A Celtic Celebration Concert with Katie McNally and Friends

14 Bedford Road,Lincoln MA 01773

07 May, 2023

Description

"Breaking new ground" - Strings Magazine "Exhilarating musicianship...electrifying..." - Songlines "Cracking fiddle music" - Fiona Ritchie, NPR About Katie McNally and Friends (Katie McNally, fiddle, Neil Pearlman, keyboard, Will Woodson, flute, uilleann pipes, and Caitlin Finley, fiddle. Katie McNally grew up playing Scottish and Cape Breton music near Boston, Massachusetts and currently tours with her own projects, Fàrsan, Pine Tree Flyers, and the Katie McNally Trio. A member of the cross-genre fiddle supergroup, Childsplay, Katie has also toured with Karan Casey, John Whelan, and Galician bagpiper Carlos Núñez. Now More Than Ever was recorded with the guidance of producer Anna Massie (Blazin' Fiddles) and released Dec. 4, 2020. Her 2016 album, The Boston States, which explores the historic ties between her hometown of Boston, MA and Cape Breton, has been featured on NPR (The World, Thistle and Shamrock) and was hailed as “one of the best modern Cape Breton records of the past ten years” by Irish Music Magazine. She has appeared at Celtic Colours, Celtic Connections, Newport Folk Festival, and The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, as well as countless folk venues throughout North America and Europe. In addition to her busy touring schedule, she is the artistic director of the Boston States Fiddle Camp and is a devoted educator who teaches regularly at fiddle camps across the country and gives private lessons at her home in Portland, Maine. Will Woodson (flute, uilleann pipes) and Caitlin Finley (fiddle) play sparky and driving traditional Irish music that’s grounded in the textures and rhythms of the rich Irish-American soundscape of the 1920s and 30s. With roots in the living Irish musical cultures of Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia, and a tremendous admiration for the first generation of recorded Irish musicians, the duo conjure up the sounds of the dance halls, vaudeville theaters, and house sessions central to Irish-American music from the first half of the twentieth century. Their 2019 debut album, The Glory Reel, recorded with the brilliant Chris “Junior” Stevens on piano and button accordion, is full of swing, lift, and exuberance, drawing largely upon the repertoires of North Connacht and Ulster, regions that have had a significant impact upon the style and repertoire of the duo. The flute playing of John McKenna, the piping of Michael Carney and Patsy Touhey, the music of Donegal fiddle legends John and Mickey Doherty, and of course the foundational 78s of Coleman, Killoran, and Morrison are all at play here; a diverse set of influences that are channeled by the two into punchy, powerful, and joyous music.