Old Blind Dogs in North America.
Listen to Elias Alexander’s Trad Trio on Spotify
Elias Alexander’s Trad Trio
Elias Alexander is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter whose work swells from the intersection of traditional music, electronic production, and songwriting. Using electronics, he alchemizes tradition into something healing, deeply personal, and of this moment.
Wielding bagpipes, fiddle, guitar, whistles, and keyboards on stage while deftly looping and sampling to build energy, Elias weaves together melodies from the Scottish and American traditions, with catchy beats, and original songs that discuss themes of alienation, belonging, and queerness.
Tradmill
Join Connolly, Weed and Novotny, three of the west coasts’ finest exponents of traditional music for a weekend festival experience. Dublin IR button accordion player Johnny B. Connolly, Carmel CA fiddle player John Weed, and Portland OR guitar wizard/vocalist Cary Novotny are uniting again. The trio will intertwine driving sets of jigs and reels, rhythmic old time tunes highlighting the interplay between squeezebox and fiddle, and Americana ballads that’ll delight the soul.
Johnny B. Connolly, a Dublin-born master of Irish traditional music, gained early recognition in his hometown before joining the renowned ensemble Anam. Touring extensively, he eventually made his home in Portland, Oregon and joined the esteemed Irish band Solas in 2014.
John Weed, fiddler for Molly’s Revenge and New World String Project, has spent the last 30 years immersed in various fiddle styles. With an affinity for folk traditions, John’s exploration has emphasized Irish, Scottish, Swedish, and Old-Time fiddle.
Cary Novotny was born in South Dakota. He studied classical guitar in Bowling Green, KY where he was also influenced by country, folk, and bluegrass. His band, Cul an Ti, is hugely popular for their lively traditional Irish tunes and unique blend of Irish and popular songs.
Listen to Tradmill on YouTube
Tradmill
Manis O’Tool & His Imperial Tibetan Yak Show
Witness the ‘Manis O’Tool and his Imperial Tibetan yak show’! Please note that on the very rare occasion that his incredibly trained yak, Clark, goes missing right before the big show, Manis will be forced to improvise – fortunately he’s got hilarious stories, jokes, some audience participation and maybe even a dangerous stunt or two that he can pull out of his sleeve in a pinch… Enjoy the show, and if needed, please keep an eye out for Clark.
Manis O’Tool & His Imperial Tibetan Yak Show
Witness the ‘Manis O’Tool and his Imperial Tibetan yak show’! Please note that on the very rare occasion that his incredibly trained yak, Clark, goes missing right before the big show, Manis will be forced to improvise – fortunately he’s got hilarious stories, jokes, some audience participation and maybe even a dangerous stunt or two that he can pull out of his sleeve in a pinch… Enjoy the show, and if needed, please keep an eye out for Clark.