òran mór

We’ve often spoken about what a great camaraderie there is within the music community around the Seacoast – and with the Irish music community in particular. Well, we’ve got a great example of that happening on Friday, September 16, as we’ll be joining forces with our friends in The Tom Lanigan Band for a special half-way to St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.

Pete and Tom, on stage together at Ri Ra

This special event, which will be held at The Stone Church in Newmarket, NH, is the brainchild of Tom Lanigan and Reagh Greenleaf. They were planning a half-way to St. Pats show, but they wanted to expand it beyond just their band. They instantly thought of òran mór, since we have a mutual admiration of each others’ acts, we sit-in with each other once in awhile, and we’ve been wanting to do a double-bill sometime.

We’re thrilled that “sometime” is now going to be Sept. 16.

The doors open at 6 p.m. The gameplan for the evening is that òran mór will play for the first part of the night (7 p.m.). Then Tom, Reagh, Sue Young, and Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki will take the stage (9 p.m.). We’ll close the night with a big ol’ jam together.

Tickets are $10 each, but here’s the thing: Only 100 tickets will be sold.

Don’t be left out…you can order ticket now by getting in touch with us, or clicking HERE.

It’s gonna be a mighty night of music and craic…hope to see you there!

Stay tuned for more details…

Just about anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of Christy Moore. Well, I just came across an interview he did on RTE’s For One Night Only last Friday night…and it was phenomenal. I don’t know how long RTE will have it available on the online player, but I encourage you to view it. Here’s the link. (UPDATE: The RTE link seems to have expired, but someone posted the interview on YouTube…so this take you to the first in the series of YouTube vids.)

tis yer man

It’s very similar in format to the “Storytellers” gig Ray Davies did back in the mid-90s (which was one of my favorite concerts, btw). It’s simply the artist telling a bit about their life, how the songs came to them, and a brief performance of each one.

This is the first time I’ve heard Christy do “Lord Baker” — his self-professed favorite — solo. Lovely stuff.

Thanks to Christy for all the music, and for RTE for doing the show (and making it available online to us Yanks).

One of the great things about the area’s sessions is that in addition to playing music with our friends every week, say, at The Press Room’s Friday night trad session, we get to join them in a multitude of different, special events during the year. Another of those special events is coming up this Tuesday, Aug. 2, in Nottingham NH. We’ll be joining The Press Room Gang to perform one of the summer concerts sponsored by the town’s Recreation Department. It will be a wonderful mix of songs and tunes by a talented group of players…hope you can join us.

One of the great things about the Seacoast is the frequency and the variety of community events. Next weekend marks one of the annual favorites, Portsmouth’s Pocket Garden Tour, and we’ll be performing as part of the festivities.

An example of the Portsmouth gardens...the garden at Martin Hill Inn

Many of the antique colonial homes in the Port City’s historic South End have small, hidden, but elegantly designed gardens. Once a year, the homeowners and proud gardeners open the gates and welcome the public to enjoy their gardens. Along the way, some of the featured gardens have music, and we’ll be joining in the fun this year.

Dave and I will be playing from 9 a.m. til noon on Saturday, June 18 at the Strawbery Banke Gardens at 14 Hancock St. We hope you’ll come out to enjoy the day and swing by for a little music as well.

Our nicest stage yet...Strawbery Banke Gardens

If you live in New England and enjoy Irish music, then at some point you’ve probably heard of Patsy Whelan. Hopefully, you’ve been lucky enough to see him perform…he’s a great singer, fine fiddler, a funny man and heck of a nice guy. We had quite a few laughs at a session he used to run in Boston with our friend Eamon Coyne.

Well, Patsy had a bit of an accident over the winter that’s generated some serious medical bills, so there’s going to be a fundraiser for him at Mr. Dooley’s in Boston this Sunday, May 8 starting at 4 pm. I’m encouraging as many people as possible to get down there. There’s going to be some fantastic music, and all the proceeds will go to help this legendary performer and his family.

I hope you’ll be able to join me at Mr. Dooley’s to help a man who has helped so many others.