Harriet Island - August 13-15
Free Admission!
2010 Headliners
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea emerged from Newfoundland in 1993 with their self-titled debut. They are a Canadian Celtic-Rock band who began playing Newfoundland folk songs for boisterous crowds made up of hard-partying university students and off-duty fishermen. They combine their original sound with traditional sounds and instruments they grew up with. The band is made up of Sean McCann (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodran, shakers, tin whistle), Bob Hallett (vocals, button accordion, bouzouki, fiddle, tin whistle, tenor banjo), Alan Doyle (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bouzouki), Kris MacFarlane (Drums), and Murray Foster (Bass). Many of their albums – including Up, Sea of No Cares, Turn, Play, Something Beautiful and The Hard and the Easy – are certified gold or platinum in Canada and have cumulatively sold over one million copies there. Their latest album, Safe Upon the Shore, reflects the newest twists in their original plan. The album is a feast of creative impulses, recorded in fits and starts over a six month period. More…
Young Dubliners
The Yong Dubliners are a Celtic Rock band made up of co-founder Keith Roberts (vocals, guitar), fellow Dubliner Brendan Holmes (bass, vocals), American-born members Bob Boulding (guitar, vocals), Chas Waltz (violin, keyboards, harp, mandolin, vocals) and Dave Ingraham (drums, percussion). The Young Dubliners are excited for the release of Saints and Sinners, their second album on 429 Records--and first batch of original material since 2005's critically acclaimed Real World. After taking an exciting retro, rootsy labor of love detour to give a shout out to the masters of Irish song past and present on their 2007 429 Records debut "With All Due Respect, The Irish Sessions", the Young Dubliners drew inspiration from the trials and tribulations of the past few years on the road where they have encountered their share of, to borrow from an Irish proverb, "poets and patriots, saints and sinners", for the new album. They're joined once again by Uillean pipe and pennywhistle master Eric Rigler, famed for his film work on the Titanic and Braveheart soundtracks, who has appeared on the bands last three albums and is a regular touring member. More…
Lunasa
Lunasa has become one of the most sought-after bands on the international Irish music scene. With Sean Smyth (fiddle), Kevin Crawford (flute), Trevor Hutchinson (bass), Paul Meehan (guitar) and Cillian Vallely (uillean pipes, whistles) combining for inventive arrangements and bass-driven grooves that are steering Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory. On their first American visit, word-of-mouth lead to sold-out shows and rave reviews. Lunasa are redefining Irish music by going right to the heart of its rhythms. More…
Tommy Sands
Tommy Sands, Co Down's singer, songwriter and social activist has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime. From the pioneering days with the highly influential Sands Family, bringing Irish Music from New York's Carnegie Hall to Moscow's Olympic Stadium, he has developed into one of the most powerful songwriters and enchanting solo performers in Ireland today. The Irish Times calls Sands the “Most gifted songwriter...with an ability to write on serious subjects which come across as songs rather than sermons...also well able to be extremely funny in the way he puts words together” His songwriting, which draws the admiration of Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney and father of folk music Pete Seeger, prompts respected US magazine "Sing Out" to regard him as "the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world". More…
The High Kings
For centuries, Ireland was ruled by High Kings. As their reign came to an end, their deeds and stories merged into the world of legend and myth and the High Kings of Ireland were no more except in story, music and song. Until now. Ireland Natives - Finbarr Clancy, Brian Dunphy, Martin Furey and Darren Holden, renowned vocalists and musicians, have come together to create the most exciting Irish ballad group to emerge since The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem electrified the worldwide folk revival of the 1960s. The High Kings are a unique ensemble re-energizing the great Irish ballads and introducing exciting new songs from Ireland. They take some of the classic ballad repertoire from the past and mix those songs with new and exciting modern songs in the folk idiom. More…
Bua
A quintet comprised of some of America’s most talented, Jackie Moran (bodhran, banjo, vocals), Chris Bain (fiddle), Sean Gavin(uilleann pipes, flute) Brian O hAirt(vocals, concertina, tin whistle), and Brain Miller (guitar, flute, vocals), Bua have been described by Irish Music Magazine as "the essence of a superb band," their sound "a throwback to the playing of the 1960s and 1970s, keeping the music down the path of tradition" and their 2006 release, Live at Martyrs', "a work without gimmicks, where the musicianship is of the highest quality." It is no surprise then that Bua, lending to its Irish Gaelic meaning of 'innate gift,' have quickly risen to the status of America’s premier traditional Irish music ensemble. More…